Railroad Museum of PA

ParrotHead · #1 5th August 2012

Today I was looking for something to do and decided I would take a ride to Strasburg PA, home of the Railroad Museum of PA and the Strasburg Railroad. All I can sawy is wow, what a cool place. I would not call myself a train fanatic by any means, but I do appreciate all kinds of old stuff and most things mechanical. This place was packed full of trains.

Once in the door they have a small model RR layout

From there you go into the main exhibit hall. Here are some of the trains there:

This was cool. Its a John Stevens Steam Carriage from 1825

This one was from 1825

This is a fireless locomotive used by Pennsylvania Power and Light at their power plant. Rather than having a firebox and making their own steam, they would fill the boiler with steam from the power plant and that could power the locomotive for hours.

Several old cars

Replica of 1831 John Bull locomotive. This was built in 1939. The original is in the Smithsonian and is the oldest operating steam engine in the world.

Railroad car that goes with it

This one you could walk down steps and go under it

Bottom view

MMU Electic train.

Inside view

Snow plow

Small steam engine used in Hawaii to harvest sugar cane. This had a 3ft guage and they would move the tracks to where they were needed.

This was cool. Obviously steam engines need water to make steam. Rather than stop to fill up, some engines had a scoop in the bottom that could scoop water up from a trough like this laying between the rails.

GG1 Electric Locomotive

FP7 Diesel

Mock-up of the inside

View from the gallery above

They also had some exhibit space that I made a quick pass through. They had a bunch of old paintings. This caught my eye

One of the old boardroom chairs from the Pennsylvania RR

Outside they had some stuff waiting for restoration and a place to be displayed.

Some old cars

An old switcher

Turntable

Crane

Some more steam stuff

Another GG1

Another old train car

Across the street is the Strasburg RR. They are now an excursion RR and operate a steam locomotive

Their station

Some of their cars

Switch tower

Maintenance shed. They give tours but I was out of time

Some more stuff outside

Small engine they give kids rides with, complete with its own turntable

Their engine coming in

Another view of their engine

And a short video of the engine

Strasburg RR - YouTube

Gcram399 · #2 5th August 2012

Very cool stuff. Used to go with my grandmother to the railroad yards to pick up my grandfather when I was little. Always loved it.

Thanks for the memories.

Brad · #3 5th August 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by ParrotHead

This was cool. Obviously steam engines need water to make steam. Rather than stop to fill up, some engines had a scoop in the bottom that could scoop water up from a trough like this laying between the rails.

Ralphthe3rd showed me the remains of one of the cisterns that was used to fill those for the high speed rewatering last time we went road-killing in central PA.

ParrotHead · #4 5th August 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad

Ralphthe3rd showed me the remains of one of the cisterns that was used to fill those for the high speed rewatering last time we went road-killing in central PA.

That piece was from the Wilmore installation west of Horsehoe Curve. Most were 1500 to 2000 feet long, this one was they worlds longest at 2685 ft. They had some pictures of what it looked like when they filled up and it looked cool.

JohnK · #5 5th August 2012

Thanks for the pictorial tour! Definitely a place I want to visit some day. PA has a rich rail heritage for sure. FYI Henry Ford Museum in Deerborn MI has a very nice collection of rail history also.