Eastern Railroad Discussion > [PA] Changes at Columbia on the Port Road

Columbia is a town on the Susquehanna River south of Harrisburg. It's also where the Port Road oil trains and the Royalton branch meet (I believe I have that right). Popular place to watch oil trains and Baltimore trains since you'll see operations via Enola or via Harrisburg.

The long planned River Trail services building is taking shape, and it looks to be a huge benefit to train watchers. The huge new facility will have a covered outdoor deck overlooking the river, food choices, rest rooms, etc. It will be a hundred fifty feet from the railroad crossing, as well.

In other news, the renovations to the adjacent Columbia Water Company's old brick buildings are coming along, creating a delightful vista of the river and railroad. These are just a few feet north of COLA tower. And the ancient Columbia hotel looks like it too is undergoing renovations. No word on what's happening there.

Picture 1 - the new River Trail building. The river is to my left, the railroad is beyond the building, you can see the cat poles

Picture 2 - I've turned 90 degrees, so the visitor center is on my right.

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You're close, the junction of the Royalton Branch and the Port Road is a few miles upriver at Marietta. The Columbia Secondary from Lancaster though does connect with the Port Road in Columbia (CP-COLA).

That's interesting as I never knew what they were building there. It would be nice to be able to hang out there during the night to watch the trains and not get kicked out.

John Miller
Conestoga, PA

Went to Columbia Borough's website and found an aerial view of the new River Park.

John Miller
Conestoga, PA

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Thanks for this aerial view since it now gives one a better idea as to the way the building is laid out in relation to the tracks.

It kind of gets me excited to see this as this building is going to serve a variety of people. The river trail hiker's,train watchers,and boaters/river recreation.

John Miller
Conestoga, PA

Most defiantly have to visit!!!
Ed K. cp Laurel Run

It was mentioned to me that the grade crossing by COLA Tower is now closed. Is that true?

Pattenburg Wrote:
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> It was mentioned to me that the grade crossing by
> COLA Tower is now closed. Is that true?

Yes it is. They closed it due to the truck by-pass construction that's going on. I also wondered if the Columbia Secondary may have gotten relocated some, it just looks different to me for some reason.

John Miller
Conestoga, PA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/14 10:52 by j-miller.

j-miller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pattenburg Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It was mentioned to me that the grade crossing
> by
> > COLA Tower is now closed. Is that true?
>
> Yes it is. They closed it due to the truck by-pass
> construction that's going on. I also wondered if
> the Columbia Secondary may have gotten relocated
> some, it just looks different to me for some
> reason.

Thanks for the aerial view, that's very helpful.

There's a lot of construction and road closure activity in the few blocks along the river. It looks like the railroad and the road parallel to the river in front of the Columbia Hotel is being moved or clarified. A little south, there's some work being done between the COLA tower and the firehouse, maybe widening and clarifying some turn lanes, etc.

I've enjoyed Columbia in the past. It looks like a nice little town on the river and railroad, not at all trashy. The big Turkey Hill facility produces a lot of jobs and community activities from what I understand (fireworks over the river, festival, etc).

m1bprr Wrote:
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> Most defiantly have to visit!!!
> Ed K. cp Laurel Run


AGREED...!!! Thanks for sharing.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> j-miller Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Pattenburg Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > It was mentioned to me that the grade
> crossing
> > by
> > > COLA Tower is now closed. Is that true?
> >
> > Yes it is. They closed it due to the truck
> by-pass
> > construction that's going on. I also wondered
> if
> > the Columbia Secondary may have gotten
> relocated
> > some, it just looks different to me for some
> > reason.
>
> Thanks for the aerial view, that's very helpful.
>
> There's a lot of construction and road closure
> activity in the few blocks along the river. It
> looks like the railroad and the road parallel to
> the river in front of the Columbia Hotel is being
> moved or clarified. A little south, there's some
> work being done between the COLA tower and the
> firehouse, maybe widening and clarifying some turn
> lanes, etc.
>
> I've enjoyed Columbia in the past. It looks like a
> nice little town on the river and railroad, not at
> all trashy. The big Turkey Hill facility produces
> a lot of jobs and community activities from what I
> understand (fireworks over the river, festival,
> etc).

Columbia Borough and the surrounding communities are really trying to change for the better over the last few years. Columbia replaced the old and ugly streetlights with the antique style LED street lights and also just replaced the old street lights across the rt.462 bridge and even the approaches with an LED original style light on every post/pillar. So it lights the bridge up a whole lot better and look great at night.

John Miller
Conestoga, PA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/14 16:50 by j-miller.

Now they just need the 46 trains a day (on average) that PRR ran on the Port Road during the war years instead of the 12-14 now. Love that location though, gonna have to stop by next time I'm back in PA.

JG