Reading Railroad Diesel Locomotive # 903 was one of the first six FP7s ordered by the railroad in March 1950 to replace passenger steam locomotives. It and sister Reading 902 were completed on June the 1st of that year and delivered to the Reading via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The pair pulled their first train on June 6. In the following years, the two locomotives sometimes worked together, and sometimes were split, depending on the size of their trains.
SEPTA inherited the units in 1974, and they were renumbered by the new Consolidated Rail Corporation in 1976, the 903 becoming 4373. It was the first FP7 to receive SEPTA paint in February 1978. During the SEPTA years, the FP7s usually operated in push-pull. SEPTA ceased all diesel-operations in 1981, and the locomotives were retired.
Locomotive 903 was purchased by the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) in September 1983 and was stored at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania along with its sister, the 902, which was owned by the Lancaster Chapter of the NRHS. Restoration on the two began in 1986 and was completed in 1995.
I had my first opportunity to visit the outside restoration yard at the museum and found a lot of great history waiting to be captured out there. There were trains from the Reading Railroad, Septa and a multitude of other rail lines.
Taken on Sunday 3-29-2009 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, PA.
For more information on the museum, visit their web site at www.rrmuseumpa.org. For more information on the FP& diesel locmotives, visit this site.
Processed from five bracketed frames using Photomatix Pro to create an HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo.
