Allentown & Auburn Railroad

RDG 1675

RDG 1675 is a baggage car built by Osgood-Bradley Car Company in April, 1914 originally for the Grand Trunk Railway as GTR 789. The car was originally wood sided with a steel fishbelly underframe. It rides on wood beamed trucks. 

In June of 1925, the car was renumbered to Grand Trunk Western Railroad GTW 8526. In October of 1929, the exterior of the wood car was steel plated. In May of 1957, the still wood beamed trucks were equipped with roller bearings. 

In September of 1970, the car was retired from the Grand Trunk Western Railroad and sold to Fred J. Steck of  Reese, Michigan. He used the car on his Reese Central Railroad. Around 1984, most of Steck’s railroad collection was auctioned off. It is assumed that baggage car #8526 left the Reese Central around that time.

In the summer of 1985, the baggage car had ended up in Jim Thorpe, PA and was sold by James Hicks to The Reading Company Technical & Historical Society. The car was intended to be used as a concessions car on the 1985 Iron Horse Rambles, but the wood beamed trucks prevented use on the trip. 

The car would be repainted to RDG 1675 and used as the RCT&HS’s museum gift shop while the society was in Leesport, PA. In the early 2000s while the museum was moving to Hamburg, PA, the  RCT&HS de-assessed the car. With no serious buyers, the car moved to Hamburg, PA with the rest of the collection.

The Allentown & Auburn Railroad purchased the car from the museum in the early 2020s. On November 29, 2025, the baggage car was trucked from the museum in Hamburg,PA  to Kutztown, PA for future use on our excursion trains.