Western Railroad Discussion > Railroad Parks and Viewing Platforms

Several cities in the United States have railroad parks, viewing platforms or the equivalent.

Rochelle, Illinois has a Railroad Park
Horseshoe Curve, Pennsylvania has a Viewing Center
Jesup, Georgia has a Railfan Platform
Manchester, Georgia has an Observation Platform

These places welcome railfans and have given them a place from which to photograph trains.

There must be more such places, please help fill in the holes. Any additional information would be appreciated.

I thought there was a place on the Illinois side of the Mississippi along the old MoPac and Cotton Belt joint track, Chester or Illmo? Something like that, if my memory serves me correctly

The Tehachapi Loop in California!

Flatonia Texas, which is on the former SP Sunset mainline and where the mainline from Texarkana and St Louis mainline converges with the Sunset Line.

Flatonia is reaching out to the railfan fraternity with museums and a shaded and comfortable viewing area, I guess that they want to stimulate the local economy with tourist type dollars.

Con

Although I'm sure it wasn't intended as such, I recall a thread here about a City of Los Angeles Park with a great view of the Harbor Belt Line.

Maybe a search on James Hahn??

BNSF 6400,

You may be thinking of Gorham, Il. There is a park right where the UP Mt. Vernon Sub comes onto the UP Chester sub. South of there on the Missouri side is Scott City (Illmo) They have a caboose there with a viewing deck around it across the tracks where the MoPac used to slow down to get their lunches on the fly! Lunch stand wasn't open to the public, South bound crews would call in their orders from Dupo,Il (Northbounds from Poplar Bluff, Mo) then when they got close they would announce themselves (train symbol) coming down the hill (southbound) or coming by the High School (northbound) and someone from the lunch stand would Put the crews meal in a styrofoam cooler (Heavily duct taped together) and put it on a small stand. As the train went by the conductor would step outside of the cab and grab the cooler on the fly, get their meal out and toss the cooler on the ground. After the train went by the lunch stand employee would retrieve the cooler then go back and get ready for the next train.

Photo is Local heading North through Gorham, Il in June, 1982 Photo used with permission courtesy of Mike Woodruff

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http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php

three shots from gorham illinois

computer locking up can"t capitalize sorry!

Railtrekker,

Thanks for the information, I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of that town. I remember those "lunches on the fly" and its my understanding that ended a few years ago when a new labor contract was negotatiated.

Winslow, AZ, has a new RR park under construction.
Cresson, PA, has a good viewing platform.

Some time back, someone posted a link to a web site with frequencies and railfan friendly locations. Unfortunately, I've lost the link. Maybe someone can post.....

There were some very good locations.

And don't forget the excellent viewing stand in Folkston GA just north of the Florida Line.

Davis, CA and Vancouver WA Amtrak Stations. Both have plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, tons of traffic, and both are in the middle of wyes.

I tried to get a RR park put in at the 2nd Narrows Bridge in Vancouver/Burnaby BC (CN mainline goes over CP mainline), but the public trail never got put in in the first place, so no luck.

Ted in BC

Perhaps the favorite railfan park in the east is in Deshler, Ohio, aka The Crossroads of the B&O. The park is fenceless with grass that goes right up to the diamond. There is a small covered picnic area and a scanner that runs 24/7 as well. The interlocking tower and depot still remain near the diamond. One of the best attractions, however, to Deshler is the famous B&O cpl signals that still direct traffic north-south thru town. 60-70 trains a day is pretty OK too.

Daveb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some time back, someone posted a link to a web
> site with frequencies and railfan friendly
> locations. Unfortunately, I've lost the link.
> Maybe someone can post.....
>
> There were some very good locations.


That is my web page at http://www.railfanswelcome.com

If anyone knows of public locations that are not on my web page, please let me know and I will add them. The web page is intended to be a service for railfans to find railfan-friendly locations where you can watch trains and not worry about being chased away or interrogated by local or railroad law enforcement.

Dave
n8oayscan@woh.rr.com

I would like to thank everyone that contributed

Don't forget Hill 582 in Cajon Pass.



George,
Fontana,Cal.