First, this is not related to N-scale, but it is about trains. Towards the end of June, we are going on a two week driveabout east of the Mississippi. I live in Nebraska and want to see some trains on the eastern half of the U.S. I would like to visit a few museums, see some eastern trains (CSX, NS, etc.) running and any excursion trains that I can find. Can any of you help me by providing must-see trains east of the Mississippi, south of New York and north of South Carolina??? I have been to Chicago and see what I wanted to there, so I am primarily looking for things on the eastern seaboard. Thanks in advance.
If you can get into Strasburg PA you need to stop in and see the The PRR museum. Awesome to say the least. It's just outside Phila near Lancaster. You could also visit steam town up in Scranton PA.
The Altoona, PA area, including Horseshoe Curve is highly recommended. If you're near Pittsburgh, Station Square (shopping, restaraunts, etc) on the south side is right by the CSX main while the NS Mon line runs along the hill behind it. There's probably quite a few places where NS and CSX run nearby along the east.
The best 'side by side racing' in the east is the Cleveland - Erie - Buffalo corridor - going back to NYC vs. NKP in the steam days. Now it is CSX on a two-track main vs. NS on a one, but both are 70mph lines. The route roughly parallels I-90. North East, PA has a fine little railroad station museum that doubles as an excellent train watching spot to see both railroads. The GE plant at Erie is tantiliziningly close, but has few public areas of access and is dead-serious on the no-camera policy. In addition to the above things, I honestly think that Cass, WV is a 'must see', although it is out of the way and hard to get to. Shays going up 11% grades on the original logging railroad alignment is the 'real thing'. They also run almost all weekdays. As long as you're there, the little Climax 2-trucker is just up the road at Durbin. Western Maryland Scenic at Cumberland is one of the few that has big steam (LS&I 2-8-0) running a big train up a big hill, and does it all the time. Steamtown is now a scheduled event for an off-site trip - don't just drop in and expect to find something operating. If you're near Harrisburg, PA, it is awash in NS trains. Take Rt 11/15 on the west side of the Susquehanna River and see Duncannon, Cove, Perdix, the Rockville Bridge and the still-impressive yard and loco facility at Enola. There are pull-offs above the loco facility that you can observe safely without tresspassing at all. Across the river is the CP/NS line, single track but busy; Amtrak corridor at Harrisburg, CP Harris which is best viewed from the top of the public parking ramp on Forster St.... it's all good. Everybody has their opinions, but that's mine!
Although much more annoyingly difficult to railfan than it used to be, Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, especially between Newark and Rahway, is still one of the most densely used passenger train racetracks anywhere. I may be biased, though, I lived a couple of miles from Rahway. I register seconds on Altoona, Harrisburg, Strasburg and Scranton. Haven't been to North East but sounds like a winner. GE's Erie plant actually had a museum of sorts on the property but I don't have anything recent to share about that. There are numerous trolley museums in New England as well if that's of interest.
Go to : http://www.destinationdurbin.com/railroad.html for information on three Scenic/Tourist Railroads in the same general area in West Virginia. As randgust stated correctly: CASS, West Virginia is for SHAY Lovers! Go there and take LONG ride up the mountain, get the sights, sounds and excitment of an old logging railroad going up through the woods, being pulled/pushed by SHAY STEAM LOCOMOTIVES. Listen to the whistles echo through the hills, and meet some real nice and friendly people. Look for the Western Maryland #6 engine, a SHAY that must have had STEROIDS mixed in with the coal. HUGE ENGINE! One note: For lodging in the area, go to SNOWSHOE SKI RESORT, it's about 10 miles west of CASS. Wife and I went to CASS in 2004. Stayed at SNOWSHOE during the week of JULY 4th. 2 adults, 2 nights, $90.00 TOTAL! WHAT A DEAL!!! Nothing fancy but who cared? I didn't go there for a 5 star room, I wanted to ride behind STEAM! As you can tell I LIKE steam engines. And there are plenty of other chances to see steam in West Verginia and the the surrounding states also. Ain't Nothing Like a Steam Whistle! MARK
Check out the NC Museum of Transportation in Spencer, NC. It is quite impressive and the hobby shop across the street, The Little Choo Choo Shop, is one of the best I have found up and down the east coast.
I recommend the National Transportation Museum in St. Louis. We visited there while at the National Train Show in 2001, and there is a lot of neat stuff to see. For a ride, I might suggest catching Amtrak's Cardinal from Ashland, KY or Charleston, WV for the ride to White Sulphur Springs, WV (location of The Greenbrier) and back. If the timing is right this should be an out-and back with and overnight in WSS. Otherwise I'd suggest spending a night at Hawk's Nest State Park in West Virginia, and enjoy watching the coal trains rumbling up and down the valley on the old C&O New River Subdivision. Great mountain railroading in Wild, Wonderful, West (by God) Virginia! Adam
I was going to suggest this. There's also decent railfanning to be had in the area, as the NS mainline runs through. There's a concrete loading dock within the wye in Salisbury just north of the depot that tends to attract railfans for lazy afternoons of train watching. Last time I was there, I saw and photographed 4 trains in a little over an hour. The time before that, I spent much of the afternoon there and saw probably 6-8, including seeing one empty coal train three times (it turned on the wye and had to wait a couple times for other trains) and the Amtrak/NCDOT Piedmont passenger run northbound.
I "second" the suggestion to visit Strasburg PA. There are two great attractions directly across the street from each other. The train museum has an impressive collection (dozens) of locomotives, including a GG1, a DD1, 3 geared steam locos (including a Shay), many steamers and diesels. Just across the street is the Strasburg Railroad, which runs live steam trains hourly, pulling classic coaches through the Amish countryside. It's worth at least a full day.
The Illinois Rail Museum (IRM) is located in Union, IL, NW of Chicago. In central IL, you may want to check out the Monticello Railway museum in Monticello http://www.prairienet.org/mrm/ They appear to have a weekend operation Something to consider is the home base for the NMRA in Chattanooga TN & the Tennessee Valley railroad http://www.tvrail.com/ From there, it's a very scenic drive north in the valley of the Blue Ridge. You may also want to take the Parkway north into VA. Trains has an excellent link to train museums on their website. At least you get a chance to check days & times of operation before you go.
Glenn , thats the one I was thinking of. Monticello, I Just couldn't remember the name of it so I goggled up something quick.
The Great Smokey Mountain Railway ( http://gsmr.com/ ) runs in Western North Carolina, they have several excursion packages. Unfortunately their steam is down for maintenance. The Nantahala Gorge is spectacular! A 300 mile run up the Blue Ridge Parkway will take you to Roanoke, Va., but plan on several days for this run. Anyone who has been on the parkway will tell you that you will end up stopping every few minutes at the turnouts to enjoy the view! The Virginia Transportation Museum ( http://www.vmt.org/ ) has a Class J and a Y6 for exhibition plus many transportation exhibits. The O. Winston Link museum ( http://www.linkmuseum.org/ ) is also in Roanoke. Bob
Let's expand a bit on Illinois Railway Museum. It is the country's largest by a long shot with over 450 pieces in it's collection ranging from an ex-IC steam commuter loco reputed to have been run by Casey Jones to ATSF #92, an FP45 in warbonnet that is open for inspection. There's a "Little Joe" CSS&SB electric, a GGI, aw shoot, go to www.irm.org and check the roster! And while you're there, check out the web cams. There are four running 24/7. Today they're running a CNS&M interurban and a train pulled by SP 1518, the first SD7 (IRM also has the first GP7, oddly also a 1518, except C&NW!) including a coach and a caboose. Weekdays from May through October there are interurbans running. There are about three miles of track under cover in nine barns - all crammed with rarities. It's a really neat place and most worthy of a visit. The atmosphere is low key and you're more than welcome to simply wander around in search of treasures. You WILL find them!
Thanks very much for all of your ideas. I am planning to stop at some of these places and I would also like to see the Northlandz in New Jersey; has anyone ever been there? Is it worth stopping?
Northlandz is an interesting place. It is one of the many sites that claims the title "world's largest train layout" but it certainly has a shot at deserving the title. It is HO scale, multi-multi-level, and has a tour walkway that is in the range of an actual mile in length. The scenery is what I would call "theatrical" with huge mountains and dramatic features along with a considerable amount of animation. What makes me look for the "banghead" emoticon is the incredibly short trains that are run on this display. There are dozens of them, but they are not much longer than the consist of the average train set. Is this a major shortcoming? Maybe, maybe not; it's just that in the huge setting with hundreds of scale miles of track, it's a shame that prototypical length trains can't be a part of the action. If you are in the area of Flemington, New Jersey, yes, on balance I think it's worth a visit of a couple of hours. You're not likely to see what they offer anywhere else. There is an outdoor live steam sized railroad as well. And nearby is the Black River and Western for full sized rides if you catch them on the right day.
While in PA, check out the Tioga Central Railroad in Wellsboro. Fan trips using first generation RS1's from the LV and the centenial RS3 from the D&H (still in original livery). From there head north along Rte. 15 to Gang Mills and watch the NS switching and run throughs at the yard (a lot of loads for Corning, Inc. Bob
The East Coast is majorly overrated. Stick to Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio and you'll see more trains and save a ton of gas. There are plenty of places in those three spots to just kick back and railfan and also a number of museums and other tourist traps to enjoy. In additional to your usual Class 1 systems there are a number of regional railroads and shortlines to track down, major operations from both Canadian systems, and a few cool industrial operations to boot. Send me a private message if you're interested in hearing this is a bit more detail.
Hey, If your going to be in Jersey,check out the historic Hoboken Terminal.In downtown Hoboken of course:teeth: .If you have time,take a ride to Port Jervis & eat at The Erie Hotel.Great food !!!! I use to eat there 2-3 times a week when I ran up there.Then take a train back to Hoboken.
