Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad

Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad
Reporting mark MIDH
Locale Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Dates of operation 1976–
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters Middletown, Pennsylvania

The Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad (reporting mark MIDH) is a shortline railroad which operates freight and passenger excursion trains in Middletown, Pennsylvania to Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, just outside of Hershey and Harrisburg.

Contents

Passenger excursion trains

The company uses both steam and diesel locomotives for passenger excursions. Coaches are 1920s-vintage Delaware, Lackawanna & Western cars. Passengers board at the 1891-era freight station in Middletown for an 11-mile (18 km) round-trip excursion along the Swatara Creek and Union Canal; a narrator relates history of the canal and various sites along the trip.

There is also a collection of heritage railway rolling stock displayed in the Middletown Yard. A more modern 1969 engine is used to transport freight trains. Freight service has been provided since 1976 and passenger excursion service has been provided since 1986.

Controversy

Though the railway owns the trackage between its two namesake towns, it currently only regularly operates as far north as the Indian Echo Caverns stop. Several yards north, lies the busy four-lane U.S. Route 322 and Hummelstown proper, where the railway connects with Norfolk Southern's (NS) busy Harrisburg Line freight line. Railway management has requested additional crossing allowance of the highway, as PennDOT currently restricts the railway to 12 crossings per year and is willing to install additional crossing protection (gates, additional flashers).

Freight business is minimal on the Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad. Management has stated that regular access to the NS line in Hummelstown would greatly help grow the railway's freight potential.

PennDOT said it believes more discussion regarding warning devices for the crossing is needed given the volume and type of traffic on Route 322, which is a semi-limited-access highway at that crossing. In addition, the Hummelstown Borough Council has expressed concern around quality of life issues (noise, odor, safety) with having more trains passing through town.[1]

External links

References

  1. ^ pennlive.com
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Norfolk Southern Railway • Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad • Steelton and Highspire Railroad
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See also: List of United States railroads by political division