How are our easterners on the board faring?

I hear there may be a steam powered plough today somewhere in Lancaster County...

Joshua

In order for a plow to operate, there has to be a demand for traffic to go over said line. That, or you're just doing it for show or practice.

The Strasburg RR may have trains scheduled, but it would be foolhardy to take Herculean efforts to open a line if none of the potential customers can access the line, let alone park in the parking lot or pull up the truck to the freight car...........

Now, if they leave the snow alone and schedule a plow extra on Saturday morning, after the most rabid among us can dig out and show up.......

As I type this, it's 8:40 on a Monday morning, and I'm sitting above what would normally be seven lanes of rush-hour traffic in Baltimore. It's busier than this most Sunday mornings. Heck, I think it was busier than this on Christmas morning!

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I was initially caught alarmed by that when I saw it on the news, but after a bit of research, I believe there is a bit of mileage difference between "Upper Strasburg" and our favorite steam line near Paradise. Looking at Lancaster news, it doesn't appear to be much different. There appears to be somewhere between 20-24" inches in the Strasburg area (20" in Lancaster, 26" in Quarryville which is a few miles south), though I'm sure Kelly could give a more accurate report of conditions up there. At any rate, it appears to be a safe bet for a white opening weekend between what is there currently and what is expected mid-week.
Kevin

ADM, thoust should ask the pertinent questions before thoust type. With a revenue move approaching, and a steam engine hot, sources on the ground report that #475 is indeed out plowing under blue Lancaster County skies!

And that = "a demand for traffic to move over said line". I stand by what I said.

I REALLY hope someone was out there getting some video!

Can't tell you about video, but I do know someone whose precious stock of Kodachrome took a major hit! So jealous. So jealous!

Rob

When was the last time standard guage steam was used to open a line for revenue freight service?

Wilmington & Western is working on clearing their line. Valentine's Day Dinner Trains running both thiis Saturday and Sunday (4 & 7pm both days). 58 is supposedly in final stages of reassembly after inspection, so I'd imagine either it or the 98 will be out to power these trips. The Red Clay Valley is in its' finest right now. After a snow fall is the best time to really see the line, particularly the terrain thats often over shadowed by lush, summer growth.

I'm quite sure NH&I's line is open as they ddin't get hit as hard, but with the upcoming storm on Wednesday, should prove interesting, they're running V-Day dinner trains as well.

Possibly 2009? Strasburg has done this before in the past, both for freight and scheduled revenue passenger excursions. Brothers Anderson, Moedinger, et al would have to check their log books to determine just when the plow was used with steam because of incoming or outbound freight.......

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Kelly-the enthusiast in me like the thought of 475 being the motive power for plowing snow. Just out of curiosity, however-why would you folks use the 475 vs. your EMD switcher?

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