Strasburg Railroad's Freight Operations

Was in Lancaster County a few days ago. Decided to take a drive by the Strasburg Railroad to see what was going on. Their freight terminal was quite busy. Saw at least 6 covered hoppers being unloaded (it looked like grain from what I could see). On a new track closest to the farm fields there were 5 tank cars. In addition to those cars I saw 2 box cars and a centerbeam flat car. There were additional cars ( a tank and 2 covered hoppers) spotted on the track along side the engine house. 2 tractor trailers were being loaded with building materials. A short time later I was driving past the Paradise interchange and there were 6 or 7 freight cars on the interchange track. The Strasburg's freight operations seem to to be doing pretty good.

Happened to find this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HuuvS1t4fw missed this by a couple of days....

That is awesome!!
So do the steamers normally pick up the freight at the interchange in Paradise or is it usually just the diesel switcher??

Where are the customers located on the line exactly??

I don't ever recall the Strasburg railroad hauling freight from the 1980;s through the 2000s.. What year did they start receiving cars??

Here's a link to a railroad.net discussion of Strasburg freight from 2004:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3025

Article from "Trains" on the Strasburg marketing freight service: (from Jan. 2010)
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/blogs ... ight-oh-my

Another youtube Strasburg freight (2 cars) (Jul 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQM4BVd0W1M

There are no online customers. They unload cars for off line customers in a freight yard just to the east of the passenger station. Why they use the steam engines more than the diesel you would need someone more in the know about their operations (altough I think its pretty cool they use the steam engines).

Great video! I watched the snow plowing vid also, it makes one appreciate the summer breezes!

I remember as a kid, my father took the whole family out to Strasburg on an early Friday morning in August for my birthday so I could ride the railroad for the very first time and ride the mixed freight. It was the PRR 1223 plus a coach and caboose and they picked up maybe 3 cars. I wish I could find video of it that was shot. Great memories. My dad has been gone for 8 years now, and tomorrow will be my 32nd birthday.

Many years ago, the buildings and coal trestle West of the East Strasburg passenger station were on line customers.

Today, LancasterOnline posted this article:

http://lancasteronline.com/article/loca ... iness.html

Thanks for sharing the link. A short "fair use" quote...

The shortline handled nine freight cars in 2009, according to Stephen Weaver, Strasburg Rail Road superintendent.

It's on track to haul up to 300 this year, thus increasing its freight operation by an expected 3,233 percent.

The growth is deliberate, fueled by a $1.5 million project to boost the railroad's freight operation.

The Strasburg, ever faithful to railroading's past, painted its "new" ex-NYC diesel switcher, purchased to haul freight, in NYC colors and lettering except for the "Strasburg" name on the hood! "The newest loco we have" said Weaver-- it's a relatively young 60 years of age, having been built in 1951 according to the article.

When do they usually make runs?

indie1361 wrote:When do they usually make runs?

Forgot the days (it coincides with the NS H27 crew), but it's the very early morning IIRC.

IIRC, NS delivers/picks up at Leaman Place Junction very late Tuesday/Thursday night or very early Wednesday/Friday morning.

My family and I were down in Strasburg over the weekend. Rode the Strasburg Sunday. When we passed the freight yard among the usual freight cars (a couple of tankers, boxcar or 2 and 3 covered hoppers) was a string of 6 rather worn looking C&D or possibly woodchip hoppers with LBR reporting marks.
Looked a lot like this one: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1236175" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Couldn't quite figure out what they were doing there.

The new TRAINS magazine, which came in the mail today, has a little article on freight traffic picking up on the Strasburg due to new transloading opportunities since the closing of Dillerville Yard. One interesting thing was that some companies have wanted to locate on the line, but the railroad wants to keep the farm atmosphere. So should the railroad expand? Could Strasburg or Paradise start an industrial park that Strasburg could extend a spur to? I've thought since visiting there that at least a passenger spur to the Toy Train Museum could be in order, and perhaps also a spur from end of track to downtown and/or up to Hershey Farms. Perhaps an industrial park could be off of one of those spurs. Or at Paradise, maybe a spur following the Pennsylvania RR mainline to an industrial park. Of course, would they consider that farmland that ought not be touched too? . . .

Man do I wish I lived closer.....
Eastern Railfan Productons video..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p3m0F69Hqw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;