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Reading Glow-up Pack

-----===== HISTORY =====-----

In 1921, the Western Maryland railroad ordered a brand new batch of 2-8-0 'Consolidations' from the Baldwin Locomotive Works, to pull heavy drag freights throughout the WM system. A neighboring competitor, the Philadelphia & Reading, known simply as the Reading Railroad, had taken notes on this successful design and quickly ordered their own heavy duty 2-8-0 locomotives from Baldwin, with a few modifications. The 61 inch driver diameter was increase to 61.5 inches, and the locomotive was given a Wootten firebox, common on Reading's fleet, facilitating the burning of anthracite coal, which the railroad had plenty of.

In 1923, Reading's fleet of 50 I-10sa locomotives were put to work on branchlines and occasional mainline service, hauling much more than previous I class 2-8-0s could, however they were quickly supplanted by 2-10-2 'Santa Fe' types in the late 20s, and were relegated to branchlines for the following years.

During the Second World War, the P&R found themselves to be in a difficult position. While most other railroads had embraced newer wheel arrangements such as 4-8-4 'Northerns' and 4-6-6-4 'Challengers' years prior, their newest locomotives were a decade old, and were too weak to handle war time traffic. Worse yet, the War Production Board did not allow them to design a new locomotive from the ground up, though they did permit modifying existing designs. Reading's management decided the best course of action was to turn their aging I-10sa Consolidations into a modern 4-8-4, and would spend nearly 2 years rebuilding a fleet of 30.

Many components from the 2-8-0s were reused, ranging from parts as large the boilers and fireboxes to ones as small as bells and whistles. The low drivers were kept in storage to be used on I-9sb locomotives, and several parts were made anew, like their 70 inch diameter driving wheels from Baldwin, frames from General Steel Castings, and roller bearings from Timken.

The new 4-8-4s were classified as the T-1s, and were highly capable machines. The first 20 were freight exclusive locomotives, while the latter 10 were dual service and featured roller bearings all around, with 5 of these sporting steam heating for passenger cars. They could be found bustling fast freights, on helper service or even passenger trains all around the railroad. As they entered service, some would catch the eyes of Western Maryland's management, which would order their own 4-8-4 design in 1947, taking inspiration from their rival, in a similar fashion to Reading's I-10sa story.

As has been said countless times before, diesel locomotives would eventually take over all of the jobs the steamers had once done, at a fraction of the cost. By 1954, they were withdrawn from service, briefly returning in 1956 due to a traffic surge. However, in 1958, the Reading still rostered a majority of the T-1s, and in the following year, railroad history organizations from New York and New Jersey sponsored a diesel powered excursion, and Reading allowed railfans to photograph their stored T-1s.
Quickly realizing the benefits for public relations, Reading would soon begin a steam excursion program, dubbed the Iron Horse Rambles, with T-1s 2100 and 2124 as the main motive power, 2101 as a backup locomotive and 2123 as a source of spare parts, however in 1962, 2124 was replaced with 2102 as its flue time had expired.
The final Ramble was meant to take place in October 1963, however due to unforeseen weather conditions, diesel locomotives were used instead, which the railroad then compensated by running the true final Ramble a year later. During the Rambles, the Northerns ran 50 excursion trips, and all the running locomotives were preserved (2100, 2101, 2102, 2124).

While 2124's time as an excursion locomotive came to and end in 1962, the other 3 would go on to have varied excursion careers. 2100 and 2101 were bought from a scrapyard by Ross Rowland to run his "American Freedom Train" in 1975 and 1976, the former being used for spare parts while the latter would actually run the trips. 2101 would later be used on the Chessie System to run the Chessie Steam Special until a 1979 roundhouse fire damaged it beyond operational condition. 2100's post 1964 career was filled with bad luck, and though it was fired many times, as well as frequently exchanging owners and locations, it had a hard time securing any excursions. Today, 2100 is being restored to operational condition by the American Steam Railroad Preservation Association, and is expected to run again in 2026.

2102 began its post Iron Horse Rambles career in 1966 around the Northeast and Midwest regions, along with Grand Trunk Western 4-6-2 5629. In 1973, it masqueraded as Delaware & Hudson K-62 302 for the railroad's 150th anniversary. It would exchange hands several times until ending up on the Blue Mountain & Reading railroad, joining former Gulf, Mobile & Ohio 4-6-2 425 in excursion service until 1991, when it was due for an overhaul. It took several decades for it to begin, and was completed in 2022. Since then, it has been running Iron Horse Ramble excursions on the BM&R, as a nod to its history.

While 4 T-1 4-8-4s survive today, the remainder 26, along with the 20 unconverted I-10sa locomotives were all scrapped.

-----===== MOD CONTENTS =====-----
Reading I-10sa 2-8-0 locomotive (Light smokebox w/ White Lining, Light smokebox w/ Black Lining, Dark smokebox w/ Black Lining) [Shift+1 for marker lamp]
Reading I-10sa 2-8-0 tender (Philadelphia & Reading w/ Black/White Lining, Reading w/ Black/White Lining) [Shift+1 for extended coal bunker]

Reading T-1 4-8-4 locomotive and tender (Black Lining, White Lining) [Shift+1 for nameplate]
Delaware & Hudson T-1 4-8-4 locomotive and tender
AFT T-1 4-8-4 locomotive and tender
Chessie Steam Special T-1 4-8-4 locomotive and tender
Reading & Northern T-1 4-8-4 locomotive and tender

-----===== ADDITIONAL INFORMATION =====-----
All items have livery support. Feel free to make liveries with these mods, however, please do provide a link to the original mod, and don't just reupload them without making modifications or claim them as your own.

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This took a lot less time than I expected. I don't wanna give away too much, but I'll be working on never before made fan favorites, remakes of beloved and versatile mods, a certain part 2 that has been a long time coming, and a few others here and there. I'm really looking forward to revealing them to you all whenever they're ready for the public eye. Until then, you'll just have to speculate. Cya, folks!