For those of us that enjoy lodging near the tracks, at places like the Station Inn, etc, there is a Hotel that is across from the Enola Yards in Enola, Pa…where I am typing this note from at this minute actually…the Hotel has dial-up service for laptop users. It’s called the Quality Inn Enola. Rte 11/15 is between the Hotel and the yard, plus a used car dealership across the street blocks part of the view, but if you ask for a front room facing the railroad, and get a room on the South end, you can see the Enola Dieselhouse and part of the yard…My window is open right now and I can hear Geeps pushing cuts of cars up the hump…Tomorrow, I’m heading up to the Rockville Bridge area and on up towards Newport. I usually stay in Enola 2 or 3 times a year.Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
…Boy, Dave you seem to be really into the railfanning bit…That computer connection is gaining in a plus to have in a hotel room, for sure. It’s been some years since I’ve been up that route but we surely did. Was on my way to Lock Haven. As I remember it was a real nice drive up through there. And If my memory serves me correctly we did get a view of the Rockview Bridge. That’s an awesome structure stretching across that wide area…I wonder how long it took them to build it so many years ago. That really would have been labor intensive. Too bad the Pennsylvania RR is no longer with us…Wonder why they didn’t see the problems coming in time to make a workable correction.
There is also a Comfort Inn right next to the huge ex-RDG brudge on the Lurgan Branch. There are 20 or so trains on that section (while I was staying there, I saw quite a few foriegn units).
Yeah…I usually spend the majority of my vacation time out in Cresson, since that is my family’s roots, but I discovered the Enola area a few years ago…I used to simply drive past it on my way home from Cresson…I am looking out my window right now toward the right, and can see the diesel house with several lease units, and a whole slew of Conrail Blue Engines. If you go to http://www.railroadradio.net you can get live scanner feeds of the Enola area, as well as others around the country. Simply select the Harrisburg, PA feed, and then whatever media player you use, adjust the volume on the media window, and you can hear alot of interesting live chatter…I’m listening to what’s going on outside right now without turning my regular scanner on ! Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
You’re in my neck of the woods! I go to Enola quite a bit to watch the action. If you go to that car dealerships lot (Spankey’s) you get a great view over the cliff of the entire yard. And since the trees are without their leaves right now, it’s even better.
Spankeys is right across from the Hotel…I am at the South front, so can see down into the yard…watching a remote control high hood Geep with a SW1500 shoving a cut of cars back up the hump. A new hump tower was built a year or two ago and it can be seen fom the hotel to the west/north of the Car dealership…Now I’m going to get out and about…First stop…the ‘Iron Bridge’ now concrete overlooking West end of the yard…more reports later Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
Well, back after a decent day of Railfanning. I hit the Iron Bridge first, saw a couple pair of High-hood GP38/SW1500 combinations switching the West-end of the yards, then went to the Boatlaunch area next to the Rockville Bridge, then up 11/15 through Cove, then on up through Duncannon, and the back way up 849 to Aqueduct and Newport. Back to the Iron Bridge in afternoon to find it quite busy…an inbound freight from Harrisburg with 10 locomotives in the consist, 2 road freights putting together their Westbound trains, plus the two pair of Geep/SW’s still switching and working the hump. The inbound freight was a decent catch as it was led by NS Conrail-blue Dash-8W 8404, followed by NS Dash-9 primer 9865, NS high-hood SD40 1590, NS Dash-9’s 9150,9766 in black, NS GP38-3 5808 ( fresh from the GP50 chopnosing and rebuild program)NS Dash-9 9069 in black, NS Conrail-blue SD40-2 3360, and finally NS Dash-9 9354 in black coupled to the mixed freight. The west end of the yard had alot of cars in it…I counted 20-25 tracks with good size cuts of cars, and that is only what I could see from the West end. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
Yeah, and that is actually the third Rockville Bridge…The first was a wooden single track structure followed by a steel double-track bridge, which was followed by the present structure completed around 1902. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
I wanna go to this hotel.
D W…I checked out the railroadradio.com…and that’s pretty neat. All kinds of scanner chatter on there…Even a female DS. Quite a bit of activity for a Sunday evening too…
Yeah…I like that scanner feed…If you select the Pittsburgh Feed, you can hear talk from around MP 340 on the Pittsburgh Line…about 100 miles West of Alto in Altoona, plus CSX action…The Harrisburg, Enola feed is usually quite active…I log on to it frequently from home to keep tabs on things…Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
The key thing is to ask for a room upstairs facing the Railroad, and to get one on the South end, if you get one on the North end, the view will be more of the used car lot, and the roof of the ‘carport’ will block your view to the right, toward the dieselhouse…I will try to post a link to the hotel on another reply so you can see what I mean…Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
Try this link for the Quality Inn Enola http://www.calle.com/world/US/PA/enola/quality-inn-riverview.html The best view would be to get an upstairs room somewhere behind the white van…which is where I am at…Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
Well, I just got back home from Enola…departed about 9:30 Am…a little less than a 3 hour run…Of course, as I was leaving, the gray skies that held on all weekend were being replaced with brilliant sunshine and blue skies…I have to work 2nd shift today, otherwise I would have stayed awhile for some more action…I was talking with the hotel manager as she was assisting a trainee on checking me out…She said that Enola Yard has been quite busy over the past month. busiest she’s seen it in awhile…probabaly Christmas rush…I can vouch for that, as I could see at least 20-25 tracks with cuts of cars on them from the Iron Bridge yesterday…If you bring a laptop, and use dial-up service there, and make sure that it is a local call, they won’t charge you for the local calls…just have to not use the area code, but have to program an 8 infront of the number to get out. It took me an hour to get it set up right when I got in the other night. I might head back out for another weekend in a couple of weeks if weather permits. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
To Dougal…the pic of the Rockville Bridge on your posts, which side of the River is that shot from? I’m guessing on the Rockville side. I haveshot some video in the past from that park along the River just North of Rockville…Is that where your shot was from? Or were you down on River Road on the Enola side past Bair’s Tackleshop shooting toward the North? Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstowm
It was taken on the Rockville side.
Thanks…I thought so… I remembered when I was shooing from the Park along there, I had to find a spot where the brush and small trees along the river bank didn’t interfere too much with my shot Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown