I will be driving from Chicago area to Scraton, PA to see Steam Town this summer and then plan to spend a week railfanning in PA. I have Kalmbach’s book on rail museums and have planned a loop that should hit just about all the places listed for PA, but would be interested in any suggestions for good train watching in PA or within a reasonable distance from the toll ways across IN and OH. Thanks.
If you’ll be in Scranton, the Allentown and Reading areas are a scenic 1.5 hour drive south. Allentown hosts a decent sized yard and plenty of train movements, and Reading has some good photo locations and even more train movements than Allentown. The Reading and Northern railroad winds over much of the Anthracite regions around and to the south of Scranton, adding a nice splattering of color in what is primarily an area infested with NS black. The Reading and Northern has a web site with decent train watching tips also.
The best places to go are Fort Wayne (East Wayne Yard on the NS),Fostoria OH, Bellevue OH,and Berea OH. All these places have junctions and over a hundred trains a day. Fostoria is the best with the crossing of three main lines and 120 trains a day. Bellevue has a seven mile NS hump yard. And Berea is a great speed watching location. CSX will go 70 through there.
Elkhart, IN isn’t bad. There is a lot of interesting equipment in White Pigeon, MI. Toledo & Cleveland, OH are full of railroads. Galitzen, Horse Shoe Curve, and NS’s Altoona yard is a little out of the way, but worth the trip! My only sugestion, from past experiances, is when there is snow on the road,in the mountains, Slow Down.
Have a safe trip!
the best place to watch trains in pennsylvania is anywhere along the northeast corridor. you have freight amtrak and commuter trains in one place.
Ive visited many indiana/ohio locations. My favorite are Porter Junction and area, Goshen, Butler IN, Deshler, Fostoria OH, all of them great spots with many trains.
If you haven’t done so, then definitely visit Pine Junction in Gary, IN.
And if you have the time, an hour or so north of Scranton is Starucca Viaduct. Train frequency is only 2-4 a day, and there’s not much else besides the former station at Susquehanna and a small display of RR items outside to recommend the place. But to stand in the majesty of a 150+ year old stone structure that is still in use and is HUGE is awe inspiring. I came in from the north (off NY17), but it can’t be too hard to get to from the south…
It was almost a pilgrimage.
Highly Recommend visiting my home-town of Gallitzin. if just for a day or staying overnight, there are accomidations for the rail-fan. A room at the tunnel-inn, which sits only a few hundred feet from the west entrance of the Tunnels, is something to experiance. Also, from Altoona to Cassandra, there are several spots worth spending your day(s) I have yet to find a need to go some-where else to watch trains. The mountain grade is probably the reason for this.
…Have railfaned in your home town of Gallitzin. Took pictures while watching from the old steel street bridge looking into the tunnel[s]…Only one in use at that spot now but it is double tracked…and walked down below the bridge a bit to photograph back towards the tunnels and actually got to a location where I could see all the way through it, and took more photos from that angle…and of course down the “hill” a bit at Horseshoe Curve.