All-Day Excursion Ticket Pricing Remains Consistent in an Inconsistent Economy

With 2024 being our 40th overall season of passenger excursions, we are taking a moment to look back to the early years. One of the unique things we have discovered in this is the fact that our ticket prices for our all-day excursions have remained astonishingly consistent over the years. The Reading & Northern Railroad has been in the passenger excursion business since 1985.

In the halls of our facilities hang numerous framed vintage advertisements for rail excursions that we have offered during the past 40 years. One such advertisement from 1988 is particularly striking. It promotes several different destinations such as Tamaqua, Harrisburg, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, and of course, Jim Thorpe. The average ticket price amongst all those great excursions back in 1988 was $40.00. All were special runs to complement our daily schedule between Temple and Hamburg on the original Blue Mountain & Reading Railroad. While times have changed and we are now limited to destinations along our own rails, there is one thing that has not changed.

In 2024, the Reading & Northern operates excursion trains every weekend to Jim Thorpe from both Reading and Pittston (with additional station stops along each route), plus occasional trips from Reading to Pottsville. Rampant inflation would dictate that a $40.00 ticket in 1988 should cost $106.00 today. On our railroad, that is simply not the case. The price of a ticket to ride these trains in 2024 is just $39.00! Owner and CEO Andy Muller has always prided himself and the company on offering passengers unmatched value despite increasingly harsh economic times. It is this simple philosophy that has allowed the railroad to increase its ridership year after year.