I would like to railfan western Penna. sometime soon but know nothing about that area. I am looking to get some good photos of trains and industry together, especially the steel industry serviced by short lines or regionals. I get lots of CSX , Amtrak and NS here in the Philly so I need some help in finding these alternative railroads. If you can give me the names of towns and rail frequency I can probably find the exact locations on google. Thanks a lot
Recently; The TRAINS Newswire (May 21st) carried a story about a former PRR Branch being reopened–apparently long abandoned, so it will be a partial relay of track to facilitate a mining operation.
Mentioned was a Penna short line, the Kiski Junction RR. Linked here: http://www.kiskijunction.com/
I had never heard of, so I started looking around to see what was on line- Their website, and at least several videos: Here is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONRy2oERB5M
There is also a trilogy of videos about riding the Kiski Jctr RR as well. Start looking around NE of Pittsburgh, Pa for it at Schenley, Pa.
That should give you a start for some railfanning in Western Penna.
Best of Luck![:D]
The Pennsylvania PUC’s website has a map of all railroads in the state, I believe. I’ll try to post a link to it later today.
There are also other forums, websites, and portions of magazines specifically devoted to that subject - try a search for ‘‘western pennsylvania railfan’’ or similar, and see what turns up.
If you’re not careful, you’ll get buried by all the info that’s out there . . . .[swg]
- Paul North.
Well, it’s PennDOT’s map, not the PUC’s - and it’s dated January 2010, approx. 3.46 MB in size for the ‘PDF’ format file, 33’’ x 20.46’’ original size, at -
ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_PDF_FILES/MAPS/Statewide/parail.PDF
It has a detail of the Pittsburgh area as well - though I had to enlarge it to 200 % to view and read it comfortably.
Too bad that for a map by the DOT, there aren;t even the major roads on it . . . [sigh]
- Paul North.
…Just for starters…Check out NS between Johnstown and Altoona. Former Pennsylvania RR. So much there.
Good luck on finding that! Big Steel, glass, heavy manufacturing all crashed and burned in Western PA 30 years ago. Not much left at this point. Most of the sites have been dismantled and reclaimed. About the only “industry” you are going to find around Pittsburgh at this point is healthcare/biotech, finance, law, and technology firms–not exactly big users of rail. Other than coal from some of the big mines in Washington and Greene counties south of Pittsburgh, the vast majority of rail traffic is run through.
You might look into the Buffalo & Pittsburgh RR, part of Genesee & Wyoming family of regionals. It connects with WNY&PA at Corry, which runs Alcos. B&P runs on parts of the former Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh lines, which became part of B&O and Chessie, so you’d find a few CPL signals. B&P operates a few second-hand SD45’s, which aren’t very prolific any more.
Might also look in on the East Broad Top RR at Orbisonia, currently a tourist line that used to be a steam-powered coal hauler that fed traffic to PRR.
Check out BP there work train P&W 1 usually operates al night Evanscity area down to Bakerstown spotting cars and picking up down at the west side of Zelienople off of 588 down to Ellwood city. The BTNC from Butler to New Castle ussally leaves early moring to newcastle around 0400 give or take some times its been even later inthe morning.You East of Butler Chircora/Petroila area BT-3 operates usually in the morning slow moving easy to get pictures.
While, as noted by one the previous posters, much industry has been lost, there is still considerable industrial activity in Western PA. In the Pittsburgh area, US Steel continues to run the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock and its coke works in Clairton. Both facilities are served by the Union Railroad. Hopefully someone else can recommend good photography locations. Additionally the Norfolk Southern (ex-PRR) Pittsburgh main line runs along the north side of Edgar Thompson and CSX (ex Pittsburgh & Lake Erie) runs along the south side of the Edgar Thompson works.
Hopefully, someone can recommend good, safe, places to get photos of trains in the Mon Valley which will not get you in trouble with US Steel or the Union Railroad.
There are other rail-served industrial areas such as Neville Island, Wilmerding/Turtle Creek/East Pittsburgh (location of former Westinghouse Electric and current WABCO - manufacturer of air brakes).
The Allegheny Valley Railroad serves Lawrenceville and the Strip District in the City of Pittsburgh (this is named for the shape of land and it is not a “red light” district), but mostly at night. There are several smaller industries served and many industrial buildings converted to other uses. AVR also serves other industries in SW PA.
The Wheeling & Lake Erie is a major regional railroad serving Southwestern PA. Its locomotives are painted in a Rio Grande inspired-scheme (a few are even lettered for Rio Grande!). I have no idea which industries it serves. Traffic levels are very light at 1 to 2 train per day.
Finally, while not served by a railroad line, there is a gravel company just to the east of the Station Square development in Pittsburgh’s South Side that is adjacent to CSX’s former Pittsburgh & Lake Erie line. It is accessible by a bike path
As previously stated, the steel industry is pretty much long gone. What I know now is there are few good industrial and RR settings. Clairton Works is still going strong in same name city, Edgar Thompson in Braddock is still going as is Irvine Works in Dravosburg. The big U (Union RR) connects the old Bessemer and Lake Erie RR at Bessemer,Pa to connect the Great Lakes to the old steel mills. I believe that has died down from it’s heyday though. One location that gave a good account of itself was the Geo. Westinghouse bridge on Rte 30. The elevation gave a good shot of the many rails in the Mon Valley there. Don’t know if you can still access it by foot anymore, and you need a good telephoto lens from up there. Conway Yard used to be a good place for activity on the NS mainline. I get to see Wheeling and Lake Erie train on Saturday morning at Connelsville Yard (not guaranteed though, but usually). It runs from Rook Yard (Greentree) to Connelsville Yard. SWP (Southwestern Pa) runs from Connelsville to Greensburg, and it normally starts operation at 4-5 AM and is done by 1-2 PM. Trains are housed at Scottdale. In essence, you have four rivers in the greater Pittsburgh area to follow. Ohio R., Allegheny R., Monongehela R., and the Youghiogheny R. will generally get you to most of the rails. There are more bridges in Allegheny county than anywhere else in the world, so you should be able to get them in any shots you want. As previously stated, most traffic is through traffic anymore. An older book that I think is out of print but well worth the read was “Rails To Pittsburgh” by W. A. Feilbelman. It shows the rails in it’s prime time. There are still places that are available in the book yet today that you can get pics of rail lines. Hope this helps you out a little bit
Jim