Now that summer is coming to end, I thought it might be interesting to post a question to the community. May help people plan their vacation next summer???
What are some of the interesting exhibits and rides people have seen.
I have been fortunate to see several here are my favorites in the past 5 decades and why:
Cass Scenic railroad: Real Shays in action
Museum at Strasburg RR: Incredible locomotive collection in excellent shape
North Carolina RR Museum: Working Turntable
Santa Fe Southern: Ride in a Vista Dome car on real working RR
Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR: The scenery and seeing a Mudhens in action
Georgetown Loop RR: The Devil's Gate Bridge
Colorado RR Museum at Golden: On special days of the year you can ride in the cupola of a caboose or in a Galloping Geese
Some of these events occurred several years ago so they may be out of date.
What are some of your favorite items?
check out the CVSR!(cuyahoga valley senic railroad)you'll get your money's worth and more!gotta love those alcos! :D
http://www.cvsr.com/
what i like to do in the summer may not be for everybody.
i go train camping. we find a nice spot along the tracks in a scenic area, pitch a tent, and log trains all weekend. at night, we have a s[otlight and light up the trains as they roll past. don't gfet much sleep, but we come back with literally hundreds of photos.....
we've done this in the altoona area, east of cumberland, md, enola, pa and near erie, pa. next summer i'd like to do williard, oh
I passed the Bellfonte PA Historic Railway last April on my way to Chicago. Since I go past there at least once a year. Next time I'm going to check it out.
Girlfriend and I are going to Mt Washington Cog railway the 17th for a ride up the mountain pushed by the steam engine. Videos I found at You Tube. There are also bio-diesels being used now. Much more efficient.
On the way down, the loco does not hold the car. A brakeman does it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3H_Hg-L0ik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afBOdwb-loQ&feature=related
We will hit Conway for the dinner train.
Been to Strasbourg and Steamtown, plus Berkshire Scenic railway.
Not a railroad but have seen a passenger car with six wheel trucks about halfway down the Florida Keys at Pigeon Key. It use to be on the Florida Keys Railroad.
If you search You Tube for various railroads, you will find many, many links.
Rich
I like the Strasburg too, magnificent locos and great shop. One of my other favorites is the Valley Railroad in Essex CT which also has great locos and shop. Plus they combine a ride on the railroad with a cruise on a riverboat. Nearby is the Connecticut River Museum. This area was very active with steamboat traffic before the rise of roads.
http://www.essexsteamtrain.com/
http://www.ctrivermuseum.org/
I also like to take AMTRAK from Washington DC to spend the day in New York City. It's a nice ride and sometimes seems surprisingly short. You're hardly in your seat before you're rolling through Wilmington DE, then on to Philly, Newark and the dark tunnels and then emerging into daylight in the heart of the city :D
Robert
I suggest the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan. While the tour is a little under an hour, they have plenty of cool things, including a 7-1/2 gauge miniature railway. Here's a link to my thread I posted a couple of weeks ago when I went:
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,13996.msg112856.html#msg112856
I always enjoy seeing the steam trains run out in Ely, NV. Beautiful old locos and great western scenery. Just got back from my annual Nevada camping trip and posted some videos of the Nevada Northern RR museum's train. See my post elsewhere in this forum.
Good morning All,
The East Broad Top Railroad in Orbisonia, Pa, approx halfway between Harrisburg and Altoona. Go not only for the train ride, but you can tour the shops, ride the restored speeders south(opposite direction from the train ride) over restored trackage, and also the trolley museum and ride. Trains and speeders run only on Saturday and Sunday. Trolleys I believe operate during the week.
From the East Broad Top, you can be in Altoona in a little over an hour drive time which means Horseshoe Curve and west slope.
If you are in the Philadelphia area, north and west of the city is the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad. Not sure of the cost now, but you can arrange to ride the cab of the engine, be it diesel or steam. Also, as you leave New Hope the trackage crosses a curved trestle known as the Perils of Pauline trestle as that is the location that was used in many of the Perils of Pauline episodes in the early 1900s.
I enjoyed reading and seeing all of the unique RR exhibits and rides folks added to this topic.
When I get up to the New England area I would really like to visit the Essex Museum and the Cog RR up Mt Washington.
Also seemed like Strasburg is very popular.
Thanks to everyone who contributed :)
Quote from: NMWTRR on August 08, 2010, 11:58:45 AM
I enjoyed reading and seeing all of the unique RR exhibits and rides folks added to this topic.
When I get up to the New England area I would really like to visit the Essex Museum and the Cog RR up Mt Washington.
Also seemed like Strasburg is very popular.
Thanks to everyone who contributed :)
Try to take in Steamtown in Scranton, PA. There is a good size yard with a lot of rolling stock and locos, plus a trolley line connects to the yard right in front of the Big Boy.
Don't' forget to take pictures and videos. I was just learning to use a Canon A590 PowerShot that takes videos also. I have improved since these where taken back in 12-27-2007.
I was able to wander around the yard. Don't know what kind of access during the summer weather.
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/Steamtown/img_0467.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVemumyQ9Uc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxmM_qPvTW0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQhCK8bBYVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdetNZ8Rzvg
Rich
Well if you plan on heading to NC to visit the Transportation museum, I suggest you hit Tweetsie Railroad. I'm surprised really to see nobody has suggested that yet. It's a small western themed amusement park, with Ex-ET&WNC #12, a baldwin 3ft gauge 4-6-0, and ex-WPY 190 class 2-8-2 #190 lol. It's somewhat a sad site to see #12 in thous colors, but it's not catchy for tourist. Any way, she has the most beautiful whistle in the east, in my opinion, 2nd best being at the EBT.
I'm not sure if you'll catch #12 during the hot summer, but you can get behind 190 during August, and 12 in September & October; forgot to tell you about the ghost train host each year.
Enough of my blabbering here's the link. www.tweetsierailroad.com
Rock On!
Dusten
Dear Friends,
Would suggest the EBT for the Fall Spectacular. Usually nice weather and fun to get up REAL close. Saturday pm is the fireworks show, and it is a good one. Last year's show had very hot days and cold nights, brilliantly clear and a nice fireworks viewing. Great for kids, very relaxed. Good spaghetti dinner Sat pm.
Best Wishes,
Jack
In the same region as the EBT is the Western Maryland Scenic out of Cumberland. Heavy 2-8-0 working hard up the 1.75% grade to Frostburg. Up in New England, don't miss Clark's Trading Post and thier wood-fired Climax. Another Climax can be found working out of Durbin, WV, about a 45 minute ride north of Cass. Vintage diesel powered (including a BL-2)trips are scheduled on the old WM lines out of Elkins.
I just returned from a trip all the way to California (from my home in Philadelphia) to visit the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. For anyone who loves 19th-century locomotives, the Cal. State Museum is not to be missed.
For me it was especially interesting that all the old Baldwins in the collection would have been built at the original works at Broad and Spring Garden streets, just blocks from my current home in Philadelphia. (The locomotive "Gov. Stanford" is also a Philadelphia native, having been built by Richard Norris and Sons.)
There is also a short steam-train ride along the Sacramento River.
I came away from the museum shop with a t-shirt bearing the legend "Still Plays With Trains." ;D
The Illinois Railroad Museum in Union , Illinois has a number of steam ,diesel & electric locomotives plus passenger & freight cars it is about 65 miles northwest of Chicago. Also the Museum of Science & Industry has Railroad Equipment on exhibit and a newly renovated Model Train Layout , the new one is I Believe in HO Scale. Just heard Mayor Daley is promoting the development of a new high speed rail line from Downtown to O'Hare Airport . John II.
My most memorable train experience was about 10 years ago when I was a member of the Indiana Transportation museum. At the end of the summer season we had a "members only" trip the full length of our line, plus some of the Indiana Railroad shortline. We were to have two streamlined passenger coaches, a caboose, and a loco at each end. But one of our locos, an ex-MILW F7 broke a leaf spring, so we were coupled on to the tail end of an IRR freight pulled by three SD-18s, and we were pulled backward (caboose, two coaches, and our FP-7 at the very end) to the end of the line, then our FP-7 pulled us back. The entire return leg of the trip (which lasted a total of about 5 hours), I stood on the rear platform of the caboose and got an awesome view of northern Indiana, including some street trackage in downtown Noblesville. Ah, good times!