Planning a trip to Strasburg

If you didn't do it last year, make sure you do the shop tour they do at noon.   

Eat at the Red Caboose Motel in a Pennsy P70 coach refurbished as a dining car - new managers; great food.

Sleep in a caboose overnight

Next day, ride Amtrak from Lancaster to Philadelphia. Take SEPTA from 30th Street Station to Market Street East (PA Convention Center). Go up 2 escalators and watch the 13-track trainshed (the largest single-span trainshed around) unfold overhead. Go back down 1 escalator and enjoy a meal in Reading Terminal Market.

Then go to The Franklin Institute (www.fi.edu). Have a cab ride in Baldwin demonstrator 3-cylinder compound 4-10-2 No. 60000. Also see the Dead Sea Scrolls and a show in the Fels Planetarium.

Come to think of it, be sure to enjoy the deli and ice cream at The Strasburg Creamery in downtown Strasburg at the town square, where Route 896 from Route 30 crosses Route 741.

I second the Noon Shop Tour. Get a ticket at the station and wait by the side door at the enginehouse.

The yard is closed sometimes. Best to call ahead and make certain the yard will be open when you visit.

The Strasburg may have The President's Car (Reading Business Car #10) on half-hour trains. Check online or call ahead to find out when it is running.

If you don't mind a short drive(about an hour)east on I-78 over by Hamburg PA, there is Roadside America in Shartlesville; a huge O gauge layout with Lionel trains.

Nearby in Hamburg PA, the Reading Railroad museum.

Lee F.

Thanks for the ideas guys. One thing I saw to add to the list is that they are adding steam to their morning freight trains in July, so I want to video that too!

As for Roadside America, that's about an hour from where I live, so I plan on doing that another day.

Per Kelly Anderson (SRC Vice President of Motive Power, Equipment & Shops) on another forum,