After finding the Mountaintop overlook of the Rockville Bridge in April, I decided to make a return visit and took a daytrip to Harrisburg last Friday, and returned to the mountaintop overlook near Harrisburg, Pa. Here is a pic of a local freight heading East from Enola to Harrisburg, with a pair of ex-Conrail SW1500’s as power http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=149243
Another pic showing an Eastbound freight out of Enola with NS, Conrail-blue, and BNSF liveried power on the point http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=149245
Nice pics as always, Dave. Especially liked seeing the SW1500s.
Mike
Thanks…That area is a real melting pot as far as power is concerned. I also saw a high hood Guilford unit on a freight into Enola, and an inbound freight off the Buffalo Line had A BNSF GEVO, BNSF Dash-9, a very clean Conrail-Blue SD60I, and a CP SD40 in dual-flags livery that day…Dave W.
A new camera, plus full foliage now compared to the pic I took in mid-April before the leaves were fully out, made a difference in the pics.
…Another nice pic Dave…Enjoy seeing the full green foliage now. But since that pic was taken I imagaine that water is much higher and very muddy.
Quentin- I was thinking the same thing…That ater has to be pretty high by now.
Mike
I haven’t been down there since last Friday…it flooded badly during the Summer of 2004… back then, water was up to where the curve of the arches begins …
Great shots Dave.
I liked the picture with the SW1500’s on the point.
Thanks…you never know what will power a train around the Harrisburg area…if it will be traveling West toward Pittsburgh, it will usually be an NS or ex-Conrail leader, due to cab signal requirements, but foreign power can trail…however, other lines radiating into Harrisburg, such as the Buffalo Line can have foreign power on the point…As far as the train in the pic, that was a fairly decent sized train for a pair of SW’s to handle.
That’s what I thought too.
A matter of a few days after that pic was taken, the Susquehanna flooded again…The Old Bairs Tackleshop property was flooded for the 3rd time in 3 years.
…I assume that is the property one can see across the river beyond the island a bit to the left…If so, and they continue to stay there, why they at least don’t build a bit of a levee on the river side…And then maybe the job would be too immense. It sure must be a given that river will continue to get up into their property as long as it’s there.
The property is indeed in the location you describe…Bairs sold it to someone who intends to turn it into another Railfan Bed and Breakfast…A levee would have to be built from the Rockville Bridge Southward all the way down almost to Enola yard in order to block the water…North of the Bridge, the houses are elevated higher above the river…When the river floods,it ends up all around the property up to River Road which runs along the shoreline roughly 150 feet behind the house…
…Guess some folks just keep putting up with old man river knowing he will be coming back to visit them in the near furture…
A link to a website with pictures of the 2004 flood…One pic shows how high the water got around the Bairs property back then…fortunately the water did not get as high this timeduring this past week’s flood…The house is on a raised foundation and normally, the basement will get flooded…In 2004, several inches of water got up into the first floor. http://jim-frizzell.com/prr_rockville_flood_2004.htm
Has the bridge been affected by the recent flooding?
The PRR apparently built structures to last…it has endured many floods relatively unscathed…Ironically, in fair weather about 10 years ago, a small portion of a sidewall partially collapsed, sending several hopperloads of coal into the river…the section was repaired with concrete. The section affected can be seen in the pic at top of thread. Counting approximately 18 arches out from the Wye in foreground, where there is a gap in vegetation on the bridge side, one can discern a slight color variation along the top of the sidewall between two arches…this is the concrete repair where that section gave way…
Right you are Dave re: Pennsy’s many bridges through the area. We both know the area has been treated to many floods…and think of the mass of debree that was crushed up against the stone arch bridge at Johnstown during the first big one in 1889 and it withstood that…! I don’t think it was even the width then it is now…