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| Strasburg Rail Road; Paradise, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
The Strasburg Rail Road in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania has been a favorite for photo charters for several years now. With a nifty roster of four locomotives and an impressive fleet of vintage freight cars, it provides one of the best photo charter opportunities in the eastern United States. Winter charters are particular favorites, hoping for falling snow or at least snow on the ground. Lancaster County usually doesn't get significant snow fall in the winter, so getting snow when you want it is rare, and even snow covering the ground is present for maybe ten per cent of the days in winter. Even with those odds, two excursions in the past few years have been held with significant accumulations on the frozen fields, with one of those occurring on February 15 of this year. A nor'easter dumped a lot of snow on Strasburg on Thursday into Friday for the Saturday charter sponsored by Carl Franz. Power for the trip was ex-Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 No. 475, with a guest appearance by ex-Canadian National 2-6-0 No. 89. And as an added bonus, more snow fell during the day. The first runbys were held just after sunrise (not that you could tell, as significant cloud cover accompanied the snow throughout the day) with the warm glow of 475's firebox visible (
above). We'll take a quick look at the photos from the day with minimal commentary.
Just after 8:00 a.m. the special proceeded to Leaman Place Junction in Paradise, where the Strasburg connects with Amtrak's Keystone Corridor. A train heading from Harrisburg to Philadelphia and New York made an appearance at the junction.
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| Strasburg Rail Road and Amtrak; Leaman Place Junction, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
The Strasburg dispatched No. 89 to join in the fun, so it performed a few doubleheaders with 475. No. 89 would be the power for the regular passenger trains later in the day.
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Paradise, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
A prime photo location on the Strasburg is a new bridge that was opened in 2011. It made a nice broadside shot for the doubleheader.
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Paradise, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
The cemetery at Carpenters Crossing was pretty much buried in snow.
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Paradise, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
A lunchtime warmup provided an opportunity to check out the Strasburg shop. On the board is work for Strasburg 475 and 2-10-0 No. 90, an overhaul for Strasburg;s miniature Cagney locomotive, contract work on Rio Grande Southern 2-6-0 No. 20 and for Dollywood and even an annual inspection on Thomas the Tank Engine!
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Strasburg, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
After lunch the charter train had to work around the regular passenger train. CN No. 89 put on quite a bonus runby for photographers as it passed the freight at Cherry Hill.
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Paradise, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
More snow was falling as No. 475 made a runby at Cherry Crest Farm at Cherry Hill. The farm is a popular petting zoo in the warmer months and a
very popular corn maze in the fall.
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Strasburg, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
As the day wound down, one of the final runbys was done at an Amish farm located just beyond the Strasburg Rail Road yard,
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Strasburg, Pa.; February 15, 2014 |
Blowing snow overnight meant that for the second time in three days the Strasburg would need to run a snow plow to clear the line. While No. 475 handled the honors on Friday, an EMD switcher provided the power on Sunday morning.
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| Strasburg Rail Road; February 16, 2014 |
Once again, ex-CN No. 89 was powering the passenger trains. It made a nice sight from the coaling ramp in the Strasburg yard with the previous day's freight cars in the background.
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Strasburg, Pa.; February 16, 2014 |
And we'll finish with No. 89 on a passenger run as it returns to Strasburg at Esbenshade Road. You can find more photos from the two days
here.
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| Strasburg Rail Road; Strasburg, Pa.; February 16, 2014 |
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