Snow Freight On the Strasburg

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.

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.

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.

Strasburg Rail Road; Paradise, Pa.; February 15, 2014

The cemetery at Carpenters Crossing was pretty much buried in snow.

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!

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

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.

Strasburg Rail Road; Strasburg, Pa.; February 16, 2014

Random Ramblings -- Unspectacular

East Broad Top; Rockhill Furnace, Penn.; October 2002

We're entering October, and traditionally that would be a time for a staple of heritage railroading -- the East Broad Top Fall Spectacular in Rockhill Furnace, Penn. The Fall Spectacular replaced the Winter Spectacular in the 1980s when winter operations became too hard on the machines and men needed to run the railroad. Since the change, hundreds of the narrow gauge faithful would descend on Rockhill Furnace (a suburb of Orbisonia) each Columbus Day weekend.

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Over the years the number of locomotives in service for the Spectacular dwindled. From four in the 1980s heyday down to three, then down to two. Finally, for the last few years, only 2-8-2 No. 15 has answered the call. This year, no steam will operate. Nonetheless, the Friends of the East Broad Top will still be around and the folks across the street at the Rockhill Trolley Museum will still be running almost everything that runs. Even though there is no steam in the Aughwick Valley, if your travels take you near the area during the holiday weekend stop in and take a trolley ride and see the improvements being made to the EBT by the Friends. It'll still be worth your time.

In the meantime, let's go back to the days of yore (actually October 2002, and in full disclosure mode I'll tell you that this was actually shot shortly after the 2002 Spectacular during a charter organized by Carl Franz). EBT 2-8-2 No. 14 works its way through the shop complex at Rockhill Furnace, with the sand tower on the left. What's spectacular about the Spectacular is its absolutely unspectacular scenes -- this was just a plain ol' everyday occurrence in the 1940s and 1950s. Sometimes a steam engine going to work in the morning is spectacular in its own little way.