Josh Cascarella - The Big Picture
Behind the Throttle: Edition 2, Installment 4
“There’s so much more to this than just running the trains”.
Coming into the world of historic trains, it’s easy to see the joy and fascination with these iron horses coming from the public and the railroad world alike. As members of the industry dive further, however, it’s revealed that the trains themselves are just one of the characteristics - albeit the physically largest and loudest - that compile these huge operations that bring people together. Our spotlight today follows the journey of a lifelong enthusiast who dove headfirst into the world of major excursions and rail operations, and found that the people served and the people involved are the real stars of the show. Behind the Throttle is proud to introduce Josh Cascarella - The Big Picture.
Josh attributes his first memory involving trains to the Strasburg Rail Road in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, near where he grew up. His grandmother had a connection to the railroads with her father having spent his career with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and felt it important that Josh and his siblings be exposed to trains. Though Josh’s first memory at Strasburg seemingly should have had the adverse effect as he found himself terrified by the real-life incarnation of Thomas the Tank engine. He specifically remembers being off-put by the animated face on the steam engine, and then the loud hiss of a safety valve sent tears and screams in every which direction. Despite the early trauma, Josh found to love his family trips to Strasburg and kept returning with his grandmother, often hopping the train that would depart the station at 11 o’clock, deboarding at the picnic grove, and taking the later train back to the station. As Josh grew to primary school age, he found that he felt happiest around trains and knew at that time that his fascination would continue.
Family trips for the Cascarellas would often involve detours to nearby museums and tourist railroads, and rides on the Strasburg were still a frequent outing, but Josh stunted his involvement and interest in trains at that for middle and high school as he focused on his musical ability that would become another passion of his. However, his interest for railroading was persistent, and he always felt his inner-child come out on those trips to museums and railroads. Following his undergraduate studies in business administration, Josh began to search out related jobs at various railroads before seeing that Strasburg was looking to hire a restaurant manager for their new on-site restaurant. Knowing some of the folks involved with the railroad from his visits and around the community, Josh was encouraged to apply - though he frankly needed no encouragement, as he always kept the railroad in the back of his head as a prospective place of employment: “(working for Strasburg) was always he goal in the back of my head”. From inside the cafe, Josh got to see the fascinating world of trains and new-age steam railroading from a whole new lens and was further hooked. Beyond that, he was inspired by the many railroaders who found their passion with steam and made it their career and livelihood. These people Josh now called coworkers, and many even friends. Motivated by their paths, Josh felt a new level of confidence in making his dream job a reality: “Anybody can do this, I can do this”.
In 2021, Josh made a career change and found himself in the land of a thousand railroads: Northeastern Pennsylvania. In the dawn of the industrial days, The Anthracite region was famous for boasting a few thousands of railroad miles across a dozen companies all trying to strike it rich with black diamonds. Now operated by the Reading and Northern Railroad, the region is well-serviced by freight trains and as Josh would find out, had big plans for introducing an intricate network of passenger operations across their claim. Hired as the director of passenger operations out of Reading, one of the company’s operating centers, Josh was placed command of all of the excursions and railroad-sponsored community events for the region, a daunting and wide scope. Josh’s job was rather loose during his first few months as both he and the railroad saw huge potential for growth of the passenger operations the prosperous railroad hosted. With an ambitious - yet somewhat overwhelmed - director, Josh set to the drawing board to help the railroad take its passenger trains to grander scales and more publics. The ubiquitous job also landed Josh in many different roles, a type of flexibility he appreciated. Some days Josh would be in the office planning events, others he would be selling tickets and meeting with local communities, and others he found himself in the conductor’s uniform onboard the excursions he organized and managed. The mixed-bag job helped keep him on his toes, and he appreciated the flexibility and all that he learned through the various roles he occupied.
Not long after Josh hired on with the Reading and Northern, his railroad would become the center of nation-wide attention from the steam community as the railroad wrapped up a restoration on a massive 4-8-4 type locomotive. T-1 No. 2102, originally built by the Reading Railroad, was a known steam star in the late 1980s and 90s, running in several parts of the Northeast United States. The R&N (now operator of much of the former Reading trackage the 2102 would frequent decades prior) had launched a several year and several million dollar effort to rebuild the monumental locomotive as their steam and passenger programs expanded, all of which concluded before Josh had spent a full year with the company. Once the engine was ready to take on the high iron, Josh and his dedicated team were put in charge of planning the several trips and fanfare that would reintroduce the 2102 to the world, and introduce the engine to a whole new generation (Behind the Throttle Author and Editor included). Researching the previous excursions that had run behind the 2102 and its sister locomotives, Josh was surprised to see the dense history that encompassed such trips and realized how special they were to many, and how the revival was set to carry forth the same legacy. There was a moment he can recall where he thought to himself: “I’m a part of history right here”. The several million people that have now seen, ridden behind, and chased the 2102 would surely agree. Similarly, the workplace onboard and behind the excursions can all vouch for the impact that such trips had on the local communities and the railroad industry, much of which is thanks to the long days and sleepless nights that Josh and his team worked behind the scenes. He remarked: “There’s so much more to this than just running the trains”.
After a wonderful four-year career with the Reading and Northern, Josh recently moved on from the world of regional railroads to join operations with the nation’s passenger carrier, Amtrak. Excited about the endless possibilities that career with Amtrak brings, Josh hopes to be a great conductor and continue on a path upwards in his future. He looks back on his chapter with the R&N with much gratitude, and trusts that the railroad will continue to be successful. He feels that the job he held led him to be a more empathetic employee and railroader, seeing all sides of the process, from operations, to management, and even to payroll. Though, being a boss was not easy for him at first, as he felt uncomfortable not always being a people pleaser. He quickly learned: “You can’t be a total hard-ass or total empath all the time.” Similarly, he also recognized how much work goes into every realm of the job, and worked hard to give his employees a good culture to be a part of: “If your staff isn’t happy why would they come back?” Finding the balance between a happy workplace but also having a degree of authority came with time, and he felt those two characteristics were crucial to keeping people involved with the industry he wants to see thrive for years to come. Hoping to help continue the traditions of railroading, he made sure to hire many young faces and help a new generation get their foot in the door for a career ahead. Similarly, Josh has taken upon himself the role of a volunteer conductor at one of his favorite historical outfits, the East Broad Top in central Pennsylvania. Knowing it’s cultural and historical significance, Josh is more than willing and able to lend his tend to ensure that the visitors of the site have a safe and enjoyable visit and hopes they are further inspired to learn more about railroading: past, present, and future.
Josh’s departure from the R&N was met with lots of love from his team, and Josh looks forward to returning and seeing what the railroad accomplishes in his stead. Railroad culture has always had a way of forming brotherhoods between employees, and Josh felt privileged to become a part of the R&N family, with so many passionate and skilled people who were willing to teach and to learn. Though Josh may differ in beliefs and lifestyle from many of his former coworkers, they most always worked well together and demonstrated mutual levels of respect. Being able to come together on their mutual fascination and career, it became a beautiful way to disconnect from the outside world: “We can put our differences aside and have fun and make people happy”. This camaraderie is something Josh hopes to carry on as he makes his way through the railroad world.
Looking to the tracks ahead, Josh continues to hope that he himself will do better than he did yesterday, and continue to learn. He is grateful to have found a workplace that means so much to him outside of a paycheck and hopes to see trains - both for transportation and for fun - pass by his retirement home. He also feels that there may come a time (if we haven’t already reached it) where a the idea of a steam locomotive starts to become alienated from society, and wants to make sure that everyone has a chance to experience what our industrial minds have accomplished, and can accomplish. The work that Josh has done in the past had surely seen this, and I have no doubt that when I’m writing for this blog in 20 years, one of my young spotlights will tell me their fond memory of their first ride behind a steam engine, being the No. 2102 in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Until then though, Josh will continue to learn himself, and help others navigate and trailblaze in the modern world above steel rails.
Thank you as always for reading this edition of Behind the Throttle, and thank you to Josh for sharing his life so far with us. Tune in on May 12th for our next installment, featuring Zach Hall - the everyman of steam. Until then, I’m Max Harris and I’ll see you down the line.