Pennsy main line to Chicago

John:

Assuming you are talking about Elizabethtown, PA.  NS may run a local or two over this line but, it is owned by Amtrak and they account for the lions share of the train traffic.

Curt

With the stink about AMTRAK using megamergers' track, l am surprised A..... owns its own track. How is the upkeep on that?

Thanks Curt, I was hoping to catch a few Heritage units going by.  I guess I will have to go to Enola yard to see them. 

John

Last time I rode between Harrisburg and Philly there was still a lot of stick rail and max speed was 90.  That was at least 15 or so years ago and I’ve read it’s prety much all CWR now with a max speed of 110.

Curt

John,

You will have to drive to Harrisburg to catch the trains coming from and going to Reading. At E-town you are not too far from the Reading line. It's  pretty busy  and Heritage units appear regularly.

On the H-burg line you won't even hear trains blowing for the crossings since all of the crossings in your area were eliminated recently. 

The best part of living along the line is the fast trip to Philly on Amtrak. 

colorado hirailer posted:

With the stink about AMTRAK using megamergers' track, l am surprised A..... owns its own track. How is the upkeep on that?

Ex-PRR lines between New York-Washington and Philly-Harrisburg conveyed to Amtrak at the creation of Conrail in April,1976. That was 42 years ago, guess you missed the news. 

God bless ya!  I moved to E-taaahn (PA Dutch pronunciation) in 1975, and my last PA address was Palmyra, when I left in '08.  You have a very easy and pleasant drive to the local railfan hot spot which is in Hershey at the Derry Road crossing - plug this into Google Earth and it should take you to the spot:

40.292203, -76.645866

Just head up 743 to Hershey, turn right on E. Chocolate Avenue, turn left on Mansion Road and left, again, on Derry Road.  The parking lot is on the southeast corner of the intersection of Derry Road and the railroad.  There are folks hanging around there most evenings and both the Derry Township Police and the NS Bulls are OK with all this provided that everyone behaves responsibly.  Hershey is not a town, as such, but only a post office in Derry Township.  You'll learn all this and other folkways in short order.  I can put you in touch with some local droolers if you'd like - just email me.

Harrisburg is a tangle and you won't see fast freights because they must use an old interchange connection between the Reading's Lebanon Valley (Lepnin Walley) and the PRR which was never intended for speed.  However, old Harris Tower has been acquired by NRHS, has been restored and is a great place to watch both AMTK and NS ops in the company of kindred spirits - when its open:

http://harristower.org/

I have fond memories of the Broadway flying westbound through E-town behind GG1s and smelling the ozone, the fumes from the charcoal range and what was cooking for dinner in the diner.  Enjoy!

Yep I missed it, been working for the Feds all over the US for 40 years, I retired recently and I am heading home to the motherland. Thanks everyone for the input. I have yet to see a heritage unit, living in the DC area you get CSX, Amtrak, and VRE, no NS to be seen.

juniata guy posted:

Last time I rode between Harrisburg and Philly there was still a lot of stick rail and max speed was 90.  That was at least 15 or so years ago and I’ve read it’s prety much all CWR now with a max speed of 110.

Curt

Curt, I watched a Amtrak zip by doing at least 100 MPH SWIIISH>>>> it all seems to be welded rail now with concrete ties.