Hello from Germany,
we planning a Railfan Trip in 2010 from Boston to Portland,North Conway,Hossac Tunnel,Scranton and Strassburg Railroad.If there Railfans in this Area to can help us?
We are 3 Railfans from Germany .We are Members of the
Northern US Modelrailroaders of Germany.Our Website:
http://home.arcor.de/karl.brew/welcome.html
We like also to find some Railfriends to share Railroad Pics and our Interest and like to meet.
Thanks for help
Karl-Heinz,Martin and Ruediger [:)]
You’re going to do a lot of driving! Train Boston to Portland, ME, ok, a couple of hours. But then you’ll probably have to rent a car there and drive to N. Conway (overnight?) to Hossac Tunnel, (overnight before or at) Scranton (Steamtown) (overnight) and on to Strassburg. From there, where? Good luck and enjoy
If you’re into RR structures (esp bridges), whilst in Scranton you’re an hour and change south of two significant bridges - Erie’s Starucca Viaduct (Lanesboro, PA, near Susquehanna), and Lackawanna’s Tunkahannock Viaduct (Nicholson, PA). Ownership has changed, but the structures haven’t.
You have chosen some good places to visit, but as henry6 says–there is MUCH driving without any railroads. I have traveled all over the United States, including this area, and honestly would only attempt this if there were some important reason to include these places.
Are you open to changes? If not, maybe we can help you plan this trip.
By email, Brewwmaster said they only needed to include Portland and Scranton…
I would leave out North Conway and Hoosac tunnel…
Scranton and Strassburg are worthwhile and more easily accessible. For a great American experience, visit Washington for museums then catch a Superliner train to Chicago to see some extreme railroading!
Might as well include a stop at the B&O museum on the way through Baltimore…
As you probably know, US passenger rail service would not get you around very well, so you need to plan on driving. I covered about the same territory by auto a couple of years ago and I think you could easily cover the stops you want if you have 10-12 days in country.
Curious, I ran Mapquest.com for directions figuring Boston for the start and finish. They come up with total miles of 1109 miles (1848 kilometers) and total drive time of 22 hours. If you want to get some train travel, you could consider driving out and back to Boston to cover Portland, North Conway and Hoosac. Then take Amtrak down to New York City, go to your Pennsylvania stops from there and return to Boston by train.
The third option could be rail to Portland, rental car to cover your stops and return the car in Philadelphia or New York and rail back to Boston. The problem there is that rental car rates with pick up at one location and return at another can be very expensive, often is not allowed and easily twice as much as pick up and return at the same location.
Needless to say, you can always shop on line for your best ca
Take a look at Amtrak’s route map for the NorthEast U.S., at -
Then, in the box on the left, click on the Interactive Route Atlas and the Download Route Guide links.
There’s comparatively frequent service - by U.S. standards, not European - from Portland, Maine [ME] thru Richmond, Virginia [VA], plus on the Keystone route from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [PA] to Harrisburg, PA.
Based on what you’ve told us so far, I concur with jeaton’s recommendation to drvie back to Boston after North Conway and the Hoosac Tunnel [been there several times - very pretty area, not much rail traffic or the tunnel to see anymore, though, other than the portals].
But then I’d take the Amtrak train to either Philadelphia, or to Lancaster on the Keystone route - which is the closest station to Strasburg Railroad - or to Harrisburg. From either one, I’d then rent a car to drive to Steamtown - it’s simplest f
I don’t want to discourage your trip to America,however, New England is not a place that I would go to watch trains. I went to New England in 1995. If you are really intrested in trolleys the Seashore Trolley Museum would be a good place to go and the Mount Washington Cog Railway is also worth seeking out, but it is very much out of the way. Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire have seen much of their railroads abandoned or downgraded.I saw only one train while in Portland and another day the only train I saw was Amtrak’s Vermonter in White River Junction. Boston does offer things to do including commuter rail and light rail called the T. I did drive out to Worcester Mass and did see both Providence & Worcester and Conrail freights but did not seem to find a place I could park and watch trains.New England is very scenic but trains are few and far between. I was told that East Deerfield Mass is only a shadow of its former self, that was once a hotspot. Pennsylvania would be a much better bet. Go to Altoona and Horseshoe Curve instead.
I was thinking of my other POV, but I have a couple of tickets on Saturday’s Power Ball drawing. I’ll get back to you.
Hi all,
Thanks very much for the many Information.[:)]
In the Portland area we will look for the Wood Coverd Bridges.
Some more Questions:
Who is the next Clas 1 RR with many Trains on Mainline?
We will look also for the last Alcos.
The Idea to ride with Train is good.
So i have many to do with the Planning.
We will relax and we will not have Stress on this tour…
I had made in 1995 a Trip with Amtrak from NY to Chicago with the Lake Shore Limited and then with the Texas Eagle to San Antonio and with the Sunset over Tucson to LA and San Francisco and Sacramento.It was a great Trip.2 Days NY,3 Days Tucson and 4 Days SF and Sacramento.
Greetings Karl-Heinz
I’m no expert, but I thought Vermont and New Hampshire had more than Maine ?
There are also many in Pennsylvania - supposedly 197, more than any other state - some are fairly close to your Scranton and Strasburg stops - there are 27 in Lancaster county, according to: http://www.800padutch.com/covbrdg.shtml I believe there are about a dozen within 20 miles of Allentown - I know of 4 within 10 miles of where I live. Here’s another link that may be helpful: http://pacoveredbridges.com/
The Amtrak NorthEast Corridor main line, and the line up the east side of the Hudson River from New York City to Albany-Rensselaer, plus the commuter lines in and around each of the big cities.
For freight railroads, the CSX (former New York Central, then Penn Central, then ConRail) West Shore Line, from northern New Jersey to the Selkirk Yard in the Albany area, then the former main line west across northern New York State to Buffalo that connects several cities there.
Further south and west, the Norfolk Southern lines in Pennsylvania, particularly from Allentown to Reading to Harrisburg (Enola Yard) to Altoona and Pittsburgh, including the Horseshoe Curve (excellent suggestion by aricat - he beat me to it !).
Further south, but still within reasonable driving range of your planned stop at Strasburg, are the CSX lines from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., especially from Cumberland, Maryland west to Pittsburgh, which include the Sand Patch Grade - and it’s only 30 or 50 miles south of Horseshoe Curve.&nbs
It is true that much of northern New England has been downgraded. However, down in Massachusetts, we’re still up and about. The MBTA is one of the most interesting transit systems in the country, with two types of light rail cars, three subway lines (one with duel-mode overhead wire / third rail pickup), and a sprawling and busy commuter rail network.
CSX runs about 20 trains a day through Worcester, MBTA adds quite a few to the mix, and Union Station (beautifully restored in 2000) has very nice platforms that you can watch trains on. I’ve been there countless times, even setting up my tripod on the platform, and nobody has even looked twice at me. Very railfan-friendly, and there will usually be a couple other railfans there as well. If you decide to go there, check out the Worcester Train Schedules I’ve compiled for CSX, MBTA, and Amtrak.
Again, only in northern New England. If you know where to look, you can see plenty of trains. And I’d still rather see a fair amount of trains in a scenic New England setting than hundreds of tra
To put some numbers to this - Last time I was in the Hoosac Tunnel / Deerfield River valley area for several days - 2005, I think it was - there were only 2 trains most days, and 2 most nights. Maybe another train or two each way one or two of those days = 5 or 6 total. Since I was canoeing on the river and several of the hydro-electric dam lakes - Zoar Outdoor in Charlemont, which also runs white water raft trips, if you’re interested - that wasn’t a problem.
I forgot to mention before - in North Adams, Massachusetts, there’s a fairly good museum with a lot on the Hoosac Tunnel. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it, but if you’re driving west on the ‘‘Mohawk Trail’’ = U.S. Rt. 2 [if I remember right] anyway, such as to get from Boston to Albany, NY, then both the Tunnel and the Museum would be worth an hour or two to stop in and see. At least purchase the book on the Tunnel’s construction, A Pinpoint Of Light.
The B & O Museum has great displays, and I think it is near active rail lines also. DId I leave out anything else?
Driving (Boston?) - Portland - North Conway - Hoosac - (Boston?) seems like a difficult journey to me, for very few trains and not many covered bridges if you drive straight through. Those New England two-lane roads can be very time-consuming, especially if you detour for covered bridges. Might you ever stop driving to drink beer? You could spend a month visiting the Cog Railway, Wolfeboro, and I’m sure lots of other places… Concord, NH, has a museum displaying original horse-drawn coaches, the capitol building, historic St. Paul’s School, and you might see a coal train just south in Bow. There’s at least one covered bridge nearby in Hopkinton…
To what city will you fly? How long can you stay? What is your budget? Did you want to travel by train where possible?
Amtrak shows $82 each way for the Capitol Limited in September, Chicago to Washington. The round trip can even be done in two nights, with a bit of time in Chicago (and of course either way or from Boston on the Lake Shore Limited…) This journey would be good if there are any in your group who have not been on a Superliner train or seen much of America.
You have come to the right place for good information, and maybe we can help you find places to stay…
About 10 miles northwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania is the Trexler Nature Preserve, which has 2 covered bridges nearby, as well as herds of approx. 50 American Wood Bison [‘buffalo’] and Rocky Mountain Elk in a meadow and pasture setting. Many visitors from Europe are interested in Western U.S. history - but you don’t have to go all the way out to the western U.S. to see them in a natural setting. Here’s the link to a website for it by Lehigh County - note the photos of the Covered Bridge, the Elk Ranges, and the several other Ranges -
http://www.lehighcounty.org/Community/TrexlerNaturePreserve/tabid/461/language/en-US/Default.aspx
See also the Trexler Nature Preserve’s own website, at - http://trexlernaturepreserve.org/
And here’s a web page for the nearby Covered Bridge Park in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, which has 2 covered bridges -
http://www.southwhitehall.com/parks.html
Hi Maglev,
Budget no problem.Time 2 Weeks from Saturday to Sunday.We Fly from Hannover to Boston and Return NY or Boston.We can also rent a car to a low price.We have no problem to change our Trip to other points of interest.Also we can take Amtrak.I have made a new plan with some Train ride.
Boston-Portland and Return.Boston-Lancaster(Strassburg Railroad) this Trips save Time.And then a car to Scranton,Horse Shoe Curve.East Broad Top Railroad.
I have all your Information write down and then i will make a plan for 2 or 3 Different Trips. And the best we will make.Its a lot to do.We will have fun no stress.
Thaks for Help and Greetings from Germany
Karl-Heinz[:)]