We present three chapters featuring glorious steam from Pennsylvania:
Strasburg Steam: Freight & Passenger
- Strasburg Rail Road was founded as a horse-drawn railroad in 1832 in
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to connect its namesake town to the
junction with the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Steam took over in
1851 and the railroad survived until 1957, when it was sold to rail
enthusiasts for $18,000. Since then it has become a very successful
tourist operation. Most visitors don’t realize it is also a modern
freight hauler, connecting today with Norfolk Southern. Best of all, in
the summer months the freight is sometimes handled by steam! We present
two days of freight and passenger operations with locomotives 89 and 90.
Pennsylvania 643
- this good-looking 0-6-0 switcher was built in the railroad’s Altoona
Shops in 1901. After 16 years on the Pennsylvania RR, it worked for 40
years at a steel plant. In 1961 it was purchased by the Williams Grove
Historical Steam Engine Association and returned to its original PRR
livery. This is currently the only Pennsylvania Railroad steam
locomotive in operable condition. The all-volunteer Williams Grove
Railroad also rosters a classic center-cab diesel switcher built by
Vulcan Iron Works in 1953, and is operating in the program.
Winter Doubleheader
- two very different locomotives from the 1920s have teamed up to
provide winter excursions from Minersville, PA on a branch of the
Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad. The trips were headed by
the larger of the two locomotives, Reading & Northern 425, a 4-6-2
Pacific type engine, built by Baldwin in 1928. The second engine,
Central Railroad of New Jersey number 113, has only recently returned to
service after being retired in 1960. The 0-6-0 is a switch engine and
designed for power. It was built in 1923 by the American Locomotive
Company, in Schenectady, NY. Our program features steamy footage from
the first two years of the Winter Doubleheaders.
