Pennsylvania Railfan Roll Call

Welcome Randy!

I suppose I'll post here too.

My name's Mike and I've lived outside of Lancaster all my life. I was into trains as a kid; the fondest memories I have was the times my dad took me to Lancaster Station where I watched numerous FP40s, E60s and AEM-7s everyday. Occasionally, I'd get to stop by the Conrail [now NS] operated Dillerville Yard and talk with some of the engineers. And I clearly remember the time I was out at the Strasburg RR and I had [and took] the chance at operating a real diesel locomotive when I was still in the single digits of age.... the Operation Lifesaver demo in the trailer counts, right? And of course, I remember the numerous times of riding the Blue Mountain & Reading and the Strasburg railroads, along with the Gettysburg railroad [pulled by #76 no less].

I recently found myself back into trains. If I'm out for the evening railfanning, I'll either be somewhere on the Port Road, the Keystone Line, around Dillerville Yard or somewhere along the branchlines in Lancaster County, with the occasional trips to the Middletown & Hummelstown or Strasburg. I pretty much just takes pics, but recently have started with video [wrailfan on youtube].

So, there's my short bio......

My name is Bill Huston and I live in Elizabeth PA which is about 16 miles south of Pittsburgh. I've been a railfan since I was in my early 20s mainly at first a streetcar fan. I became interested in the trolley system when I was commuting to Pittsburgh on the bus and saw the trolleys running along Saw Mill Run Blvd. Instead of being stuck in traffic on the bus I would get off of the bus and get on the Library or the Drake streetcar line and beat the bus into downtown Pittsburgh by at least 10 to 15 minutes. I found out about the then Arden Trolley Museum, now Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and became a member there. Along the way I became a fan of railroads in general. I got married to a non-railfan and pretty much dropped out of the railfanning scene. After my divorce, I got back into railfanning and made a lot of trips around the state, Altoona, Sand Patch, have stayed at the Station Inn at Cresson a number of times. Severe arthritis and a bone condition have curtailed my railfanning to the computer since I use a wheelchair full time and no longer drive.
Currently I compile a list of news stories daily pertaining to transit for http://transit2talk.iforums.us/ which is a transit forum in the Pittsburgh area. Most of the members at this forum are bus fans, but I am slowly converting some of them into railfans. I do like most forms of transportation, automobiles (was in the auto parts business for 32 years before retiring) airplanes, buses, railroads, but my first love was trolleys.

My name is James. I live in NJ currently and I'm a NJ railfan but my in-laws are up in Scranton and we regularly head up there. There are lots of good things to see up there! We hope to move out to PA in the next year making me a more 'permanent' railfan of PA. I'm defintely following the Lackawanna cutoff project.. it would be fun to ride that someday. It's amazing how many times that comes up in conversation up there. New Hope and Ivyland is a cool place to visit as well. There are several other rail museums I have not made it out to yet in PA but plan on it down the road.

Hello All. I am Dennis Wetherhold Jr. Grew up in Allentown, PA and got started railfanning at a young age when some family friends would take me by the Allentown classification yard on River Road and we would watch Conrail hump cars. That was back in the 1980's. My dad would put up a 4 foot by 8 foot train layout ever year for Christmas with trains on it. I got out of it for a short time but with the arrival of my son got back in to it. When my son was 1 year old we happened to drive by the train yard and he liked it. Ever since then we have been chasing trains and I have been photographing them. I have a special interest in Conrail due to growing up in Allentown, We have been to Horseshoe curve twice. My wife's parents live in Laceyville, PA and I try to go out and find old lines and trains in that area when I am visiting. my railroad photos can be see at http://mysite.verizon.net/axe33/railroad.htm

Name here in Mike...live on the other side of the Delaware.. across the street from the old CNJ Barnegat Branch ROW. My grandfather worked on a Pa RR but not sure which one!Been to Strasburg and all the spots to visit there, Was in AllentownPa over the weekend with a friend who showed me around.
Some shots from Canal Park

Hello all, my name is Brian, and I live about 1/4 of a mile from the Abrams Yard in King of Prussia. I used to live in the townhouses that but up directly to the yard, my deck was facing the yard. I've been a closet RR fan my whole life lol. I grew up in Phoenixville, and I spent many days of my youth walking the Reading Mainline, Pennsy Schyulkill Valley line and Devault Line, and the lines on the former Phoenix Steel Property. I also used to walk the Reading line to Kimberton (Pickering Line?). Phoenixville has 2 train tunnels, Black Rock and the abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel (Pennsy). Both the Reading line to Kimberton and the Pennsy SV line were inactive when I was old enough to walk it, but all the trackage was still in place. I still check out the abandoned tunnel on a regular basis, a close friend owns property directly adjacent to it. I haven't walked through Black Rock in about 25 years. A hoghlight of my youth was when my mother and my grandmother took me to Philadelphia on a train out of Phoenixville. I remember being in the waiting room of the station and riding the train down. I'm not sure if it was a SEPTA train or a Reading, since it was before the days of Conrail. I believe SEPTA had a contract with Reading for service then, I could be mistaken. Anybody?

A recent highlight was finding the location of the old Bridgeport Roundhouse, which I actually drove on today. I always wondered where it was, then found photos on PennPilot.psu.edu and compared them to Google Maps photos. I went on my lunch break today. You would't even know it was there...

Anyway enough about me, I hope to meet some of you soon!

69chargerse wrote:A hoghlight of my youth was when my mother and my grandmother took me to Philadelphia on a train out of Phoenixville. I remember being in the waiting room of the station and riding the train down. I'm not sure if it was a SEPTA train or a Reading, since it was before the days of Conrail. I believe SEPTA had a contract with Reading for service then, I could be mistaken. Anybody?

Hello, Brian. Sometime around 1974, SEPTA took over control of the ex-Reading passenger services. That included not only the electric trains, but also the diesel survivors of what was once intercity service. The only perceptible change for the public after April 1, 1976 was that the trains were still SEPTA's but Conrail was the new contract operator. That arrangement remained until the tragic discontinuance of all diesel passenger services in July 1981.

I'm Frank Florianz, and was born in Paterson NJ, and after living in a lot of different areas in the country, now live in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I'm 56 and my main interests are the regional fallen flags and streetcars/interurbans. My earliest interest was the Erie-Lackawanna, and I have quite a few vintage photos here (late 60's/early 70's):
http://viewoftheblue.com/photography/
I'm always searching myself on the web for interesting information and rail history.
Best wishes to all...

New here. My name is Drew, I'm 32 from Pittsburgh and this is the view from my office window.



I've been a rail fan all my life. My grand parents lived next to the New Hope and Ivyland and as a kid I would run out to watch the steam train run by.

I've always been a fan of the Pennsylvania RR. My favorite engine being the mighty T-1. I haven't been doing much railfaning lately, but a recent need to go to Philly from Pittsburgh on the 28th has me back in with both feet.

I am also very into cars and run a GM/Ford/Chrysler enthusiast site.

I'm Jeff D'Amelio. Grew up in New Britain, RDG Doylestown Branch. My grandfather lived in Wynnewood for a time. From the street in front of his home we could look down the hill and see the trains on the Main Line. So I have interests on both sides of the city. Belong to the Lansdale Yahoo group.

Living now in Gainesville, FL

RCT&HS 1628

I live in the Slate Belt; have been for the most part since 2004. Before then, I lived on the west side of Bethlehem, and my apartment gave me a pristine view of the Main Line on the Lehigh River.

I've always been a railfan. My grandparents owned the pizza joint in Cresson, PA across the street from the Main Line back in the '80s, and I used to sit on the front steps and watch the trains all day.

I'm actually waiting to hear from the NYC Transit Authority to become a Train Operator.

I grew up next to the ex Erie main line (Now NJ Transit) in Little Falls, NJ in the 70's early 80's. My Great Grandfather was a surveyer and unofficial photographer for the lackawanna from 1903 to some time in the 50's. The pictures he took document the building of the four viaducts and show the land pre and post railroad. The most amazing is the valley that the Paulins Kill Viaduct was built over. The DL&W was a truly amazing railroad.
I knew about this site for years. I joined, posted a few times and just lost interest. Since I live in NY State (literally next to the Lackawanna's Syracuse Branch) and travel to Pittsburgh a couple of times per year, I'd love to find out more about their railroads.

Hello,

My name is Orion and I am a teenage rail fan located in western PA. I currently volunteer as a tour guide on the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad in Titusville, PA. It's a 13 mile short line running from Titusville to Rynd Farm. At that point, the railroad has an interchange with WNY&P. The line hauls freight all year long (plastics, wax, and lumber), and passenger services during the spring, summer, and fall. We recently had an enormously popular steam event. I live close to the B&LE and often have the pleasure of passing under a train at the tunnel located approximately five miles from my house. My aunt also has B&LE tracks in her backyard (Greenville, PA). I'm glad to join this forum; it looks quite interesting.

New to the board and state. I'm Drew living in Erie PA haven't gotten out much just trying to see what and who is out there. In about a month I'll be living a few blocks away from the CSX and NS lines threw Erie and like 2 blocks away from the CSX branch to the Erie water front.