
09/24/2021
Really happy with how this one turned out! It will be on YouTube tomorrow. In the mean time, check out this video I uploaded last week! https://youtu.be/gK8GMiXctLs
Welcome to Central Penn Rail Productions! Railroad Videos from Central Pennsylvania and beyond. New daily videos at 1 PM EST (UTC -5:00) when I have the chance to upload.
This page is dedicated to fans of the Central Penn Rail Productions YouTube page. With over 100,000 subscribers, it wouldn't be such a hit without viewers like you. In addition, I will upload short videos here when I have the chance, since longer, full narrated productions will be uploaded to my YouTube. Always check back and remember to like for the latest uploads!
Operating as usual
Really happy with how this one turned out! It will be on YouTube tomorrow. In the mean time, check out this video I uploaded last week! https://youtu.be/gK8GMiXctLs
What could we possibly be shooting here? 🤔
Throwback Thursday: On this day 9 years ago I chased CP train 450 down the former D&H Colonie Main. The power was a surprise that day, a SOO line "candy apple red" SD60 followed by a Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern SD40-2 and another CP SD40-2. I caught the train 3 times between Mechanicville and Kenwood Yard in the capital city of Albany, New York.
#Trains #Railfan #Railfanning #EMD #CanadianPacific #Train
Winter Wednesday: I spent a couple hours at Middletown Station after a 9 inch snowfall, catching both Pennsylvanians with GE P42DC diesels and a 670 with an unusual double-ended Sprinter consist making a stop on this soon-to-be-replaced platform situated within a superelevated curve. A new station is being constructed closer to the Harrisburg International Airport, featuring high-level ADA accessible platforms.
While the new station will give appeal to Amtrak operations on the Keystone Corridor, the sad state of current affairs brought on by the coronavirus is evident by the lack of cabcar and numerous flatspots on the coaches.
#Amtrak #Train #Trains #Tren #Railfan #Snow #Railfanning #PassengerRail
MAC Monday: An EMD SD70MAC leads a long Q136 stack train of marine containers up the hill on the famed Sand Patch Grade. The train also has Dash-8 helpers on the rear, a practive that has since been replaced by DPUs.
Filmed October 2017. Thanks for watching! Central Penn Rail Productions
#Trains #Railfan #SandPatch #CSX #Train #Railfanning #EMD #SD70MAC
New week, new round of posts (when I can):
MAC Monday (coming to you live shortly!)
(No post scheduled for Tuesday)
Winter Wednesday
Throwback Thursday
(No post scheduled for Friday)
Signal Saturday
Southern Sunday
Snowy Sunday: This is one of those videos you just grab a cup of hot chocolate and watch! Trains in the snow are a personal favorite, even though setting up and operating a camera in such conditions is difficult, but you don't have to worry about that in the comfort of your own home!
Two Norfolk Southern trains pass my usual hang out at Richland along the Harrisburg Line. We didn't have any snowfalls like this in 2020, so I had to dig back a couple years for this footage.
Filmed January 2019, thanks for watching! Central Penn Rail Productions
#Train #Trains #Snow #Winter #Tren #Railfan #Railfanning #EMD #NorfolkSouthern
😳😳😳
Shortline Saturday: The East Penn Railroad's Lancaster & Northern Operations serve freight customers between Sinking Spring and Ephrata, Pennsylvania, interchanging directly with Norfolk Southern in Reading Yard. Here, we see them enter the NS Harrisburg Line heading east with empty propane tankers.
The 1962 built GP18 is still running strong, looking good in the corporate colors running with GP38-3 2801.
Filmed January 2016, thanks for watching! Central Penn Rail Productions.
#Train #Trains #Railfan #Railfanning #EMD #Tren
TURN SPEAKERS UP! Fast Freight Friday: 3 SD40-2s and SD50 work hard to pull 49 loads up the 1.33% compensated (1.12%) grade on Keenapple Curve above White Haven Pennsylvania. This is train NRFF: the North Reading Fast Freight between North Reading Yard (above the Norfolk Southern interchange) and Coxton Yard in Pittston.
This is a great spot to watch trains work up the hill along a portion of the former Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) Lehigh & Susquehanna Main Line, with an original milemarker still standing at this location.
Filmed August 16, 2020. Thanks for watching! Central Penn Rail Productions
#Train #Run8 #NRFF #RBMN #Trains #Notch8 #EMD #CNJ #Railfan #Railfanning #Tren
Throwback Thursday: 9 years ago on this date I was in Lebanon, PA where there was once a long line of railroad crossings. At this point though, buildings on two city blocks where being demolished to make way for two new overpasses for State Route 72, the northbound lanes on 9th Street, and southbound lanes on 10th Street - the crossing in front of me. A third crossing in between was also removed before this video was taken.
Two other railfans were also there grabbing a picture of this 95 car Norfolk Southern train 19G from Oak Island, NJ to Conway, PA, the big railyard west of Pittsburgh.
This location just isn't the same anymore.
Filmed January 7, 2012. Thanks for watching. Central Penn Rail Productions.
#Train #Trains #Tren #NorfolkSouthern #Railfan #Railfanning
In other news... 🤔
Hello, sorry, no video today for "Winter Wednesday". With all the craziness going on I forgot about it, but I will throw it into the rotation for next week. Still on track (pun intended?) for the rest of the week though! Thanks for watching the videos I posted so far.
Trash Train Tuesday: This is still one of my favorites to this day. Back in 2009 there was a derailment in Mingo Junction, Ohio that delayed the daily trash train. These stinky beasts haul away New York City's number one export: garbage, anywhere from 2500-3500 tons at a time, accounting for half of the city's daily output.
Stats for nerds: a years worth of trash trains haul enough garbage to fill the volume of two Empire State Buildings.
While SD40-2s were common around this time—as we will see on the afternoon empty led by one still in Conrail blue paint on this particular gloomy and snowing day—a pair of rarely seen SD45-2s had to pinch hit for the pair of SD40-2s trapped in Ohio. This event has never been repeated, and SD40-2s are also not used on trash trains anymore.
There are only 6 SD45-2 locomotives on the Norfolk Southern roster and most are held captive on the Conrail Shared Assets operations in Northern New Jersey. They are all former Erie Lackawanna which were built with 20 cylinder 3,600 horsepower engines. However, 1702 was rebuilt with a 16 cylindeer 3,000 horsepower engine, while 1705 retains 20 cylinders to this day, but also derated to 3000 horsepower.
Filmed December 2009, thanks for watching! Central Penn Rail Productions.
#Trains #EMD #Railfan #Railfanning #Tren #Trains #NorfolkSouthern
Central Penn Rail Productions updated their info in the about section.
Maintenance Monday: A ballast cleaner travels west on the on the Harrisburg Line. This machine is used to pick ballast off the road bed and clean any impurities which are conveyed into a gondola. Over time, dirt, sand and other loose matter can accumulate in the roadbed which reduces drainage and stability. This results in clay or mud like pockets forming under tracks, which is bad for passing trains. Ballast will also break down over time and lose its angularity, thus needing to be replaced. On the same day, we also caught a loaded trap rock train from the Dyers Quarry in Birdsboro heading to somewhere else on the railroad that needed fresh ballast.
I hope you enjoy this video, hopefully sometime I can catch one in action!
Filmed in April 2020. Thanks for watching! Central Penn Rail Productions.
Hello everyone and Happy New Year! In an effort to be more active in 2021, I will post daily videos when I can. There will be a set of themes for each week. For this week:
Maintenance Monday
Trash Train Tuesday
Winter Wednesday
Throwback Thursday
Fast Freight Friday
Shortline Saturday
Snowy Sunday
Tune in to see what videos are posted for each theme!
What did I do this past year? What railroads and trains did I see? Find out in this video: https://youtu.be/W8RQ_Iz65vA
Despite its challenges, 2020 was a good year for railfanning in my book and I will release the full videos as I complete them.
One year of trains! That's a lot of trains, even in a crazy year like 2020. Where did Central Penn Rail Productions go this past year? Well, we'll find out i...
😲😲😲
Rio Grande Pacific announced it had entered into an agreement with Union Pacific to buy the stories mountain railroad.
Earlier today. Fun day of chasing of the Fs!
I finally got around to editing some shots of the Acela test moves done at the end of May. It was a rare mileage move to Lancaster on the Amtrak Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. Commentary provided in the video, and special thanks to those who contributed content for the video, including Virtual Railfan, Jersey Mike Position Light Signal Blog, and terrific photos by Mike Huhn!
Amtrak's future of high speed travel is soon here! On May 28, 2020, Amtrak tested the Avelia Liberty— the name given to the new Acela built by Alstom in Horn...
Precision Schedule Railroading (PSR) doesn't work. The practice of laying off a significant part of your workforce, closing yards, and making long messy trains that often break down is a disgrace to the American economy and customers who often can't rely on other means of transportation (those that can continually flee to trucking on our already clogged highways). The largest cause of delays on CSX has been on account of no crew availability. Meanwhile, the railroad's solution to this loss in revenue has been excessive and unfair demurrage charges based on manipulated and one-sided data from the railroads. If rail service is more efficient under PSR like the railroads claim, then how did demurrage fees mysteriously skyrocket? The STB has been working out new rules and regulations for demurrage billing since last October which can be found by searching "STB docket EP 759"
On June 5, the railroads and customers provided feedback which can be viewed here: (have to scroll down a bit): https://prod.stb.gov/proceedings-actions/filings/
The comments by Lansdale Warehouses, San Jose Distribution Services, and the Portland Cement Association are straight and to the point.
What a surprise, the execs cash in their millions after gutting the company.
Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC) Chairman, President and CEO James A Squires Sold $9.7 million of Shares, Stocks: NSC, release date:Jun 08, 2020
Saw this along Route 30 on my way to Gap.
Beautiful day under the wires.
Where’s a train when you need it?
1 or 4, what are your thoughts?
Hey Strasburg Rail Road fans and railroad enthusiasts! – As restoration work progresses on our EMD SW9 diesel locomotive, #1235, we’d like to know which paint scheme you like best.
Cast your vote for one of these four possible paint schemes!
Vote by commenting the number of your favorite color scheme!
www.strasburgrailroad.com
#StrasburgRailRoad #Vote #DieselLocomotive #newpaint
Forgotten Railways, Roads, and Places
This is neither forgotten nor abandoned, but something too unique not to share. This has got to be the world’s largest railroad crossing signal assembly (and if it isn’t, please share what is).
This railroad line serves the Anheuser Busch Brewery in St Louis, and crosses a warehouse loading dock, hence the need for this gargantuan railroad crossing.
The line was run by the Manufacturers Railway before Foster Townsend Rail Logistics took over operations in 2011. It’s still in service today. I can only imagine what it looks like lit up.
Image: Cliff Trice, St. Louis, MO via the Railroad Signals group.
Railfan Danny
Hi Everyone:
I finally finished a new YouTube video. It covers two trips I took over two weekends. Hope you like it.
"Some days your railfan plans don't pan out, so you end up following a back up plan instead. That's exactly what happened on a March railfan trip to Green Spring, WV to chase the South Branch Valley railroad, but with no crew arriving, we instead followed CSX through Western Maryland and Pennsylvania. We had a CSX local train in mind, but did not find them either. Instead, we lucked into several unexpected catches as the day progressed that easily made up for the slow morning. I hope you join us trackside for a day of CSX railfanning shot in 4K to take you there! Train information is provided in the commentary, including history and other information for those who want to learn more about railroad." (29 minutes).
Some days your railfan plans don't pan out, so you end up following a back up plan instead. That's exactly what happened on a March railfan trip to Green Spr...
NEW VIDEO: With Amtrak Keystone & Pennsylvanian Service currently curtailed with the Coronavirus, I decided to edit/upload my most recent Amtrak shots with a few older nuggets thrown in. 15 mins - various locations along the line. Zoom!
I visit several of my favorite spots on Amtrak's Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, including where the crossings once were...
Ooops. Looks like the Auto Train, DeLand, Florida.
The Beacon has received a report at about 4:30 p.m. today of an Amtrak train overturned on the tracks near Beresford Landing, west of DeLand.
Painful to watch.
Removing the overhead catenary line and poles from 80 miles of track in Page, AZ
There goes another one 🙁
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — Four teens have been arrested and charged with burglary and arson after they allegedly sparked a fire at an unused...
Lebanon County, PA
High Definition and 4K Railroad Videos
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Central Penn Rail Productions posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
How would you like to live in one of these houses and look up to see a train crossing high above you? (And be even more surprised to see a caboose on the end of one of them!) The Norfolk & Western Railway built many bridges like these on their mainline route between Roanoke, Virginia and Hagerstown, Maryland, currently operated by Norfolk Southern after the 1982 merger between the N&W and Southern Railway. Two of the most prominent bridges can be found in Nace and Compton, Virginia, nestled parallel with the northern range of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Both bridges built in the 1910s and upgraded in the 1930s to handle larger steam locomotives. Train 1: M5T crosses over Nace with a pair of hard-working GE locomotives heading south toward Roanoke. I was surprised to see a few depressed flatcars and a caboose on the rear, owned by the Department of Defense (DODX). Train 2: 18T crosses the mighty trestle in Compton, VA. They have locomotives on the front and in the middle of the train (distributed power). Subscribe to our YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions Filmed: January, 2020 - Copyright Central Penn Rail Productions #railfan #railfanning #trestle #NorfolkSouthern #CentralPennRailProductions
This week I caught the New York Central Heritage Unit leading long freight train (symbol 10K) on Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Line at Richland. On this chilly December morning, 10K had 168 cars with a fairly new SD70IAC buried in the train as a DPU (short for Distributed Power Unit). 10K is a daily mixed freight between Elkhart, Indiana and Allentown, Pennsylvania, which started running in the summer of this year, replacing two trains—16N and 10N—into one long one as a part of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR), which means longer, but fewer trains traverse the Harrisburg Line on a daily basis. PSR typically has this train into Reading between 7-7:30 am, so I lucked out here catching them at Richland just after 8. I really don't go out railfanning here much any more due to the lack of interesting things to see, which is why I mostly stopped the weekly upload videos here on Facebook in order to focus on editing older videos for YouTube. But, I hope you like and share this video with your fellow railfans!
https://youtu.be/RNtNBVH43mk N&W 611 barks up the grade at Cherry Crest along the Strasburg Rail Road last Sunday. It was an exciting weekend, so don't forget to check out the full YouTube video if you haven't already for various shots of 611, as well as 475 in the "new" look!
Today's upload is for the car counters. I decided to post it here and on YouTube since this is recent footage. Norfolk Southern started running some long trains with DPU’s as part of their Precision Scheduled Railroading initiatives. Some of these “mega trains” have been reaching car counts well into the 200’s and 2.5 miles long. Trains with DPU’s—short for Distributed Power Units—are not unique, as the technology has been around for 60 years, but has been common use for over 15 years mostly out west on the BNSF and Union Pacific in the United States and Canadian Pacific and Canadian National in Canada. But it wasn’t until Spring 2019 here in Central Pennsylvania on the Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Line that DPU’s made a mainstream appearance, with only a few uses dating back to 2014. The clips in this video are all of train 34A, which is a Oak Island, New Jersey to Conway, Pennsylvania (northern New Jersey to west of Pittsburgh), which is essentially a combination of the old 19G and 15T, making two trains into one mega train in order to move more freight with less engines and crews. Most of these trains measure around 11,000 feet (2.1 miles / 3.35 km) in length, but not too heavy on the tonnage (around 10-12,000) as it is mostly empty traffic returning to industries out west. Train 1 - 0:00, 34A - Richland: NS ES44AC 8080, NS SD70ACU 7324 - DPU - NS ET44AC 3600, NS SD70ACU 7301, NS ES44AC 8122 Trains 2 - 3:30, 34A - Wernersville: NS SD70ACC 1802, NS C44-9W 9559 - DPU - NS C44-9W 9224, NS ES44AC 8043 Train 3 - 6:40, 34A - Richland: NS AC44C6M 4008, NS C44-9W 9659, NS ET44AC 3640 - DPU - NS AC44C6M 4120, NS SD70ACU 7339 Train 4 - 9:45, 34A - Myerstown: NS ES44DC 7632, NS SD70ACE 1120 - DPU - NS C44-9W 9273, NS AC44C6M 4045 https://www.youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions Thanks for watching! Central Penn Rail Productions 2019
I caught the Conrail and Illinois Terminal hertiage units today! #HeritageUnits If you like trains, like & follow this page for more videos! Also subscribe to my YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions On May 25, 2019: The NS ES44AC 8098 "Conrail" leads intermodal 20Q through Richlanf in the morning. Later that morning NS SD70ACe 1072 "Illinois Terminal" leads a short auto train 18N. Bonus clip: 19G also came a couple minutes later. #railfan #railfanning #Conrail #IllinoisTerminal
Last month I caught two trains on the Norfolk Southern Port Road Branch in Marietta, Pennsylvania, with spring foliage beginning its peak. Of the 10-12 trains per day through this location, the majority run at night. However, 66R and 37A ran in the middle of the day due to track work further down the line. This is a formerly electrified line that was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Although no electric trains ply the rails today, some of the catenary infrastructure is still in place, including the wires that carry electricity from the Safe Harbor Dam to a substation in Royalton for Amtrak's electrified Keystone Corridor. Taken April 13, 2019
Here's another weekly railfan video for you! The Erie heritage unit leads hot intermodal 21M west near Milepost 77 on the NS Harrisburg Line. The pair of SD70ACe's meet counterpart 20K racing east led by NS ES44DC 7626 with NS SD60E 6962 trailing. Keep watching to see a freshly-painted AC44C6M lead empty tank cars west through the same crossing on the following morning. Shot on May 3 and 4, 2019.
Spring time is here! In the height of the foliage on Easter Sunday, two Norfolk Southern trains pass through Hershey, Pennsylvania on the busy Harrisburg Line between Harrisburg and Reading. The crossing is Derry Road, located at Milepost 99, with the 98 automatic signals overhead. Train 1: 6K4 - Ethanol Loads - Midwest US via Chicago, IL - Seawaren, NJ Train 2: 211 - Priority Intermodal - Croxton, NJ - Atlanta, GA Sorry for my lack of "Weekly Train Video" posts. I have not been out much lately plus I have been busy editing videos for my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions But with Spring finally here I hope to get more videos for you! Thanks for watching!
Arizona Eastern Railroad train 203 enters the yard at Clifton to interchange with Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FMI Railroad). Clifton is the end of the line for the eastern portion of the AZER, which starts 70-miles south in Lordsburg, New Mexico. The trains in this region serve as an integral part to the copper production at the massive Morenci Mine, which has been in operation since 1872 (the edges can be seen above the hills as the train pulls down to the station). Not much has changed in this area over the past three decades, when the railroad was still operated under the vast Southern Pacific railway. AZER B40-8's 4006 & 4010 were built as SP B39-E's, continuing the tradition the bringing carloads into town for the mine-operated railroad to pick up. When FMI took the reigns from Phelps-Dodge in 2007, the same old EMD locomotives descend the mountain to pick up trains for the mine. The moment the AZER cuts away from the train, FMI locomotives tack on to the rear for the near 1000' ascent, ~4.5% grade back home.
Last Sunday, March 3, we caught Norfolk Southern train 20K making its way east through a wet snowfall. With warm temperatures in the forecast, this will probably be the last snow fall here in Central Pennsylvania. Subscribe to our YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions Watch more trains in the snow here! https://youtu.be/q5PswNJzrz8
Westbound Union Pacific stack train ISILBX (Santa Teresa, NM - Long Beach, CA) crosses the Cienega Creek near Vail, Arizona along the "Sunset Route" on February 14, 2019. It's hard to believe a week later this location would be covered in several inches of snow due to a rare heavy winter storm. This extra section of ISILB consists of 5 locomotives (no DPU's) and a short train of marine containers. UP ES44AC 7460 UP SD70AH 9074 UP SD70M 4127 UP AC4400CW 6696 KCS ES44AC 4865
A track geometry train moves eastbound on the NS Harrisburg Line. A slug called "the brick" and a passenger car inspect the tracks, giving real-time feedback to the inspectors onboard to determine whether the track bed is suitable for mainline speed. If not, a 25 MPH slow order is issued until a maintenance crew can arrive with equipment and improve the track structure. Trains like this help Norfolk Southern keep freight moving on their massive 21,500 mile system in 22 states in the Eastern Unied States. NS 38 "the brick" was once an SD40-2 (NS 1620) that was retired and rebuilt into this slug which houses the sensors and inspection equipment.
The Pennsylvania Railroad heritage unit NS 8102 leads train 20K eastbound through Robesonia, PA on January 25, 2019.
Check out all 20 NS Heritage Units here! https://youtu.be/A37VaY9zP_s The CNJ Heritage Unit leads a train of empty Bakkan Crude oil cans from Delaware, bound for Chicago for interchange with BNSF. The train is on Norfolk Southern's "Port Road" Branch, which runs between Marysville, PA to Baltimore, MD. This former Pennsylvania Railroad line used to be electrified, running dozens of freight and passenger trains daily. Today, it sees a mere 8-10 trains daily. This video was taken 2/28/15 at Marietta. If you like this video and love trains, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for dozens of different kinds of train videos with new content always being added!
Amtrak 43 the "Pennsylvanian" whips past Middletown, Pennsylvania under the wires of the Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. The train is passing the future site of the new Middletown train station adjacent to the Harrisburg International Airport. This project has been delayed for years, but recent brush cutting and cleaning of the right-of-way indicates the project is finally a go. A lone Pennsylvania Railroad style position light signal stands along the close track, which today is part of Norfolk Southern's Royalton Branch. The signal is the last of its kind in the Harrisburg area, it too will soon succumb to progress as PTC upgrades force the removal of intermediate signals.
Trains of 2018 is a look back at different trains and locomotives captured during the year, highlighting the changing of the seasons. From snow to rain, hot summer days, foggy mornings and colorful foliage, we take a tour of the railroads throughout the state of Pennsylvania! This is but a small sample videos taken in 2018, so we hope you check out the many in-depth train videos Central Penn Rail Productions has to offer on YouTube! Thank you for over 1,000 likes on our page! Subscribe to our YouTube channel for 100's of train videos! https://www.youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions Thanks for watching and happy new year to everyone!
Two trains race side-by-side! The ending is cool too! Original Video: https://youtu.be/5ZN5tYIBvlA Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for lots of train videos! https://www.youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions This is a video I shot back in November 2011 and I am surprised by the number of views it gets every day on YouTube, so I decided to post it here! Since it has been stolen several times, you can now watch it, like it, and share it from the original source! Thanks for watching! The radio noises you hear at the beginning are from my hand-held radio scanner that lets me know when trains are nearby, it was announcing a wayside detector that both trains recently passed two miles to the west of my location.
New Progress Rail DC to AC rebuild SD70ACC NS 1801 in special Caterpillar colors leads a heavy train up the hill at Blandon on the Norfolk Southern Reading Line! The all EMD consist includes two Union Pacific SD70M's 3813 and 4108, with EMD 710 prime movers blaring! Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more train videos! https://www.youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions This unit was formerly standard cab SD70 2548 built in 1994. The SD70ACC units have upgraded SD70ACe style cabs with tear-drop windows, 4,500 horsepower, and added weight to for the new AC Traction motors.
TCP Network - The Cultured Professional
341 e. Liberty St, Lancaster