Strasburg Rail Road
The Strasburg Rail Road is the oldest continuously operating railroad in the western hemisphere and the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Chartered in 1832, the Strasburg Rail Road Company is today a heritage railroad offering excursion trains hauled by steam locomotives on 4.5 miles of track in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Its headquarters sit outside Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
Strasburg currently has four operating steam locomotives: Great Western No. 90, Canadian National No. 89, Norfolk & Western No. 475 and Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal No. 15 and the nation's largest operating fleet of historic wooden passenger coaches. The Strasburg Rail Road is one of the few railroads in the US to occasionally use steam locomotives to haul revenue freight trains. It hosts 300,000 visitors per year.
The nearby Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania occasionally uses Strasburg Rail Road tracks to connect to the Amtrak Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg Main Line junction in Paradise, Pennsylvania.
Description
Strasburg Rail Road is a shortline railroad built to connect the town of Strasburg with a main line. Today, the original four and a half-mile line carries passengers on a 45-minute round-trip journey from Strasburg to Leaman Place Junction through nearly 2,000 acres in southeastern Lancaster County.The train includes the United States' only operational wooden dining car on which visitors may dine while riding. Attractions at the station include the fully operational gauge Pint-Sized Pufferbelly a vintage pump car and several c.1930s "cranky cars" along with several gift shops and a cafe.
A percentage of each train ticket is contributed to the Lancaster Farmland Trust.
The railroad's mechanical and car shops maintain and restore locomotives and rolling stock for the Strasburg Rail Road and a wide variety of public and private clients, including fellow steam railroads, train museums, attractions, and more. In 2016–17, the shops were enlarged by 12,000 square feet to accommodate demand for their services.
Its freight department carries goods to and from the main line for local and regional clients.
History
By the 1820s, the canal system had replaced the Conestoga wagon as the primary method of overland transportation. When the Susquehanna Canal opened, the majority of goods were directed through Baltimore, Maryland, rather than Philadelphia. The small amount of goods that were destined for Philadelphia traveled via a wagon road through Strasburg. Philadelphia attempted to reclaim its position as a major port city by constructing the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in 1831. A railroad was easier and more cost effective to build than a canal. Because the new railroad would bypass Strasburg and cause Strasburg to lose its livelihood, a group of businessmen petitioned the state government for the right to build their own railroad to connect Strasburg to the Philadelphia and Columbia. A charter was issued by the Pennsylvania Legislature with the signature of Governor George Wolf on June 9, 1832, to "incorporate the Strasburg ".Although the pre-1852 history of the Strasburg Rail Road is sketchy, it is believed that the line was graded in 1835 and was operational by 1837. The railroad operated as a horse-drawn railroad until it purchased a second-hand Norris-built, 4-2-0 steam locomotive named the William Penn in 1851. Controlling interest in the railroad was purchased by John F. and Cyrus N. Herr in 1863. The rails were replaced around the same time with heavier ones to accommodate the locomotive. In 1866, the Herrs were granted a charter to extend the Strasburg Rail Road to Quarryville; surveys were carried out, but the extension was eventually canceled because of an economic depression in 1867. Isaac Groff managed The Strasburg Rail Road for about 20 years until the fire of January 16, 1871, which destroyed the depot, grist, and merchant-mill, planing-mill, and machine-shop — in all, more than $50,000 worth of property. In 1878, the Strasburg Rail Road and the shops were sold. The railroad was eventually again sold in 1888 to the Edward Musselman, with the Musselmans retaining control of it until 1918, when it was purchased by State Senator John Homsher. By this time, the number of passengers had dropped off due to tracks for the Conestoga Traction Company's streetcars reaching Strasburg in 1908, which offered a more direct route between Lancaster and Strasburg.
In 1926, the Strasburg Rail Road purchased a, gasoline-powered, Plymouth switcher—the only locomotive that was ever built specifically for the Strasburg Rail Road. By 1958, the railroad fell on hard-times from cumulative effect of years of declining freight business and infrequent runs, damage caused by Hurricane Hazel, and inspectors from the Interstate Commerce Commission's lack of approval for operation of the Plymouth locomotive. Upon the death of Bryson Homsher, the Homsher estate filed for abandonment with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Hearing of the potential abandonment, an effort to purchase and save the railroad was organized by Henry K. Long and Donald E. L. Hallock, both railfans from Lancaster. They organized a small, non-profit group to purchase the railroad. After the better part of a year of hard work, the purchase was completed on November 1, 1958. The following week, on November 8, the first carload of revenue freight was hauled to what was then the only customer, a mill in Strasburg.
Tourist excursion service began on January 4, 1959, and their first steam locomotive arrived the following year.
Locomotive roster
Operational
"Thomas" is Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal #15. The engine was sold to the Strasburg Rail Road by Keith Brigode from the Toledo, Lake Erie and Western Railway in March 1998 and was originally going to pull excursions on the site. However, it would not be easy to run the engine the entire line and back due to the engine's limited water capacity of the saddle tank. Unfortunately, the railroad had already purchased the engine and it was scheduled to arrive in May of that year. When Strasburg Railroad finished shooting arrangements for the film, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, a few representatives from the Britt Allcroft company were impressed and requested the railroad to host Day out with Thomas events. The railroad accepted the offer and restored No. 15 to resemble the character, Thomas the Tank Engine. The engine first ran under its own power as its "Thomas" rebuild on April 14, 1999. Thomas's face was replaced with the CGI face in April 2014.No. 89 was purchased from the Steamtown Foundation in 1972. En route to Strasburg that June, it was in Penn Central's Buttonwood, Pennsylvania, yard when Hurricane Agnes flooded the Susquehanna River. The floodwaters entered the locomotive's stack, delaying its debut at Strasburg. 89 arrived at the railroad facing East, and it remained in that status until the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's turntable was installed across the street in 1975.
For several years, groups have scheduled photo charters when the railroad reletters locomotives in their heritage paint scheme. For the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad, #475 and three passenger cars were relettered "Indian Valley".
No. 90 was painted in her old Great Western Railway colors in 2013.
Undergoing restoration
No. 972 was acquired from Rail Tours Inc. of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania after the company could not afford the payments for mechanical repairs that Strasburg was performing on the locomotive at the time.- While there are many locomotives which have gone through the backshop for restoration, some have been established to be in the shop only on here-say. Only locomotives which have been publicly displayed or have been given a press release count as restorations/re-builds.
Retired
| No. | Wheel Arrangement | Builder | Built | At Strasburg | Notes |
| 4/1187 | 0-4-0 | Baldwin Locomotive Works 21831 | 1903 | 1962-2020 | ex-Reading Company 1187. Last operation and retired from service in 1967. Recently acquired by the Age of Steam Roundhouse from an auction on July 15, 2020. |
| 1223 | 4-4-0 | Juniata 1399 | 1905 | 1963–1989 | ex-Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1223. Last operation in 1989. |
| 7002 | 4-4-2 | Juniata | 1902 | 1983–1989 | ex-Pennsylvania Railroad No. 8063 until it was changed to her sister's number for a display. Last operation in 1989. |
| 98 | 4-4-0 | American Locomotive Company | 1909 | 1961-1964 | ex-Mississippi Central Railroad. Operated during the early 1970s before moving to the Wilmington and Western Railroad. |
No. 1187 ran as No. 4 between 1962 and 1967. It had inadequate strength for SRR's heavy trains. As such, it ran as a switcher during the summer months from 1963 to 1967. It is a camelback-type locomotive. After a loan to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, it is now back on the railroad property and is currently dismantled pending long-term future restoration. It is unknown if that restoration is simply cosmetic, or if the railroad plans for the locomotive to go back into service. No. 1187 was recently acquired by the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio from an auction on July 15, 2020.
Both 1223 and 7002 were leased for operation. 1223 was leased from the PRR from 1965 to 1968, from Penn Central from 1968 to 1979 and from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1990. 7002 was also leased from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. After ultra-sonic testing both engines were found to have thin spots in their fireboxes, which are a part of their boilers, thus the engines were taken out of service. The railroad stated they could have done the repairs but the lessor, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, wanted to preserve the "historical fabric" of each locomotive and did not renew their leases the following year. 1223's last day of service for SRC was Thursday, October 26, 1989, while 7002's was earlier that year in January right after filming a Prudential Insurance commercial in Harrisburg Train Station. They have both remained on static display since being removed from service.
98 is currently operating at the Wilmington and Western Railroad.
Pre-1958
Strasburg rostered at least five steam locomotives prior to 1958. Evidence suggests that Strasburg only rostered one locomotive at a time, operating it until it was no longer economically viable to run it anymore and would purchase a new locomotive to replace it.| No. | Wheel Arrangement | Builder | Built | At Strasburg | Notes |
| PRR A3 | 0-4-0 | Juniata | 1893 | 1924-1926 | Strasburg's last steam locomotive before acquiring the Plymouth. |
| 937 | 4-4-0 | Juniata | 1876 | 1906-1924 | Renumbered as Strasburg's second No. 1. |
| 929 | 4-4-0 | Juniata | 1873 | 1892-1906 | Renumbered as Strasburg's first No. 1. |
| "Strasburg" | 4-4-0T | Baldwin Locomotive Works | 1863 | 1863-1892 | Strasburg's first new locomotive. |
| "William Penn" | 4-2-0 | Long & Norris | 1835 | 1851-1863 | Strasburg's first locomotive, rumored to be one of the first 50 locomotives built in the US. |
Non-steam locomotives
SRR also has a collection of early internal combustion locomotives; All but No. 1235 are in operation.| No. | Class | Builder | Built | At Strasburg | Notes |
| 1 | 20-ton | Plymouth | 1926 | Since 1926 | Operates on occasion. |
| 2 | 10-ton | Plymouth | 1930 | Since 1984 | Operates on occasion. |
| 10 | Railcar | Sanders Machine Shop | 1915 | Since 1962 | Former Lancaster, Oxford & Southern and only car at Strasburg with roller bearings. |
| 1235 | SW9 | Electro-Motive Diesel | 1953 | Since 2018 | Former Santa Fe Railroad; future service unknown. |
| 8618 | SW8 | Electro-Motive Diesel | 1952 | Since 2009 | Former New York Central; Used for freight service and on rare occasions, excursion service. Rethemed to "Mavis" in 2019. |
No. 1 has operated on the Strasburg Rail Road ever since it was built in 1926. The engine is notable for being used to reconstruct the track and rails for the railroad between 1958 and 1959, after the railroad was purchased to become a tourist line.
1235 was brought to the railroad in late 2018. It arrived in poor condition.