Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS Harrisburg Line / Port Road Question

Good Morning:

Where is a good place to watch trains between Reading and Harrisburg and what is the beat time of day for traffic? Also, how many trains per day does NS run over this line?


Also, same question for the NS Port Road. Does this line still see about 12 trains per day?

Hope to be back in the area soon to do some railfanning.

Thank you in advance.

Hershey and Lebanon are both good trainwatching spots on the Reading Line.

As for the Port Road, although it's busier in the daytime than it used to be thanks to the oil traffic, daylight traffic still can be sparse on a day-to-day basis. I can't recommend trying to railfan that line unless you know something's coming.

For the Harrisburg line, Wyomissing Jct is a favorite of just about everyone in the area. You can park at Doise Dough bakery and watch trains all day long. The only downside I can comment on is that trains do move through there pretty slow so if your shooting video it might not be as exciting. Another nice spot is just west of Wyomissing in Sinking Springs at the FM Browns. The angel is nice for eastbound and trains are going to be moving track speed here. Look up tehachapi-dave in the video section and you can find some of my videos shot from around the Reading area.

Tehachapi-TJ Over and Out.

On the Harrisburg Line, Richland is another great spot where to the west is a rock cut and S curve and to the east is a feed mill. There's a decent amount of parking there as well.

I've also gone to Sportsman road near Wernersville where you can stand on a bridge looking over the tracks. Also, downtown Wernersville has some interesting angles near the old Reading station.

Dan

Posted from iPhone

There are nice spots east of Hershey, but I stay close to home. Derry road is nice because you also get the Hershey local and the daily setoff/pickup from 34A (unless they changed it again). Hummelstown used to have a great spot right downtown, now a bus parking park & ride. I like the parking lot for Chick's bar. Real close to the tracks.

Don't forget to visit Harris Tower if you are in town on a Saturday that it is open (rare in winter).

Iron bridge on the north side of Enola is also good to visit, but not as much action as the Harrisburg Line.

I do not have a count of trains, but Sat early is almost always busy with westbounds stacked up to get through Harrisburg.

any regular activity on the Middletown & Hummelstown?

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> any regular activity on the Middletown &
> Hummelstown?

Yes, but only on the Middletown end.

Posted from iPhone

rbmn5022 Wrote:
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> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > any regular activity on the Middletown &
> > Hummelstown?
>
> Yes, but only on the Middletown end.
>
> Posted from iPhone

thank you

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> rbmn5022 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > any regular activity on the Middletown &
> > > Hummelstown?
> >
> > Yes, but only on the Middletown end.
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
> thank you

Last I knew, they ran to the NS interchange in Middletown with mtys on Mon/Wed and would pick up loads Tue/Thu.

As you can tell by previous responses there are many good locations along the NS Harrisburg line, many more than those already mentioned and there are many trains throughout the day.

Thank you for all of the replies.