Eastern Railroad Discussion > Trip to Bridgeview Bed and Breakfast Inn Marysville Pa. question

My friends and I will be taking a trip to the Bridgeview in Marysville Pa soon.  Can anyone suggest hot spots to railfan and railroad frequencies?  We will be staying 6 days so we can travel out a little.  Thanks is advance.

Russ Austin

You may find this hard to believe, but the best spot to be is right at Bridgeview, if you want to monitor NS and just watch trains.
He has scanners set up, as well as a repeat dispatch display, in the common room.  You won't miss anything.  You're surrounded.
The view from the front deck, or just walking up the road to the north side of the Rockville Bridge, is as good as you will find.  Absolutely wonderful.  Better than Horse Shoe Curve for action, visibility, lighting.
One thing I like to post - and seriously - is that he has as good a reputation with NS as he does because he WILL NOT tolerate guests that tresspass on the NS right-of-way near him.  You can get plenty of good shots without resorting to that, and if you do, particularly after a warning - the one that calls the NS police on you would likely be him.

Now you can drive down the local road for the overview bridge at the south end of Enola Yard.  Again, safely, without tresspassing, nice place to hang out.
There are a couple 'pull offs' above the Enola Yard engine terminal off of Rt. 15, but traffic is heavy and the brush is taller every year.

There's a pull-off up the road at Cove that's well-used and makes a pretty good spot without tresspassing.    The Duncannon stone bridge is a favorite, that's one that will require a decent map and some exploring to get to.  The 'best view' is from the Rt. 11/15 bridge but you're taking your life into your hands to get a shot without getting run over.   You can't park up there.

There's a good view of the track and signal bridge right behind Sheetz on Rt. 15.  Note that now most of the signals are approach-lit and the position lights are largely gone.

Overall, unlike the usual railfan centers, you can just relax.   There's so much action that you don't have to go crazy looking for it.   There are few equals.  Put your feet up and enjoy the show.

Your field trips can include Strasburg, the Colebrookdale railroad up in Pottstown, Steam into History at York, the Middletown and Hummelstown, Harrisburg station (good spots, actually), and the Wannamaker, Kempton  & Southern.    A wierd favorite spot of mine is the north side of the Forester Ave. parking ramp in Harrisburg, it's EXACTLY at the intersection of the Allentown Line with the main line, shaded, you can literally park in the ramp and watch trains all day, the station is just east of the ramp.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/15 13:19 by randgust.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the area is in the June 2015 issue of Trains Magazine!

Also, Keih is willing to steer you to all the good spots around the area. Alot will depend on how far you are willing to drive to get to someplace. Miflin is nice as well as along SR 33 near the Thompson signal, Port Royal is also good.All these are west along the Pittsburg East line.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

You can spend a delightful couple of days on the porch at Bridgeview. I have, on several occasions. Don't even think of moving.  Trains on the bridge, in front of you. Trains on the lead to Enola to your left. Scanner popping away with folks getting directives, forms D, fuel pad orders, etc. Keith has bbq grills and charcoal at the ready, so bring a steak or two. And a cold beer / glass of cabernet, etc

There's light on the bridge from a little after 6 in the morning to a little before 8 in the evening.

It's absolutely delightful.

You don't have Lurgan line trains (they cross south of you) but you have plenty of notice they're coming. So you can head south about 15 minutes and be in position.

If the desire to move out of your chair, and out from the sun umbrella gets the best of you, here's a suggestion.  RED RABBIT.  It's a 1950s era drive in restaurant with car hops. Or, you can sit at their picnic tables.  Wonderful fried chicken, great burgers, really good fries, cute car hops, etc. On US 322, just north of Duncannon, and over the river.

Keith is an exceptional inn keeper, can't say enough good things about him.

Road Hawg barbeque in Duncannon, take out,  2 blocks to the Duncannon station.  There is a picnic table track side.

Radio Frequencies -  Harrisburg Terminal Dispatcher - 160.980
Enola Yard - 161.445
Harrisburg Yard - 160.410
Port Road - 161.07
Buffalo Line north of CP-STONY aand Harrisburg Line east of CP-TARA - 160.860
Pittsburgh Line west of Duncannon and Rutherford Yard - 160.800

If you stick around the Bridgview, after about 4:30 pm switch over to the boat launch area on the other side of Rockville Bridge on the Marysville side for late afternoon / early evening sweet light.

You will definitely want to move around and explore the area if you are there for  6 days.  Some of my favorite locations in and around Harrisburg - east side of Rockville Bridge from Front St in the morning.  Linglestown Rd overpass (Rt 39) just east of the bridge in the am.  The end of Lucknow Rd. off of 6th St. east of Linglestown Rd. in the afternoon.

Check out the State St. bridge in downtown Harrisburg in the morning.  Decent lighting for photography both directions in the morning.  HARRIS tower is right below it.  Mulberry St just east/south of the Amtrak Station.  Go east of there (North I-83 to east 322 to the Wal-Mart area to check out Rutherford Yard.  Further east of there on 322 then 422 takes you through Hershey / Lebanon toward Reading.

Back in Harrisburg, below I-83 in the Shipoke area of Harrisburg there is a great view of the old Reading Bridge (Lurgan Line) over the Susquehanna River.

Rts. 11/15 west / north of Enola has several locations along the Pittsburgh Line out to Duncannon.  There is a great afternoon shot which I've posted on here numerous times of westbounds curving off the Rockville Bridge taken from behind the billboard on 11/15 before you get to Marysville.  Just be careful of the poison ivy, I've been trying to keep it trimmed back (I'll probably hit it again Sunday or Monday.)  Someone else mentioned Thompsantown and Port Royal, you can use Rts. 22/322 west of Duncannon to access them as well a Newport, Mifflintown and Lewistown to mention a few.  Heck, you can go out to Altoona and back in a day from the Bridgeview if you want.

That's just the tip of the iceberg in the Harrisburg area.  If you are spending 6 days there and have never seen the DL and the Alco show in Scranton, make a trip 2 hours north on I-81 to the that area, especially on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday; you can catch the Portland turn westbound out of Scranton those days.   



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/15 19:18 by sscannella.

What is the tall Viaduct that is on the line to Binghampton?   Starts with a T  

How far is it from Enola?

Gary
 

Tunkhannock, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Harrisburg.

dharris

dharris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tunkhannock, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from
> Harrisburg.
>
> dharris

It doesn't see a lot of traffic, does it?  I was under the impression that four trains in 24 hours is about all on a typical day

dharris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tunkhannock, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from
> Harrisburg.
>
> dharris

Thanks

Gary
 

6-8

CP 458 / 449 (NS 12R/11R) - daily
NS 30T / 31T (CP 930/931) - daily
NS 12T / 13T (CP 932/933) - daily
CP 258/259 - approx 3X weekly
D14 Binghamton - Taylor turn - approx 2-3X weekly


Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dharris Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Tunkhannock, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from
> > Harrisburg.
> >
> > dharris
>
> It doesn't see a lot of traffic, does it?  I was
> under the impression that four trains in 24 hours
> is about all on a typical day

sscannella Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 6-8
>
> CP 458 / 449 (NS 12R/11R) - daily
> NS 30T / 31T (CP 930/931) - daily
> NS 12T / 13T (CP 932/933) - daily
> CP 258/259 - approx 3X weekly
> D14 Binghamton - Taylor turn - approx 2-3X weekly
>
>
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > dharris Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Tunkhannock, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from
> > > Harrisburg.
> > >
> > > dharris
> >
> > It doesn't see a lot of traffic, does it?  I
> was
> > under the impression that four trains in 24
> hours
> > is about all on a typical day

Thanks for the info.  That's more than I expected.