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| Steam in Pennsylvania | ||
| by Erik Ledbetter | ||
| Shortline railroad preservation in the United States arguably began in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1958, when a group of enthusiasts led by the late Henry K. Long took possession of a defunct 4.5 mile pike called the Strasburg Rail Road. On Labor Day 1960, steam returned to the Strasburg when eager enginemen fired up 0-6-0 No. 31, formerly Canadian National No. 7312. Since that time, the Strasburg has never looked back, operating a total of seven different steam engines of as many distinct wheel arrangements during its 39 consecutive years of all-steam operation. Strasburg's success has inspired a host of other lines. In 1999 alone, the Guide to Tourist Railroads and Museums listed seven shortlines offering regular weekend steam-powered excursions during the summer season; several other operations offered more intermittent service. Together, they make the Keystone State a mecca for the branchline steam enthusiast. | ||
 | That Pennsylvania should be the heartland of shortline steam is no surprise in light of the state's unique contributions to American industrial history. Carl Sandburg may have celebrated Chicago as the "player with railroads," but it was Pennsylvania which mined the coal, cast the iron and steel, rolled the rails, and built the steam locomotives. To this day, nearly every longtime Pennsylvania family counts among its ancestors dozens of men and women who worked on the railroads which fueled America's industrial revolution. The ties between Keystoners and their steam trains run deep. Local affection may have created the initial impetus for preservation, but proximity to the East Coast megalopolis has helped ensure success. Almost no point in Eastern and Central Pennsylvania is more than a four-hour drive from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. Steam may delight the railfans and preservationists among us, but it's the day-trippers and their tourist dollars which underpin the steam railroad economy and allow the state to support so many distinct lines. So pack your bags, get a plane or an Amtrak ticket to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or Baltimore, and get ready to explore the bounty of Pennsylvania steam. | |
Travel Tips On Line Resources Photo Locations Non-Rail Tips Personal Recommendations | ||
| The Trains | ||
| In this essay we'll focus on five of the most distinguished steam passenger operations in Pennsylvania and areas immediately adjacent: the Strasburg Rail Road, the East Broad Top, Steamtown National Historic Site, the New Hope and Ivyland, and the Black River and Western in nearby New Jersey. For good measure, we'll also throw in one static museum whose irreplaceable collections make it a must-see for the student of steam locomotion: the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, located directly across the street from the Strasburg. | ||
| The lines we will discuss are: | ||
| Strasburg Rail Road: the oldest of the Pennsylvania steam shortlines, and still the gold standard by which others are measured. Founded in 1832, the Strasburg Rail Road still operates today under its original charter. For the first hundred-plus years of its life, the road eked out a homely existence transporting freight and passengers 4.5 miles between the Lancaster County village of Strasburg and a junction with the PRR's Harrisburg-Philadelphia mainline at Leaman Place. Embargoed in 1957, the line was well on the way to abandonment when a group of enthusiasts purchased the company and its charter. Passenger excursion operations began in 1959, and steam in the form of 0-6-0 No. 31 returned in 1960. Today the Strasburg maintains the heaviest schedule of any of the preserved Pennsylvania lines, operating every weekend from March through December, and irregularly in January and February. In 1970, the road completed a long passing siding at its halfway point, a picnic grove called Groff's. Since that year, half-hourly departures with two locomotives in steam have been a staple of the high summer season from late June through Labor Day. Power over the years has included a former Reading 0-4-0 Camelback (the last in steam), a PRR 4-4-0, and an exceedingly rare operating 4-4-2 Atlantic. Today, the road boasts a stable of four operable engines: No. 31, the ex-Canadian National 0-6-0 (Baldwin, 1908); No. 89, an ex-CN/Grand Trunk 2-6-0 (1910); No. 90, an ex-Great Western 2-10-0 (Baldwin, 1924); and No. 475, an ex-N&W 4-8-0 (Baldwin, 1906). In recent years, No. 90 and No. 475 have held down the bulk of the assignments. All the engines are maintained in the road's excellently-equipped shops under the direction of master mechanic Linn Moedinger, who more or less grew up working on the line. Today, the Strasburg shops not only maintain their own fleet, but do extensive outsource work for other steam operations around the country. In addition to the dense service and varied stable of motive power, Strasburg's other chief attractions are its beautiful coach stock and its gently scenic route. Strasburg's early saviors were devotees of open-platform wooden coaches as well as steam engines. From 1958 through the mid-1960s, they scouted out obscure sidings and branches of New England's Boston and Maine system, tracking down that road's extensive fleet of wooden cars which had survived in maintenance of way service. One by one, the cars were transported to Strasburg and restored to their former glory. Today, every Strasburg departure is guaranteed to include a matched consist of these amazing survivors. The countryside through which the Strasburg passes is gently rolling farmland, reminiscent of the atmospheric branchline photography of Charles Clegg. Many of the farmsteads adjoining the right-of-way are owned by Amish and Old-Order Mennonites, who still till and harvest their fields with horse-drawn equipment. When a Strasburg train passes by a horse-drawn mechanical reaper working a field, the turn-of-century atmosphere is almost too rich to be believed. | ||
| Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania: alone among the operations we're discussing in the section, the RRM of Pa is not an operating steam line. However, for the student of steam locomotives it's definitely not to be missed. Located directly across the street from the Strasburg Railroad, the Museum is unique in the comprehensive view it offers of the evolution of steam power on one of America's most storied railroads: the lordly PRR. The nucleus of the collection was pulled together by the Pennsy for the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. After the Fair ended, the Pennsy continued to add to the collection, which was stored in a disused roundhouse in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. As the great classes of PRR steam were retired, other representative engines were tagged for preservation at Northumberland: a D16 4-4-0, a K4 4-6-2, an M1 Mountain, a brace of H class 2-8-0s, a G5 4-6-0, and a E7 4-4-2 to name but a few. Facing straightened financial circumstances in the early 1960s, the PRR began to cast about for a way to relieve itself of the collection. In 1963 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania committed to building a railroad museum, and in 1972 broke ground at a site in Strasburg. The Penn Central merger momentarily threatened the deal, as some PC executives favored sending the collection in toto to the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. An eleventh-hour lease secured the collection's continued residence in the Keystone State, and the new Museum opened its doors in 1975. Even then, disaster nearly ensued. Penn Central Corporation actually continued to exist long after the formation of Conrail, as a holding company for the non-railroad property interests of the onetime PRR and NYC. It was this entity which held title to the collection. In the late 1970s, the desperate PC threatened to sell the collection, singly or in whole, to the highest bidder, just like any of the other assets in its portfolio. In an eleventh-hour deal, the Commonwealth finally purchased outright title to the artifacts in December 1979. Clearing up the title issue brought stability to the Museum, and set it on a course of steady growth and improvement. In 1995, the Museum dedicated its new Railroader's Hall, a train-shed like exhibit area which more than doubled the Museum's protected and climate-controlled indoor storage space. In 1999, the Museum dedicated a new 123' restoration shop, enabling skilled staff and volunteers to bring much of the ongoing conservation and restoration work in-house. Today, the RRM of Pa has matured into one of the top five or six railroad museums in the nation. To visit is to come face to face with one irreplaceable steam survivor after another: the last M1 Mountain, complete with its incredible "coast-to-coast" long-distance tender; the last L1 2-8-2; and one of the last two of the noble K-4s. In addition to these twentieth-century masterpieces, the Museum also boasts several priceless nineteenth-century survivors, including an 1888 Altoona-built H3 2-8-0, and the 1875 Virginia & Truckee 2-6-0 No. 20, displayed as a definitive example of Baldwin Locomotive Work's Philadelphia craftsmanship. | ||
| East Broad Top: the last surviving original narrow-gauge railroad east of the Mississippi; the U.S. oldest narrow gauge railroad still in operation; a national historic landmark, and one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "11 Most Endangered Sites": the East Broad Top Railroad of Orbisionia, Pa. is all this and more. Completed in 1874, the 3'-gauge EBT spent its first 80 years conveying semi-bituminous coal from Pennsylvania's Broad Top field at Robertsdale to a connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Mt. Union. Up to WWII, the EBT more or less thrived alongside its parent coal industry. After the war, however, the remaining mine owners in the EBT's territory either shut their doors, or turned to more flexible highway trucks for delivery. In 1955, the EBT's owners filed for abandonment. The last train ran in April 1956. For the next four years the EBT slumbered. Nothing was sold off, moved, or destroyed; the last crews simply dumped the fires, locked the doors, and walked away. When the property was ultimately sold to Kovalchick Salvage Co., the largest scrap dealer in Pennsylvania, the little road's fate seemed sealed. Yet new owner Nick Kovalchick had other ideas. 22 million tons of coal still remained in the Rockhill Company's lands, and Kovalchick thought that there might yet come a day when the coal would be valuable again and he might want a working railroad to move it. Instead of scrapping the EBT, he let it lie just as the employees had left it: a kind of railway in amber. So matters stood until 1960, when the citizens of Orbisonia approached Kovalchick with an idea: would he consider letting a train run to help the town celebrate its bicentennial? Nick agreed, and in short order EBT #12 re-emerged from the Rockhill Furnace roundhouse. Rechristened "Millie" to honor the owner's daughter, the trim Mike was soon back at work hauling capacity trains of tourists up and down 3.5 miles of reconditioned track between Orbisionia and the picnic grove at Colgate. Pleased with the experiment, Kovalchick consented to an extension the next year, and the year after that, and so on right down to the present. Today the EBT soldiers on, its future as precarious as ever. As a complete, intact, turn-of-the-century industrial workplace, the EBT is eminently worth of state or federal preservation, yet so far efforts to secure an agreement between government agencies and the owners have been to no avail. Each year brings the threat that the excursions may not be renewed; as bad or worse, each year sees further damage to priceless infrastructure: the roundhouse, belt-driven machine shop, boiler shop, foundry, tools and parts which the Kovalchicks cannot singlehandedly maintain. The final chapter has yet to be written, and there's an outside chance that the road may yet end up in the hands of the scrappers. The EBT and its amazing Rockhill Furnace yards and shops are worth a visit at any time, and you can ride in an open car or a vintage wooden coach or caboose behind Mikado No. 14 on any summer weekend. However, the EBT really comes into its own once a year, during the annual Fall Spectacular on Columbus Day weekend. Double-headers, photo freights, and matched passenger consists are the order of the day; this is the only time of the year that you can find all four of the road's operable Baldwin Mikados, Nos. 12, 14, 15 and 17, in steam at the same time. Listening to one Mikado switching, while another whistles for the grade crossing at the yard throat, and a third backs off the turntable is enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. As an added bonus, the railroad offers guided tours of the shop building interiors during the Spectacular: it's the best chance you'll ever have to see a completely genuine turn-of-the-century American steam railroad maintenance facility. This is gritty, industrial steam railroad heritage at its most authentic. | ||
| Steamtown National Historic Site: the subject of enormous controversy during its sudden transition from private foundation to Federal park ten years ago, Steamtown has matured into a mainstay of the Eastern steam scene. Founded in New England in 1960 by the iconoclastic entrepreneur, evangelist and steam enthusiast F. Nelson Blount, the Steamtown collection was very much the product of one man's idiosyncratic vision. Blount's desire was to preserve as many as possible of the vanishing mainline and short line steam locomotives of North America, and display them together in all their variety and glory. Soon dozens of engines of a bewildering multitude of types and predecessor lines were gathered together, first at various sites in New Hampshire, and later in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Blount's death in a private airplane crash in 1967 put an end to the grand vision. For the next seventeen years the Steamtown Foundation struggled to make a go of it in its remote New England location, while the bulk of the collection—stored outdoors year round, even in the harsh Vermont winters—fell ever deeper into disrepair. In a last-ditch attempt to revive their flagging fortunes, the foundation relocated closer to the population centers of New York and Philadelphia by moving to Scranton, Pa. in 1984. However, the operation continued to hemorrhage money. Then, powerful U.S. Representative Joe McDade single-handedly engineered the creation of a Steamtown National Historic Site under the U.S. Park Service. Preservationists cried foul at the sight of $80 million in federal funds going to rescue an ill-assorted and unmaintained collection on an indifferent site, while treasures like the EBT starved for funds. However, McDade saw a tourist bonanza for his district, and he was not to be denied. In 1988, the Park Service acquired all the assets of the defunct foundation, including 29 steam locomotives and 86 freight, passenger and work cars. After seven hard years of planning, reconstruction, and preparation, the NPS's Steamtown National Historic Site opened its doors in 1995. Today Steamtown defines its mission as interpreting mainline steam railroading as a technological system. To do so, it relies on its core assets: its steam locomotive and steam-era rolling stock collection, and its surviving structures inherited from the DL&W's Scranton steam shop complex. The core of the museum is a 13-bay roundhouse with a ninety-foot turntable, reconstructed from a surviving 1937 DL&W structure. Also of crucial importance is the steam locomotive backshop (built in segments in 1865, 1902, 1910, 1944 and 1948). Today Steamtown orients visitors to the role of steam locomotives and steam railroaders in North American history through extensive exhibits in the new History Museum and Technology Museum. They are then able to walk through the roundhouse on an elevated catwalk, watching skilled workers repair and service working steam engines. Frequent escorted tours take visitors through the backshop, which has been restored to its original function of providing heavy rebuilding for steam locomotives. Visitors can study changing steam design and technology by examining the static display engines in the yards. Finally, to put it all together, they can experience a 27-mile round trip behind a mainline steam locomotive. Steamtown's current operations rely on just three engines: Baldwin 0-6-0 No. 26, the former Eddystone shop switcher (Baldwin, 1929), Canadian National 2-8-2 No. 3254 (CN Kingston works, 1917), and Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 2317 (Montreal, 1923). The 0-6-0 runs short shuttle trains around the museum complex, while the two Canadian engines rotate as power for the mainline train. The 2-8-2 has been undergoing its five-year teardown and inspection, so the Pacific is currently the sole mainline power. In the Backshop you can also currently see the Altoona Railroader's Memorial Museum's PRR K-4 4-6-2 No. 1361 (Juniata, 1918), undergoing a heavy rebuild, and B&M 4-6-2 No. 3713 (Lima, 1934), in the early stages of restoration for service at Steamtown. Mainline excursions run between the park site in downtown Scranton and Moscow, Pa., via the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad, a remnant of the former DL&W mainline through the Poconos to the Delaware river. The excursion trains operate weekends from Memorial Day through the first weekend in November. Shorter shuttles with the 0-6-0 operate within the park boundaries on non-excursion days and during the off season. | ||
| New Hope and Ivyland: Founded in 1966, the NH&I operates over 16.7 miles of former Reading Railroad right-of-way connecting New Hope on the Delaware River with Ivyland in far northern Philadelphia suburbs. From the beginning, the NH&I has had a dual personality, operating as a steam-powered excursion railroad on weekends, and a diesel-powered local freight hauler during the working week. After a promising start, the NH&I fell on hard times in the 1970s and 1980s. Changes in ownership led to a county-sponsored buyout of the physical plant in 1974; a switching accident in 1977 and subsequent insurance concerns forced the freight railroad to give up excursion operations. Volunteer groups and nonprofit operators took over the excursion side of the house, and came and went through the 1980s. Steam operations became more and more infrequent, and the right-of-way became shockingly run down. Finally, in 1990 a new company, the for-profit Bucks County Railroad Preservation & Restoration Corporation, purchased the railroad from the county government. Working quickly, the new owners put the right of way in order, and contracted with Linn Moedinger and the Strasburg shop crew to spearhead a rapid rebuilding of former Lancaster & Chester 2-8-0 No. 40 (Baldwin, 1925). Under Linn's capable teaching, the new NH&I soon had the nucleus of a qualified shop crew all its own. Meanwhile, the spectacular turreted New Hope passenger station and the vintage brick freight house were restored to their former glory. All the hard work came together when No. 40 returned to steam in June 1991. Since then the BCRP&R Corp. has operated the NH&I as a successful and professionally-managed steam tourist hauler. Passengers are accommodated in a set of well-maintained and authentically-lettered former Reading steel commuter coaches built between 1913 in 1927. No. 40 is the only currently operating locomotive, but 0-6-0 No. 9, ex U.S. Army, and 4-6-0 No. 1533, ex Canadian National, remain on the property, both partially disassembled and stored unserviceable. Adding spice to the mix are two other visiting engines, neither of them remotely typical branchline fare: 4-8-4s No. 3028, ex-National de Mexico (ALCO, 1946) and No. 614, ex-C&O (Lima, 1948). The oil-fired Mexican Niagara is on a ten-year lease to the NH&I from its owner, the Great North Eastern Railroad Foundation. She's currently undergoing restoration in the New Hope shops, and is expected eventually to join No. 40 in service on the line. Ross Rowland's No. 614 is of course spending most of her time in northern New Jersey running fall excursions to Port Jervis, but she may return to the NH&I from time to time for storage and heavy maintenance. Steam excursions presently operate on weekends year-round over the four-mile upgrade segment from New Hope to Lahaska. On a trial basis this year, the railroad ran a diesel-powered weekend connection between Warminster, northern terminus of Philadelphia commuter carrier SEPTA's R2 line, and the steam train at Lahaska. This makes it possible to reach the steam operations via an all-rail connection from downtown Philadelphia. | ||
| Black River and Western: Technically not a Pennsylvania road at all, the BR&W operates steam-powered excursions on the former PRR Flemington Branch between Ringoes and Flemington in New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from the NH&I. Even more than the New Hope line, the Black River is a freight road as well as a passenger hauler. Steam operations are scheduled on weekends year-round, but when necessary take a back seat to the road's primary business of hauling diesel-powered freight. This may be irritating if you happen to catch an unlucky day with no live steam, but it does lend the operation a down-to-business authenticity sometimes lacking on the
more polished tourist railroads. BR&W's sole steam locomotive is former Great Western 2-8-0 No. 60 (Alco, 1937). With only one steam engine in service, it follows that diesel power must substitute for steam whenever the Consolidation requires servicing, repair or recertification. Such was the case for much of this past operating season, with No. 60 laid up through June for heavy running gear work. As best I have been able to determine, No. 60 is currently in back regular service, but a call to the railroad in advance of a trip may be advisable. | ||
| Download an information packet including this page's text. | ||
| Travel Tips | ||
| When To Go: Photography is perhaps most rewarding along these lines during the late spring and throughout the fall, when you have the best chance of getting crisp, blue-sky days. However, operating schedules for all the preserved lines are at their most dense in the high summer season from June through August, which can make planning a logical itinerary somewhat easier. | ||
| The Weather: Weather is east coast seasonal. Early spring can range from cold, persistent rain to stunning 70 degree days, luck of the draw. Summers are hot, humid, and usually hazy. Fall is the Pennsylvania's best season, with crisp, clear days in the 60s and 70s and a good chance of blue skies. | ||
| Maps: Any good road atlas will serve you well; USGS maps are very helpful for tracing the non-operating sections of the EBT, if your tastes run to industrial archeology. DeLorme's StreetAtlas CD-ROM is invaluable for preparing custom large-scale maps of your lines and scouting out photo locations and routes in advance. DeLorme also offers the complete set us USGS 7.5 minute (1:24,000 scale) topos on CD-RM. | ||
| Getting There: If you're flying into the area, international flights serve Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington National, and Washington Dulles. All are within two hours of the area. You can fly into Pittsburgh (a good base for the EBT) or Harrisburg. Except for the New Hope and Ivyland, none of the preserved lines are accessible by an all-rail connection. Amtrak serves Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. | ||
| Lodging: For everything except the East Broad Top, nearby lodging in the form of national chain motels abounds. Both Lancaster County (Strasburg and RRM of Pa) and Bucks County (NH&I, BR&W) abound in Bed and Breakfasts; consult any national B&B guide. Orbisonia and the EBT are quite a way off the beaten path, and there is no ready lodging in the town itself. Consult the Unofficial EBT Homepage (listed in the links below) for a list of lodging options. | ||
| Food: Lots of options everywhere. Gourmet dining is available in Lancaster and the New Hope area, and Scranton offers all the eating choices of any small American city; simpler hearty American fare is more the thing in Orbisonia. | ||
| Money & Prices: You'll find ATMs at or near all the major tourist railways. | ||
| Timetables: Most of the tourist lines tweak their schedules during each off season, and days of service and density of service can vary seasonally. See the railroads' Web pages for details. | ||
| Online Resources | ||
| Use the following links to plan your trip to the Pennsylvania steam lines: | ||
| Strasburg Rail Road: the official site, intended mostly for tourists and daisy pickers, but including a complete annual schedule. | ||
| The Time Machine: my own black and white photoessay covering the magical years in the mid-1980s when the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's PRR 4-4-0 No. 1223 and PRR 4-4-2 No. 7002 were in operation simultaneously on the Strasburg Rail Road. | ||
| Northeast Rails' Strasburg Gallery: images of Strasburg motive power through the decades. | ||
| Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania: the official pages, including hours, directions, a complete annotated roster of the collection, and a history of the Museum and its facilities. | ||
| Unofficial East Broad Top Railroad Home Page: don't be fooled by the title, this is the definitive EBT resource on the web. A must-read before your visit. | ||
| The Last Coal Road: my own web essay describing the sights and sounds of a typical day's visit to the East Broad Top. | ||
| Steamtown National Historic Site Home Page: the official National Park Service site, including timetables and directions. | ||
| Unofficial Steamtown NHS Pages: a very informative resource by two volunteers in cultural resources management at Steamtown; includes updates on activity in the backshop. | ||
| New Hope & Ivyland Railroad: NH&I's official web site. | ||
| Unofficial New Hope & Ivyland Site: an unofficial site covering the NH&I. Particularly strong on rosters and rolling stock history. | ||
| Pennsylvania Steam: a travelogue of Wes Barris' 1993 tour of several of the lines covered in this essay. | ||
| Pennsylvania's Railways: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's own site promoting its rail heritage. | ||
| http://www.maps.com - Maps.Com- order maps online. | ||
| http://www.mapquest.com - MapQuest- order maps online. | ||
| http://www.omnimap.com - Omnimap - order maps online. | ||
| http://www.delorme.com - DeLorme- maker of the "Atlas & Gaseteer" map books, and "StreetAtlas USA" and "3-D TopoQuads" (including Pennsylvania) CD-ROMs. | ||
| http://www.xe.net/currency - Universal Currency Convertor - self-explanatory. | ||
| http://www.mastercard.com/cgi-bin/atm/ - MasterCard ATM Locator - Find ATMs wherever you're going. | ||
| | No. 7002 waits for the call to duty on a June morning. | |
 | No. 90 prepares for a day on the line behind the enginehouse at Strasburg. | |
 | Locomotives run tender first from Strasburg to Leaman Place, and then return pilot-first back to Strasburg. Heading back, the line makes a large horseshoe curve through the fields between Leaman Place and Carpenters. There are a number of fine photos in this area. Respect the farmlands and don't trample the crops. | |
 | Another of the photo locations between Leaman Place and Carpenters. Again, please respect the farmlands and don't trample the crops. | |
 | At Carpenters, a small graveyard offers some interesting photo possibilities. No. 475 passes by in the background. | |
 | No. 90 passes an Amish farmer working in his field west of Carpenter's. | |
 | Pulling away from Carpenter's crossing. | |
 | A short distance west of Groff's picnic ground, a private crossing offers a fine view of trains accelerating uphill. No. 7002 has the commemorative "Broadway" (using cars from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's collection) under way on its return to Strasburg. | |
| Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania:lighting inside the exhibit hall is a challenge for photographers; a tripod is very helpful. Late afternoon offers the best light for the outdoor exhibits in the yard and turntable on the west end. | ||
 | Railroader's Memorial Hall at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Steam engines include (front row, l. to r.) L1s 2-8-2 520, H10s 2-8-0 7688, E7s (modified) 4-4-2 7002; and (back row, l. to r.) B6sb 0-6-0 1670 and G5s 4-6-0 5741. | |
 | H10s 2-8-0 7688 (Lima, 1915) exemplifies the RRM of Pa's impeccable standards of cosmetic restoration | |
 | L1s 2-8-2 520 (Baldwin, 1916), the only surviving PRR Mikado, in the Railroader's Memorial Hall. | |
 | M1b 4-8-2 6755 (Juniata, 1930), the only surviving PRR Mountain, stored outside in the West Yard. | |
 | RRM of Pa. Historic Preservation Specialist Allan C. Martin uses a high-pressure water gun to prep the running gear of Nickel Plate Berkshire 757 (Lima, 1944) for repainting. | |
| East Broad Top: the Rockhill Furnace Yards are open access, and you are welcome to walk around wherever you like. Use common sense, watch your footing, keep well clear of moving equipment, and step over the railhead. Pa. Route 522 parallels the entire active line north from Orbisonia. The bridge at McMullen's Summit is a classic photo prop, but be courteous and respect the property rights of the farmer who owns the adjacent land. The long fill is another classic photo spot: access it by turning left on Runk Road at the barn. | ||
 | No. 12, the smallest 2-8-2 owned by the railroad, is spun on the Armstrong turntable. | |
 | Strasburg master mechanic and EBT guest engineer Linn Moedinger (l) and an unidentified EBT fireman (r) lubricate EBT No. 12's main rod during the 1999 Fall Spectacular. | |
 | EBT Nos. 15 and 17 await their calls in the Rockhill Furnace yards during the 1999 Fall Spectacular. | |
 | Just out of the Orbisonia yards, No. 12 gets its train up to speed. | |
 | The wooden bridge that serves as a private drive just happens to coincide with the highest point of McMullen's summit, the only significant grade on the operating line. | |
 | The field at Runk Road provides a number of photo angles as the trains enter and exit Colgate Grove. Here a doubleheaded freight crosses the high fill. | |
 | EBT #14 framed by the one-lane truss bridge over Great Aughwick Creek at Runk Road. | |
 | Another shot at Runk Road as 17 returns its freight to Orbisonia. | |
| Steamtown NHS: | ||
 | ex-Canadian National 2-8-2 3254 and Baldwin switcher 26 perform a dual runby. | |
 | ex-CPR 4-6-2 2317 and ex-MILW 4-8-4 261 pose in Scranton for a night photo. 261 was the guest of honor during Steamtown's inaugural season. | |
 | ex-MILW 4-8-4 261 exits Nay Aug Tunnel near Scranton on her way to Moscow. | |
 | At Elmhurst, 261 has a demonstration freight in hand. | |
 | Just a bit further upgrade, the line runs along the edge of Elmhurst reservoir. | |
 | At Gouldsboro, 261 passes the ghost of an interlocking tower in the heavy fog.. | |
 | 2317 puts on a show at Tobyhanna. | |
| New Hope and Ivyland: the New Hope depot is a lovely Victorian confection and a classic photo prop. About 1/4 mile south of the depot right in the town of New Hope you'll find the famous "Perils of Pauline" trestle, the curved wooden trestle at which the original "girl tied to the railroad tracks" silent movie cliche was born. U.S. 202 parallels the right of way on the north, and Stoney Creek Road and West Mechanic Street parallel it on the south. An open field by the run-around track in Lahaska offers good wide-angle views. | ||
 | No. 40 gets some attention prior to the day's first run. | |
 | At the Sugan Road crossing the line bridges over Aquetong Creek near stone farmhouses. | |
 | Alongside Stoney Hill Road, 40 hauls a winter train. | |
 | Across the river from New Hope is Lambertville, PA., served by the Black River & Western. No 60 makes regular passenger runs, and can occasionally be seen on freights. | |
| Non-Rail Tips | ||
| Pennsylvania abounds in heritage and lovely scenery. In Lancaster County, the obvious attraction is the Amish country. For an unsentimental and highly accurate explanation of the Amish and Mennonites and their way of life, consult the reputable Mennonite Information Center. For those with an urge to shop, Route 30 east of Lancaster has become a major center of clothing and furniture outlet stores. Bucks County, home to the NH&I, is a major resort and summer home area. New Hope itself is gentrified to within an inch of its life, and home to a wide range of fine (and pricey!) shops. From either Lancaster or New Hope, Philadelphia with its cultural attractions and rich colonial heritage is a hop away. Scranton is a town still trying to recover from the devastating collapse of the anthracite coal industry and the drastic restructuring of Eastern freight railroading. Unemployment is high, and though the town is fighting back bravely it still has a distressed look about it. For the student of industrial heritage, however, Scranton is a gold mine. Take in any one of several mine tours; visit several old furnaces and iron industry historic sites, and consider a trip over the mountain to Honesdale, birthplace of the D&H and home of the famous "Stourbridge Lion." Orbisonia is a world by itself: to get there, you have to really want to get there. Again, however, for the industrial history enthusiast the region abounds in interest. Head up to the old EBT rail head at Robertsdale and visit the Broad Top Miner's Museum to learn about the coal and the miners who made the EBT a going concern. And it would be churlish not to note that the EBT is not too far from Altoona, the Railroader's Memorial Museum, the Allegheny Portage Museum, and Horseshoe Curve-- even though this is the "non-rail" tips section. | ||
| Personal Recommendations | ||
| Trip Strategy: Personally, I live within an easy day's drive of most of these lines, so I am fortunate in being able to make quick one-day ventures at whim. For those coming from farther away, a logical itinerary does pose some challenges. I would recommend packaging the railroads by region. EBT is near Altoona and its wealth of railroad history; I would shoot and ride the East Broad Top on Saturday and Sunday, and spend the remainder of my time exploring Altoona's railroad attractions which are open during the week. Strasburg and the RRM of Pa are of course adjacent to one another. During the high summer season, Strasburg runs every day, affording you some flexibility in planning. You might take advantage of this to shoot Strasburg and the Museum on weekdays, then relocate to New Hope for the NH&I and Black River on a weekend. Scranton is a bit away from the other sites we've covered, and best handled as a trip of its own. Again, excursions run only on the weekends, which hampers your ability to package the line into a logical itinerary with some of the others. It's not inconceivable to spend a Saturday at Steamtown and relocate that evening to Lancaster or New Hope, but you'd have to be a hardy and gung-ho sort. | ||
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| Erik Ledbetter is a regular volunteer at the Walkersville Southern Railroad, and a staff member at Railway Preservation News. He lives in the Washington - Baltimore metroplex. View Erik's "Steam Safari" web site here. | ||
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