Looking for feedback on the best railfan locations in the eastern US. My 9 year old son wants to take a weekend trip for his birthday in June to a new location. We have been to the Altoona/Horseshoe curve area the last two years and had a great time seeing 20 trains a day each time. Is there a better location in the eastern US?
Where from, where to, what do you want to see? Moves? Trains? Speed? Passenger? Freight? Old? New? Tourist? Standard gauge? Narrowgauge? Scenery? Yards? SIngle track? Multi tracks of 2, 4, 6? Ride? Watch? Pictures? No Pictures? Lots of (?)?
I love to see action from a train window and do a lot of trips to, in, and around the NYC area. This past Monday we rode NJT from Hackettstown NJ to Newark to New York Penn Sta…Amtrak to Poughkeepsie…walked the bridge in Pou…then MNRR to Grand Central Terminal (head end car, can see almost like a real railroader) and subway shuttle and 1 train to Penn Sta…NJT to Dover and Dover to Hackettstown. We saw lots of traffic both passenger and freight (CSX on the west shore of the Hudson, too) in transit, in yards, and on sidings, rode behind (and in front of) diesels and electric power (plus subway mu’s). Have done all kinds of trips on all lines of NJT, MNRR, LIRR, and many MTA. Also light rail (Hudson Bergan from Hoboken up to and through the former West Shore/O&W Tunnel at Weehawken is fun, or the HB-LR to West End Ave over the former CNJ Newark Branch ROW, or all the way down to the end in Bayonne along the LV, CNJ, etc. ROW’s), also selec t SEPTA Rail and Tranist (great ride on PATCO across the Delaware River in what would normally be the engineer’s seat).
Great rides are also achievable in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC. Not all lines nor all trips availabel weekend; likewise weekends can be somthing different which can’t be done on weekdays.
Don’ t forget the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum and the Strasburg RR in Strasburg, Steamtown in Scranton, and numerous tourist operations in eastern PA.
You cannot be a bored railfan in Eastern PA, NJ or NYC area unless you are interested in nothing.
Thanks much to henry6 for saving me the trouble of organizing and typing up a lot of that . . . [swg] I love your closing line !
Also recommend the Poughkeepsie high bridge, Steamtown, and Strasburg. Consider also the East Broad Top if it’s running on one of your weekends - a very scaled-down and approachable environment for a 9-year old. Also the Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern about midway between Allentown and Reading, PA. There’s also several good tourist operations in western PA, too - the Everett in Hollidaysburg, and the Oil Creek & Titusville in NW PA, etc.
For Class I action, CSX at Sand Patch is a close 2nd to Horseshoe. I also like Harper’s Ferry because the trail is on the railroad bridge, and you can ride Amtrak, and not far away is MARC in Brunswick. Further west the various lines in the Pittsburgh area can be pretty busy, and I understand that a lot of people like the eastern Ohio area, though I have no personal experience with it. If I were closer I’d look into the Buffalo - Erie - Cleveland corridor, as CSX has the busy ex-NYC main through there, and NS keeps its tracks polished, too, plus several good railroad museums and tourist operations.
Staying with NS and central PA, the Enola Yard is pretty visible, as is the Rockville Bridge, and the various lines in each direction, plus Amtrak’s Keystone service to/ from Phila. The GG1 and HARRIS Tower at the station can be viewed - HARRIS should be open by then on summer Saturdays.
Consider planning a short same-day Amtrak round-trip over some of the lines it runs on. For example - also in the Horseshoe Curve territory, as it happens - on Sunday afternoons (only) you can catch 1 train EB at Johnstown, ride for an hour or so to Altoona or Tyrone, then get off, wait a little while, and then catch the WB back to your star
…Jean and I have done the Johnstown to Altoona and back thing {that Paul suggested}, some years ago, when the schedule allowed us to do it during a weekday. And the ticket price was very acceptable.
We enjoyed doing it and had a bit of time at Altoona to look around and snap some photos. Enjoyed the complete trip. Back in Johnstown late afternoon and walked to our downtown Holiday Inn Hotel on Market street.
If Amtrak is an option for you, I’d suggest going out to Cumberland, Maryland, on the Capitol, and staying at the Holiday Inn there (a short walk from the station). You can get rooms with windows facing the tracks, and the traffic there is pretty heavy.
In answer to your original question, though: no, I don’t think there’s a better place to watch trains than in the Altoona area. I would suggest a two-night (minimum required) stay at the Station Inn in Cresson. If you wanted to go to the Curve from there, fine. But if not, you could spend the entire day (and into the night, if you wanted to!) on their porch, and see everything that goes around the Curve, and maybe a bit more.
I don’t know what your definition of the “Eastern U.S.” is, but we took a trip est last month (which included both the Holiday Inn in Cumberland and the Station Inn), and saw plenty of trains at those spots, as well as at Roanoke (NS) and Clifton Forge (CSX), Virginia. The surprisingly busy spot for me was Cincinnati, which might be too far west for your weekend: if you do that one, stay at Courtyards by Marriott in Covington, Kentucky–it’s right next to the CSX bridge over the Ohio River, and I was surprised by the volume of trains through there.
Oh, and welcome to the Forums! Come back often, and let us know how things go! I know of another nine-year-old whose dad posts regularly here, and you two ought to try and meet up in northern Ohio sometime.
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Since I don’t believe railfaning is just watching or riding trains, I would also suggest the coal mine at Ashland and the Anthracite Museum and Mine in Scranton, the Logging Museum between Coudersport and Galeton on Route 6, and Roadside America on Route 22 near Reading. Take the trolley ride and see what in street and interurban electric running was all about at the Electric City Trolley Museum adjacent to Steamtown in Scranton. What kid doesn’t like candy.?..Hershey’s and Hershey Amusemtent Park at Hershey (not far from Harrisburg). There are pretzel and potato chip factoriies in the land that love to give tours, too. Where you staying? As mentioned, the inn at Cresson and another at Gallitzen are for railfans, so is the Caboose Motel near Strasburg. The Toy Train Museum is there too. Go to Philadelphia so much there for the whole family plus real trolley operations and subway trains in addition to Amtrak, CSX, Conrail, NJT and SEPTA Rail.
Again, you haven’t said where you are coming from or what your specific interests are. But also, it is always fun to broaden your interests or even take a look at another aspect even if it is just once,
First of all: [#welcome] MJ Harris74
Hope you enjoy your visits here!
You do not indicate a home area, but with visits to Altoona, my guess is someplace around the woester or Central Pennsylvania areas(?).
Both Henry6 and Paul North, and Quentin [Modelcar] have made some excellent suggestions for railraod themed visits around that area. The Internet is another excellent resource to check on and plan and schedule a trip. Another resource to use to ‘visit’ proposed stops is you Tube ( loaded with many railroad themed videos. One of my personal Pennsylvania favorites is the ,Wannamaker,Kempton& Southern RR over west of Allentown area.
(linked) http://www.kemptontrain.com/history.htm [ I used to have a childhood friend that lived on that line]
That is just one of many choices up there. Listen to the others who live in the Northeast, they won’t steer you wrong.
Good Luck!
You will see 50 to 80 trains on the Curve a day, 80 is on weekends. Have a great trip.[:D]
If you would consider crossing the border into Canada, Bayview Junction is a great spot… 40 trains a day on average… and great places to view from public property…CN, CP, Via Rail, Amtrak…and usually a great mix of foreign power as well.
Don’t overlook the B&O Museum at Baltimore
Trolley museum nearby too, isn’t there ? Plus the light rail system, and various other places. Also, one of the Washington Metro - WMATA routes towards that way parallels the CSX freight lines, with frequent stations.
Baltimore!!!
the B&O, the light rail to Hunts Valley, water taxis in the harbor, and a lot of some sometimes wacky museums. Probably cheaper than a lot of the eastern big cities and you can dig a Polish sausage sandwich. Charm City!!!
I keep going there and still can’t get enough.
RIX
Growing up in Pittsburgh, living in Erie PA for a bit, and going to college 40 minutes from Altoona, I never gave much thought to railfanning outside my home state. It caused me to severely underestimate Washington DC and the I-81 corridor. DC has, almost literally, everything. Theres some pretty nasty places, but theres a lot to see from perfectly safe areas. And its pretty fun to be on the Blue line from Van Dorn heading to Alexandria, racing a northbound NER or the Palmetto.
Taking 11 up through Roanoke, Clifton Forge, Staunton and so on is really pretty and theres plenty to see. Theres also the NS tracks that run from Van Dorn to along I-66. You can drive in a big L from DC to Roanoke with a lot to have a look at. Murderous on gas though.
Wyomissing Junction in South Reading PA is pretty neat [:)]
You could definitely make a l-o-n-g weekend out of Steamtown-Strasburg-Baltimore. And you won’t really have much time to watch trains!
Steamtown is well worth the visit. If you don’t ride any more than the yard shuttle, you can probably knock it off in less than a day (I have no idea what their excursion schedule is). Can’t forget the trolley museum, which would probably round out your day, especially if you take a ride. Delaware-Lackawanna runs out of that yard as well (the Bridge 60 tower is where their dispatcher works).
An hour or two north and you can take in both Tunkahannock and Starucca Viaducts (the two are are about 45 minutes apart, maybe a little more). An interesting side trip if you have the time, but traffic on both is sparse.
Strasburg could well take up another day, especially if you take in the PA Transportation Museum and the Toy Train Museum, which are in the same area.
As already described, Baltimore is also worth a visit, and for all the reasons mentioned. You can even tour a submarine in the Inner Harbor area.
And that’s just up and down the I-81/I-83 corridor.
This is all pretty subjective, so I can’t say anyone’s wrong, but for railfan families it’s hard to beat Strasburg Pa., especially if you live within easy driving distance. There’s the Strasburg Railroad, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, the Toy Train Museum (it’s like Christmas gone berserk in there!), and the Choo-Choo Barn. (Don’t laugh, it’s better than you think!) For an overnight stay there’s the Red Caboose Motel. It’s got just about everything.
If you’re going up U.S. 11 thru the Shenandoah Valley, you will go over Natural Bridge, which is a pretty neat thing to see from underneath.