Doing some research for my layout…looking for the track layout from Amtrak’s Lacaster PA Station west to the Columbia Branch/ Harrisburg Mainline junction. Preferably present day. anyone have photos or track charts?
TerraServer site only zooms in so far clearly, and all the photos I’ve found (books/internet) are of the station itself or west of the junction.
Do the station tracks go from the 4 through tracks back to 2 tracks then split at Dillardville Road or is it 4 track through to the split with a maze of switches typical of Amtrak?
Try the new Google Earth. Much higher resolution than terraserver. In the Philadelphia pictures you can zoom so close you can identify the type engine in the picture. Not all cities and areas have that res. but a better tool in some cases.
The book Triumph II, the PRR from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, has a track chart for Lancaster dated July 1946. It shows 3 main tracks plus an secondary track through Cork. The secondary track serves Armstrong Linoleum and has access to the “0” on the east, on the west it connects to the Columbia branch. The tracks in the station area are labeled from south to north “Express”,“0”,“1”,“2”,“3”,“4”,“B”,“Industrial”. Tracks “0” through “4” are shown as main tracks. Tracks “0”,“1”, and “4” are platformed.
I’ve got the book Trackside under the Pennsy Wires wchich has great station pix, but only covers the immediat station area. I imagine the track labeled Express led to the REA building for loading, now used for “parts car” storage ( a very worn ex PC baggage resides there now), tracks 0 and B are just ballast only and the latest pix I’ve seen 1 and 4 are being relaid with concrete ties as 2 and 3 were recently.
thats a big help, I’ll have to keep an eye out for that book. I’m looking for the track layout for Cork, preferably after the Reading tracks were removed. Curious to see the switch/crossover layout how tracks 3, 2 and 1 connect bringing EB from Harrisburg to the EB platform.