Strasburg Rail Road

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Strasburg Rail Road

Locale	Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Dates of operation	1832–present
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Headquarters	Strasburg, Pennsylvania

Strasburg Railroad #90

Strasburg Railroad #89

Strasburg Railroad #475

Two trains meet near Groff's Grove

Strasburg Railroad #89

The Strasburg Rail Road is a heritage railroad located near Strasburg, Pennsylvania. It operates excursion trains hauled by steam locomotives in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

Across the street lies the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (the Strasburg Rail Road functions as the Museum's link to the Amtrak main line in Paradise).

1 Rail Road and facility description
2 History
3 Locomotives of the Strasburg Rail Road
4 See also
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Rail Road and facility description

The 4½-mile Strasburg Rail Road takes visitors on a 45-minute round-trip journey from Strasburg to Leaman Place Junction. The train includes America's only operational wooden dining car which allows visitors to dine while riding. Attractions at the station include riding on a Cagney miniature steam train and powering a vintage pump car. A percentage of each train ticket is contributed to the Lancaster Farmland Trust.

[edit] History

The Strasburg Rail Road was incorporated by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on June 9, 1832. It is not known when construction was completed; the earliest known timetable is dated December of 1851, and the railroad received it's earliest national attention February 22, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln visited Leaman Place while heading to Washington, D.C., to be inaugurated. It is generally believed by local historians that a horse-drawn railroad existed from the mid 1830's until 1851, when the rails were replaced with heavier rail to accommodate the first steam locomotive the railroad ever purchased, the 4-2-0 WILLIAM PENN.

After some decades of quiet, lucrative service, the Conestoga Traction Company opened a new tram line from Strasburg to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1901. Due to this competition, the railroad ceased operating regular passenger trains, but operated one daily mixed train for some years more.

The railroad fell into the same hard times faced by other American operations following World War II, and in addition was damaged in the 1950's by storms. Because of the extensive washouts resulting from these storms, the Homlsher Estate, owners of the line, ceased all operations in 1957 and filed for abandonment.

At that point Henry K. Long, a railfan from Lancaster, organized a non-profit group to purchase the railroad and operate it. The fundraising was successful, and the railroad was purchased for $18,000 on November 1, 1958. On November 11, the first carload of revenue freight was hauled to what was then the only customer, a mill in Strasburg.

Tourist excursion service began on January 4, 1959, and the first steam locomotive, No. 31, arrived the following year.

[edit] Locomotives of the Strasburg Rail Road

[edit] Operating steam locomotives

4-4-0 3 Year unknown Strasburg Railroad (Live Steam Engine)
0-6-0T 1 1917 Porter Brooklyn Eastern Since 1999 (Rebuilt as Thomas the Tank Engine)
0-6-0 7312 1908 Baldwin Canadian National Since 1960
2-6-0 89 1910 Canadian National Since 1972
2-10-0 90 1924 Baldwin Great Western Since 1968
4-8-0 475 1906 Baldwin Norfolk and Western Since 1993
4-6-0 972 1913 Montreal Locomotive Works Canadian Pacific; Not in operation - currently being restored by the railroad
0-4-0 1187 1903 Baldwin Reading Last Operation 1967 - Also being restored by the railroad

No. 1 was formerly BEDT [Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal] engine #15, rebuilt as Thomas the Tank Engine by the shops at the Strasburg Rail Road. In a private letter from the railroad's Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer to S. Berliner, III, dated March 13, 2000, the V.P. reportedly stated that "Thomas is indeed made from BEDT #15. While I know this is disturbing to BEDT fans the fact remains that the locomotive is operating and well cared for. Though Thomas is not exactly in line with our mission of recreating early 20th century railroading he serves a more important purpose. He makes steam exciting for the next generation. Hopefully sacrificing the historical integrity of #15 will ensure that steam will be around well into the future." ^[1]

No. 89 was purchased from the Steamtown Foundation in 1972. Enroute to Strasburg that June, it was caught in Penn Central's Buttonwood, Pennsylvania, yard when the Susquehanna River flooded over the locomotive's stack, delaying its debut at Strasburg.

No. 1187 ran as No. 4 between 1962 and 1967. It was retired as being of inadequate strength for the Strasburg's heavy trains.

Over the past several years, many groups have scheduled photo charters, and pay the railroad to reletter the Locomotives in their Heritage paint.

For the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad, #475 and three passenger cars were relettered "Indian Valley" (though only two were used).

[edit] Former steam locomotives

Pennsylvania Railroad D16 #1223 on the Strasburg Rail Road in 1989

4-4-0 1223 1905 Juniata Pennsylvania Railroad 1965 - 1990
4-4-2 7002 1902 Juniata Pennsylvania Railroad 1983 - 1989 formerly known as 8036 until it was changed to her sister's number for a display at the World's Fair to replace the world's fastest locomotive at that time, which had already been scrapped.
4-4-0 98 1909 ALCO Mississippi Central (Never operated at Strasburg)

All three former steam locomotives were owned by outside individuals or companies.

Both 1223 and 7002 were leased for operation. 1223 was leased by the P.R.R. from 1965 to 1968, by the Penn Central from 1968 to 1979 and from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1990. 7002 was leased from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Today, 1223 and 7002 are static displays in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Number 98 was owned by Thomas Marshall. It sat on the property from 1962 to 1964 as a static display. Originally, it was planned to be operated on the Strasburg Railroad, but Mr. Marshall moved it to Delaware to operate on his Wilmington and Western steam railroad. 98 is in operation there today.

The railroad also had some 4-4-0 steamers similar to the 1223 in its beginning. The William Penn steamer was the railroad's first locomotive.

[edit] Early internal-combustion locomotives

The Strasburg Railroad also has a collection of early internal combustion locomotives. All are in operation.

1 1926 Plymouth Owned by the Strasburg since 1926
2 1910 Plymouth Owned by the Strasburg since 1984
10 1885 Railcar Former Lancaster Oxford & Southern (LO&S)
9331 44-ton Former Pennsylvania Railroad

Locomotive No. 1, a gasoline-mechanical Plymouth, dieselised the short-line. It was the only locomotive in service until the arrival of No. 7312 in 1960.