In order to make it easier for me to share pics on this as well as other forums, I have created a flick’r account, which will allow me to send pics in groups and albums…I have begun uploading pics from my weekend visit to the Rockville Bridge B@B Pics of the growing album can be found here www.flickr.com/photos/30144616@N04/?saved=1
Very nice images and some spectacular angles. Seeing the BNSF secondary on that one train kinda diminshes the content in my opinion. I’m getting more of the mind that the BNSF orange/green/yellow scheme with the ATSF nose work is a hideous combination.
…Beautiful shots. Some would make great advertisement pic’s for the B&B. That raised deck facing the bridge / river is ideal for a serious rail fan ready to kick back and enjoy watching the traffic cross that great bridge.
Yes…the rear deck will be ‘the spot’ for guests to congregate in the mornings and evenings much as the Front Porch is ‘the spot’ at The Station Inn in Cresson where guests sit back and relax with a morning cup of coffee or in the evening after a good day of railfanning.
VERY NICE Pictures, thanks for sharing those!
great pictures, but what no tv in the rooms, thats the only thing i dont like about b&bs. im social but not that social.
We had TV in our room at the Tunnel Inn. Later in May, when we stayed in a B&B at Galesburg for one night, Pat watched TV in the den with our hosts, while my friend Eric and I walked out to the depot downtown.
You get the right location and the right action, you don’t need no stinkin’ TV! The porch at Rockville sounds nice. I’ll have to bring binoculars for freight-car observation, from the looks of things.
no im talking at night, what do you do at night. you mean i have to talk to strangers in the common room. im just kidding but you know what i mean.
If you have a laptop,or other type of computer, you’ll be able to connect via wireless or ethernet connection from the Bridgeview location…up to 100 trains or more pass by in a 24 hour period as moves in and out of Enola, moves between Harrisburg and Enola, moves on and off the Buffalo Line, as well as East West traffic between NJ and Pittsburgh and beyond cotribute to plenty of train action there.
There is cable TV available to guests in the sitting room which has picture windows facing the river and bridge.
I can’t wait to try that place, My friends and I will probably try it next year. Nice shots.
hey i just thought of something, how about railroadradio.net ,you could listen to them live via the internet when they come into enola or crossing the bridge. i tell ya its going to be a hard sell to get my wife to go .
Yes…there is a Harrisburg feed on that www.railroadradio.net site as well as a Reading feed and a Cresson to South Fork radio feed…You can listen via youir handheld scanner to Harrisburg, since you are there on scene in scanner range, and then sign onto the internet at the B@B and get heads ups on what is coming East from the West Slope area or coming West from the Reading area.
David:
Nice photos. It sure seems like a pleasant place to watch trains (both the B&B and the bridge area).
You mentioned 100 trains daily. Generally speaking, what is the makeup of most of that traffic? By that is it on the Buffalo line, Harrisburg and beyond(intermodal), etc.
Years ago I rode Amtrak thru the area, but havent been out there. It really looks great.
Thanks,
ed
At least half is East-West traffic between New Jersey/Pennsylvania and points West…Some East/West traffic also goes through Enola Yard…Buffalo Line traffic accounts for some of the traffic, as alot of this crosses Rockville Bridge to and from Enola…though some Buffalo Line traffic also remains on the East shore and runs through Harrisburg…Locals between Harrisburg and Enola can also be seen, as well as light engine moves…Intermodals are through East-West traffic…coal drags and empty hopper trains as well as plenty of general mixed freight moves can be seen…Passenger moves are usally two a day across the Rockville Bridge for Amtrak…The NS F unit OCS can be seen from time to time when it is out and about between Altoona and the Harrisburg area.
Dave,
I know you are very well versed in that area, I have also been out that way a few times. I have some good shots from bridge area, but unless you are speaking of yard movements and such I didn’t see an indication of quite that many trains there. As a matter of fact one of the locals we spoke to said that there was a bit less traffic that way than there used to be because the new Harrisburg intermodal facility allowed them to eliminate some trains. Don’t know how true this is but I would say the traffic flow is definitely better towards Altoona area. It’s still a nice place though and I will definitely check out the new Inn sometime.
That figure includes all movements, locals, light engines, etc…That figure is also quoted on the Railroad.net Harrisburg Feed homepage by the host who lives in that area as a figure for peak days…Harrisburg itself would likely be the centerpoint of this traffic peak as there are movements from Harrisburg that do not cross the Rockville Bridge…some of the Buffalo Line traffic, or Lurgan Line traffic, etc…The area around Altoona to Johnstown is quoted as averaging 60-70 trains a day, but this also includes light helper moves, and not every day averages this high of a train count…There are slow days there, as well as around Harrisburg…What the Harrisburg area may not receive all the traffic from moves in the West, such as traffic coming off the South Fork Secondary, which goes West as well as East, or RJ Corman coal drags which could go West or East, there are alot of moves across the Rockville Bridge of traffic that does not go West to Altoona…Buffalo Line traffic, locals from Enola Eastward…trains such as 33A, 34A, H2W, H3W…etc, etc…there are definitely times that it is slow, but when the ‘valve’ opens, it can be one train after another across that bridge…
Its a great place to visit, thanks for the info. My friends were out there for labor day and were not disappointed.
Tom Davis…the Innkeeper of The Station Inn at Cresson spent two nights at The Bridgeview Inn recently. Tom then posted a report on The Station Inn Website. A link to Tom’s report: Open link and scroll down a bit to read his Bridgeview report http://www.stationinnpa.com/NewsPage.php