The Lakshore Railroad Museum in Northeast PA is closed on Weekdays and only open on weekends. Can someone tell me why it’s only open on weekends, not on weekdays? Sorry I got rid of the Conneaut on this post. I just now want to focus on the Lakeshore Railroad Museum.
Likely if you vistit the Lake Shore Museum some one is there. You might just get them to let you in. They can be alittle suspicious of you at first untill they realize you are a legitamate railfan. I have walked the grounds before many times with no problems. And watching the trains from the Station platform is no problem. My wife and I get large Calzones from a local Italian resturant and watch the trains. CSX is generally pretty freindly to the visitors.
Definitely call ahead then, to the Lakeshore Museum…but don’t miss it! It is a neat little facility with a great set of stories. Plus next to the CSX main as well as the NS nee NKP line and so close to Erie!
I went up to Conneaut Ohio yesterday July 22nd, 2009 from 3:39PM till 5:00PM and saw 5 trains. A lot of 60 to 70 MPH Trains. I didn’t go up to Northeast PA to the Lakeshore Museum. Here are the trains I saw at Conneaut.
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3:50PM CSX East Track 1 / CSX Intermodal / 119 Cars – CSX C40-8W #7390, CSX ES44DC #5365, CSX ES44AC #Unknown – 55-60 MPH.
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4:03PM CSX West Track 2 / CSX Intermodal / Q109 Boston MA to Bedford Park IL / 80 Cars – CSX ES44AC #949, CSX AC4400CW #251, CSX ES44DC #5353 – 55-60 MPH.
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4:34 PM CSX East Track 1 / CSX Freight / R410 / 52 Cars – CSX AC4400CW #5113, CSX SD50 #8592 – 45-50 MPH.
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4:40PM CSX West Track 2 / CSX Intermodal / Q161 Kearney NJ to Bedford Park IL / 112 Cars – CSX C40-8W #7748, LMSX C40-8W #7921, CSX C40-8W #7845 – 70 MPH.
If you go to North East, there are a few good railfan places other than the museum. The museum is a fine place to visit, but the sight lines aren’t always the best. So for variety go just out of town west and park yourself at the Cemetary Road crossing. CSX and NS are together there, so it’s easier to monitor both lines and get pictures.Then about two miles east of town is Bort Road, which has a bridge over CSX while NS crosses the road at grade. There are some nice curves there. Going farther east you’ll find good locations at Ripley and Westfield. And of course there is much to see in Erie, to the west. PM me if you are interested in more details.
Tim
There’s a Cemetery Road in New York too (near Ripley). Nice quiet spot.
Regarding the museum in Northeast, are you still able to cross the tracks for pictures?
The North East museum put up a fence along the track, but of course it ends at their property line, or maybe even short of it. Personally, I wouldn’t walk to the end and go around it, if only because there are better ways to get the shot, especially if you are shooting NS.
We were there in 1995 pulled off I-90 to see it. It was a Sunday and I believe it was closed.We still got to see the NKP Berkshire which made it all worth while. You will have to see it behind a chain link fence. It looks like it is a great place to watch trains. They could give better directions and signage; we drove past it the first time. Sadly, the only place we found near the Museum was a very redneck bar. I hope that it has improved.
I noticed that every Intermodal in Conneaut had 3 Engines leading it. Why does all Intermodals lately have 3 Engines leading an Intermodal instead of 2 Engines?
Also, how is Train Traffic on a Weekday in Northeast PA and also how is Train Traffic on a Weekend in Northeast PA?
North East is still a busy place, with lots of traffic on both CSX and NS. I was up the road in Westfield a few days ago. I only had an hour to be there, but caught seven trains in that short time. Surprisingly four were NS and three were CSX. I don’t think there is much difference between weekends and weekdays, although I can’t offer numbers. At least the museum is open on the weekend.
Regarding the three vs. two engines on the intermodals, there a few possibilities. For one, they may be consolidating trains, thereby running longer trains which require more power. Or, could one of the units be a dead GEVO being moved to a shop? Probably not. But the longer train idea sounds plausible to me.
Lake Shore Railway Historical Society Museum - http://www.velocity.net/~lsrhs/museum.html - a couple years out-of-date, though.
Lake Shore Railway Historical Society - http://www.velocity.net/~lsrhs/
Lake Shore Chapter NRHS - http://www.nrhs.com/chapters/lake_shore.htm
Review from RailMuseums.com -
http://www.railmuseums.com/namerica/Reviews/202.html
Seems like the consensus is that it’s a nice little museum - who else has an ex-MILW former South Shore ‘Little Joe’ electric locomotive [and a GG1, too, I believe] - and that the ‘live’ rail activity is pretty busy there = 60 to 80 trains per day, between CSX and NS.
My wife and I really liked the many wineries in the vicinity, too - Mazza and Penn Shore come to mind.
- Paul North.
Is there a fee to get into the Lakeshore RR Museum? If there is then how much is it? Also, people here are saying you can’t see CSX and NS that well from the Museum, is there a tall fence that blocks view or is it not a great place to watch trains go by, or is it something else?
You don’t go to a museum to take pictures, so what’s all the fuss about crossing the tracks and finding angles and lines of sight? If you are a railfan and go the the LS museum you will find a lot of the same ole but you will also find a great amount you’ve never seen: Hieslers! Little Joe. GE 70 tonner with a '38 Ford Grill…come on guys, there’s a lot to this hobby to be exosed to that doesn’t need viewfinders and cross hairs! You get to understand how we got to where we are, why, and perhaps see where we are going, plus appreciate the whole hobby a lot more.
I was just asking about if you could see the trains from the museum, not a whole explanation about it. If I see a train, then I see train. But I’m going there to see the train equipment the museum has. The place I found on the map that would be a great place to see CSX and NS is from Bort Road. There it gives a good place to see trains from a bridge. I do know, Bort Road goes over the CSX with a Bridge and Bort Road crosses the NS at a crossing.
Yes you can see trains from the museum. The fence is only about four feet high so it doesn’t obstruct your view. It does stop you from venturing onto the tracks to check for distant approaching traffic. When they are open, the museum scanner is on and can be heard from loudspeakers so you will know when something is coming. Admission is free and the folks are friendly.
Here is a link http://erieltd.rrpicturearchives.net/locThumbs.aspx?id=117089&Page=1 to my Archive shots from NE. There is a lot more to see than what I have here. Some of my shots are obviously from across the tracks and the overhead views are from Bort Rd.
BTW, they have neither a GG1 nor a Heisler.
Thanks for the supplemental info, and correcting the GG1 - I probably got that mixed up with the ‘Little Joe’ that they do have.
- PDN.
Are you allowed to do this while at the Lakeshore RR Museum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHaWbEo-OQg This is not my video.
That looks like NYC 2500.You can get into the cab and do almost anything you like, but I have never seen it with air pressure to blow the horn. Must have been set up especially for that day. You might call them and ask if they plan any special days.
And a correction to my earlier post: The museum has a fireless 0-6-0 which is a Heisler. I was thinking about geared Heislers and forgot about the switcher. It would be a very rare day in which they run the Heisler, but it has been done.
Do mean, someone in Museum tells you on the loudspeaker a train is coming or does the frequency from the Engineer talk on his scanner about something up the line, like a signal or trackwork, go into the loudspeaker to know when he’s getting close to the Museum?
The speaker just carries the scanner frequencies so mostly you hear the dispatcher and sometimes train crews calling signals. Normally nobody from the museum makes announcements on the speaker, but they probably could if necessary.