Reading Car Company

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Birdsboro, PA
Reading Car Company

Reading Car Company is a company offering parts, accessories and assembly of backyard railroad items as well as our own line of kits and ready-to-run models.

06/01/2026

Been a busy couple of weeks. First, the review then a couple announcements....

We made a high-speed trip to Calgary last week with several stops along the way. We visited 8 different club and private trips along the way. First was a stop at Northwest Ohio Live Steamers home track in AI, Ohio to drop off our switcher and pickup a CN caboose (or Van in their parlance) built by GCC Trains for a friend in Calgary. The next day was a stop at Milwaukee Light Engineers to deliver a Pylmouth switcher and 3 boxcars to their new owner. Then off to Calgary to the Iron Horse Park to drop off and pick up locomotives. Dropped off was a Titan SD70ACE and picked up was a GMD1 built by Shane Carr that we'll be installing our LCRC100 control system in. Next was a visit to Train Acres near Red Deer, Alberta for a vist.

Next we headed back south to Illinios Live Steamers to drop off a Conrail boxcar to its new owner and while we were there, we gave a hand with his locomotive. The following day we were at the New Unionville and Western in Indiana to drop off a pair of Sprayberry hoppers and pick up an articulated riding car set as well as 4 89' flat car kits we'll have available at a later date. Finally, after a stop at the Smokey Junction Railroad in Dayton, OH, we stopped at Mill Creek Central Railroad in Ohio to pick up a locomotive to make some upgrades on.

5400 miles and 9 days later we got home with a ton more work to do! Thanks to everyone we saw along the way!

Now for updates...

The Northeastern Cabooses have all their parts here now, so next weekend we'll start packing kits to get 'em out. If you purchased one, stay tuned for shipping or delivery info coming from us.

In the photos, you'll see a new product coming soon, the USRA 42' Flat Car! This prototype is headed to powdercoat this week. Stay tuned for more details.

LCRC Locomotive Controllers are back in stock. We'll have them back on the website shortly once we work through folks who have requested one of this batch.

Finally, new steel is on the way for 2 new cars. We can't say much yet, but we think they'll be pretty popular.

Stay tuned!
Russ

04/27/2026

Been a really busy few weeks here at RCC as we get ready for a speedy trip to Calgary, Alberta in a few weeks. This past weekend though, we took 4 FMC boxcars to powdercoat, got busy building a Titan Trains 40' boxcar kit for a Canadian customer, and worked to get a Milwaukee Road Plymouth switcher wired up. We also met up with a friend and customer from Georgia who picked up his L&N Northeastern caboose. (The L&N bought a handful of these from the Western Maryland which just goes to show how well traveled they were!).

We also got some new detail parts for a new project we've been working on.

Finally, once the last FMC parts head to powder, we'll be wrapping up some Precision Steel Car flat cars for a local customer and a few Sprayberry hoppers for a customer in Northeastern PA.

Speaking of cabooses, we're waiting for a few more detail parts to arrive and the Northeastern cabooses will be ready for shipping / pickup / delivery.

Stay tuned for more great stuff coming from RCC!

04/12/2026

Meeting of the minds tonight😳….

Who knows what Reading Car Company will come up with next….😉

04/06/2026

Been a busy few weeks here at RCC! Caboose parts are coming in and soon we'll be able to start crating cars for distribution.

We've also got a new guy onboard! Ryan L joins the team as a welder and will soon also be learning riveting. Welcome Ryan! Boxcars are going together quickly as are some flat cars we've been waiting for parts for.

On the locomotive side, Andy has been working on a couple projects. We currently have a NYC boxcab getting rehabbed with all new electronics and some repairs. We also anticipate more LCRC100 controllers being in stock soon. We ordered 30 units and currently about half are earmarked for customers, so I think we'll be ordering more soon. We'll also have some videos coming out about the system soon as we work to launch our YouTube channel, which will have lots of "how to" videos, informational videos and "build along" series.

Andy has also been busy replacing an air system in a customer's caboose. The old system was outdated and didn't work very well. We included a couple of photos here, but we'll share some videos and such once its all wrapped up.

Finally, we're working on some new detail parts we'll be selling. There will be mods of an announcement soon, but we thought we'd included a sample here for ya.

Have a great week everyone!
Russ

04/01/2026

Coming soon from Reading Car Company!

We've been thinking for a while about what we could offer the Live Steam community that hasn't been done before and could revolutionize the way we play with our trains. Thoughts were had about various passenger and transit options. One thought was born of a new offering by Rapido Trains Inc. which was to offer elevated track sections based on the Chicago El, however the potential for derailments leading to injury was too high.

Then it came to us....

Now announcing the newest product from Reading Car Company..... 1:8 scale subway modeling! Thats right, we will come to your site and install tunnels and entrances for those wishing to model subways! Our first offering will be based on the New York City subway with complete tunnel installation, entrances, working 24v third rail and options for maintenance yards. The system also comes with rideable R34 subway cars in two car "motor-trailer" combos. Realistic sounds play from the stations including "echo saxaphone", mugging in progress, pan handlers, incoherent station announcements and more. Our R34 subway cars also features realistic NYC Subway sounds like "guy peeing in the corner", spray painting, 2 guys in a heated arguement, "Stand Clear of the Closing Doors" announcements, and over 25 other random subway sounds.

This also has the added bonus of keeping tracks and trains underground to allow uninfringed usage of your back yard!

For this system, we install subway tracks for a cost of $100 per foot and can do so as deep as 25' below grade. R34 subway cars will run you about $25,000 per motor-trailer set, and each subway entrance is set at $10,000.

We recently installed a prototype system in Upstate New York and so far, the customer is happy with our work. Ive attached photos to this post.

If you're interested in this system, feel free to visit our website, and have an enjoyable April 1st!

Happy tunneling!
Russ

03/14/2026

Last chance to order a Northeastern Caboose! Orders close Sunday night, so dont wait. Go to:

https://readingcarcompany.com/northeastern-caboose

03/09/2026

Well folks, we're half way through the Northeastern Caboose order period and sales have been pretty good! It's not too late to reserve yours though! Just head to:
https://readingcarcompany.com/northeastern-caboose
to order yours. They come with all hardware and parts needed except trucks and couplers and there is an interior kit available too!

In the mean time, shop forces have been busy with cutting oak floorboards for an upcoming project, working to install a new locomotive controller in a Milwaukee Road switcher, and today (in 70 degree warmth!) we took to the rails at The Reading Society of Model Engineers to test and deliver a GP7 to a customer. We did a controller install for him and got his locomotive running as smooth as silk and sounding like a real GP7! We've got 2 locomotive installs going on now, and more lined up for the summer.

Speaking of Locomotive controllers, we have 30 more controllers being assembled now with about half of them spoken for. Stay tuned for the updates on those as they should be available in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, we have a big batch of boxcars going together with our new part-time welder Ryan and Sprayberry hoppers going together with our other part timer Brandon. Thanks for the hard work guys!

More photos to come soon as we swing into high gear to get things done for our upcoming trip to Milwaukee, Calgary, Bloomington and Coshocton (OH). We'll have more info if you want items and want to save shipping for items for Canada.

Have a great week and enjoy the nice weather!
Russ

03/01/2026

***Northeastern Caboose Now On Sale***

https://readingcarcompany.com/northeastern-caboose

From now until the 15th of March, the Northeastern cabooses are available to order! (Finally...) Check out the website for details. Also available are interior kits and individual 3D print caboose details. These are kits only (unless we've discussed your build already) as we have a lot of work here at the shop. We expect to ship the kits in mid April and shipping is included FREE! Don't wait, order now so you don't miss out.

02/07/2026

Northeastern Caboose Update!

We finally got the pricing in for the Northeastern Caboose parts and are now getting things together for launch! The Caboose will have the optional interior detail kit (most parts shown below). Also available will be the 3D print toolbox (shown in orange) . The 3D printed parts and interior kit will be available separately so you can detail up other cabooses in your fleet. Pricing and pre-order should be live around mid month. See more at:
https://readingcarcompany.com/northeastern-caboose

01/01/2026

Happy New Year All! Here's our "year in review" and upcoming projects, plans and releases for 2026!

Www.ReadingCarCompany.com/2026

Hope everyone has a GREAT year in 2026!
Russ

Address

Lincoln Road
Birdsboro, PA
19508

Telephone

+17173647933

Website

http://www.ReadingCarCompany.com/

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