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Strasburg Railroad/History Channel

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  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: The Gap between Philly and Harrisburg, Pa
  • 245 posts
Posted by KingConrail76 on Monday, February 18, 2008 1:18 AM

Being very familiar with the Starsburg Railroad (I live about 5 miles from it), I wanted to clearify an earlier assumtion about the relationship between the Strasburg Railroad and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, across the street.  The Strasburg Railroad is a privatly owned and operated Railroad, dating beyond 1852. It is an honest to goodness Chartered Railroad, which on occasion still hauls revenue freight (interchanging with Norfolk Southern at Leaman Place) for one local customer to a team track located behind the "touristy" area. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission. Though the Strasburg Railroad does do restoration work FOR the museum, they are not associated in anyway other than being across the street from one-another. In addition to Tourism, Museum work, and rare revenue freight, part of the Starsburg Railroads income also comes from restoring Equipment for use in Motion Pictures and museums other than the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Though I don't like how crowded our small local communities become during "Tourist Season" Banged Head [banghead]...Do I need a special licence for that and what is the bag limit?..Laugh [(-D]....both of those are great places to visit, and you might enjoy staying at the Red Caboose Motel, just a 1/4 mile down the road...you can actually sleep in a converted Caboose...Roadname of your choice, of course....or the National Toy Train Museum, next to the Red Caboose Motel.

Even though I live so close, I still try to get to each one atleast once a year, as the Railroad Museum often gets "new" equipment to place in their outdoor "yard" area.

<edit> One more note, just West of the Strasburg Railroad, is the Choo-Choo Barn and the Strasburg Train Shop, my LHS,...both of these are well worth the visit, but personally, I would avoid the Isaacs Resturant next to them. Bad experiance, Censored [censored] and I'm a local.

Steve H.
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  • From: Chamberlain, ME
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Posted by G Paine on Sunday, February 17, 2008 9:32 PM

We visited Strasburg Railroad a couple of years ago. One MUST SEE they do is their Back Shop Tour. They do it once a day at noon while the workers are at lunch. It is limited to 8 or 10 people, so you need to get your ticket early on busy days. You will get to see

  • Locos under repair, or boilers being rebuilt
  • Some old tools and equipment like the driver lathe. It machines loco drivers back into round and the proper contour. They were working on a driver set from a Challenger when we visited. This is a BIG piece of equipment, not many are left anywhere
  • They manufacture steam injectors in the shop
  • In the car shop some passenger cars were being restored and painted
  • In the engine house one of there locos was being readied for the afternoon runs
  • The instrument shop has a safety appliance test bench from the Reading RR. This is also very rare. It will test all functions of safety appliances before they are re-installed on the trains.

It is an excellent behind the scenes tour that most people never see. There is a similar tour at Steamtown.

The PRR Museum is located across the street from Strasburg. The have a great collection of equipment from the late 1800s to almost modern. We had limited time, so only looked at what was inside the buildings; there was lots more outside.

 

 

George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch 

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  • From: New Joizey
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Posted by SteamFreak on Saturday, February 16, 2008 7:12 PM

Here's a link to a local news story about the filming.

http://www.wgal.com/video/14985243/index.html
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  • From: south central PA
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Posted by concretelackey on Saturday, February 16, 2008 6:46 PM

Bumping as a reminder.....

Just checked both sites and they mention nothing on a set air date. This is what Strasburg has on their site...

http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/latest-news.php

 

Ken aka "CL" "TIS QUITE EASY TO SCREW CONCRETE UP BUT TIS DARN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO UNSCREW IT"
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 10, 2008 1:27 PM
 topcopdoc wrote:

Strasburg RR

Here is a photo several years ago when the Strasburg RR former PRR 1223 was still running. I am the guy in the middle not the brat in the corner.

Doc

That brat wasnt me neither. Supposing he was scooping the camera?

You would find me out on the deck of the open car Dolly trying to get a good look at that thing underway. =)

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  • From: New Jersey, US
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Posted by topcopdoc on Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:07 PM

Strasburg RR

Here is a photo several years ago when the Strasburg RR former PRR 1223 was still running. I am the guy in the middle not the brat in the corner.

Doc

Pennsylvania Railroad The Standard Railroad of the World
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Posted by richg1998 on Thursday, January 10, 2008 10:13 AM

The engine was connecting to the cars as I arrived. Still a nice display there. I was surprised by the smallish rotary snow plow. It was steam powered also. When I first saw it I thought it was diesel powered until I saw the firebox. I only had time to see a third of the yard.

Rich

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

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Posted by 92hatchattack on Thursday, January 10, 2008 8:04 AM
^^^ were you there early enough, or stay late enough to get inside the roundhouse while she was going in/out?  I thought that was the most impresive part when i was there. Got there early enough and they let you right into the roundhouse next to the loco, and to watch her pull out right next to you is a really awesome sight.
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Posted by richg1998 on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 7:59 PM

Thanks, I will be watching. I went there some years ago, 1985, and a Baby Decapod, #90, was pulling the train I was on. I was able to be in the observation car with a porch on the end and feel the heat from the smoke box a few feet away while the engine was pulling the train in reverse. Still have the book titled, The Road to Paradise. The museum was fairly new then.

Just returned from three hours at Steam Town in Scranton, PA. http://www.nps.gov/stea

Take a look at the web site. Nice but different than Strasburg. I was able to walk through the complete yard which has a 2-8-2 Canadian National RR loco pulling two passenger cars. It was cool (40F) and light rain. The two cars were heated by the steam line from the loco. Lots of coal smoke and steam. Definitely a heads up scenario. Got many photo and movies. Probably could not do that with warmer weather and crowds. A tiny 0-4-0 in front of the Big Boy looked like a toy.

 

Rich 

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

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  • From: Elyria, OH
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Posted by BRVRR on Monday, January 7, 2008 9:48 PM

My family and I visited the Strasburg Railroad in the summer of 2005. We had a great time. Road the train to Paradise and walked through most of the exhibits. This is a photo of #475, one of the steamers they had operating on the line the day we visited.

We also visited the PRR Museum. What a great place. I would dearly love to get loose in their back lot where they have some magnificent steam locomotives. Inside though, my favorite was this magnificently restored GG1:

I have a series of photos on my website of both the Strasburg Railroad and the PRR Museum. If you are interested, once on site, push the Railroading button and scroll down to the thumbnail of the Strasburg RR #475 or the photo of my grandson in the CR cab.

Enjoy!

Remember its your railroad

Allan

  Track to the BRVRR Website:  http://www.brvrr.com/

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Posted by 92hatchattack on Monday, January 7, 2008 8:27 AM

WOW,  cant wait to see it.  They really desirve all the exposure they can get. Strasburg is a fabulous railroad.  My very favorite!...

 Sorry guys, I just cant talk about Strasburg without posting a picture :)

 

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Posted by SteamFreak on Monday, January 7, 2008 12:33 AM

Thanks for the info, Ken. I'll be waiting for your updates with anticipation.

About 4 years ago Road & Track had a test drive of Strasburg's Decapod for their April Fool's Day article. Best issue they ever published. Smile [:)]

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 6, 2008 9:26 PM
 concretelackey wrote:

No problem on the heads up!

Although I live only 45 minutes from the Strasburg RR and the RR Museum of PA I'm not sure how interconnected they are, if at all.

I was out there twice last year, once to the museum (I think on Mother's Day they have free admission) and once on the running steam trains when we had relatives from western PA come and visit. At the time I was just impressed enough to be able to touch history and now that modeling trains has become an interset again I wish I had taken more pics and video.

The D class 4-4-0 number 1223 was used when I was young by Strasburg and now it sits inside that Museum. I'd say it's pretty connected. =) That Museum used to be a side trip whenever we went up there.

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Posted by Tjsingle on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:36 PM
Yeah, the musuem is a great place to learn about, PRR, reading, Conrail, and other great railroads.
  • Member since
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  • From: south central PA
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Posted by concretelackey on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:34 PM

No problem on the heads up!

Although I live only 45 minutes from the Strasburg RR and the RR Museum of PA I'm not sure how interconnected they are, if at all.

I was out there twice last year, once to the museum (I think on Mother's Day they have free admission) and once on the running steam trains when we had relatives from western PA come and visit. At the time I was just impressed enough to be able to touch history and now that modeling trains has become an interset again I wish I had taken more pics and video.

Ken aka "CL" "TIS QUITE EASY TO SCREW CONCRETE UP BUT TIS DARN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO UNSCREW IT"
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Posted by Tjsingle on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:28 PM

thanks for the heads up!

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:25 PM
I was there many years ago and it was a blast. I was amazed at the variety of locos that I saw although because I couldn't stay long there was much that I missed including a ride on the train. Would like to go back sometime-Bob
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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:23 PM

Double Sweet!

About time Strasburg gets some exposure.

  • Member since
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  • From: south central PA
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Posted by concretelackey on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:23 PM
I'll try and keep everyone informed on the air date. I'm sure that the local news (both paper and tv) will be on this.
Ken aka "CL" "TIS QUITE EASY TO SCREW CONCRETE UP BUT TIS DARN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO UNSCREW IT"
  • Member since
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Posted by Tjsingle on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:21 PM
Sweet, I love Strasburg.
  • Member since
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  • From: south central PA
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Strasburg Railroad/History Channel
Posted by concretelackey on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:20 PM

Local newspaper ran an article today. Seems that the History Channel has a Modern Marvels film crew in Strasburg Pa for about one week shooting footage for an episode to air in march sometime. Not sure if they are heading across the street to The Railroad Museum of PA though.

Just a heads up.........

Ken aka "CL" "TIS QUITE EASY TO SCREW CONCRETE UP BUT TIS DARN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO UNSCREW IT"

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