today i was down behind the lancaster barnstormers stadium checking old two unloading trestles for hopper cars i beleive they were for coal but can't find any info but i'm pretty sure they belonged to the reading .unfortunetyly i a'm far from a computer geek and therefor have know idea how to get my pics up for everyone to see, tried the attachment thing but says file to big and i have no clue ho to resize them if it would be easyier i'd be willing to e-mail copies to someone who knows ho to get them up. please help i would like to know more abuot these stuctures
thanks.

Yes, they were Reading. They'll be coming out soon as the yard is relocated westward out of the way of the college's expansion.

i thought they were not relocating the yard because of enviormental concerns at the old dump that they were going to put it

That could be; I haven't been following it that closely. There was some resistance from the residents of a fine neighborhood adjacent to the planned location. And I think there is a need to clean up the soil at the present yard once it's abandoned.

The yard is still going to be relocated. They cleaned up the part of the dump where the new yard is going to be built, and it's all graded... just needs track (that work should be starting soon, I'd think).

i had my fingers crossed ever since i first heard about the relocation that it would not happen. F&M is trying to take over the town, they'd probibly would tear the whole city down and make the whole thing a collage. it's discusting how they can do stuff like this. progress, or is it?

I'd say it is.

NS gets to take some space that's not being currently used and put it to work as a modern, efficient, yard.

Then an inefficient piece of an industrial process (the current yard) turns into something else that's useful to someone else (and is itself an engine of growth).

I fail to see the problem, other than the fact that something we're used to is changing, but isn't that the nature of the world?

I don't think the yard itself has great historical significance or interpretive value.

I'm somewhat sad to see things like Rose Yard in Altoona go away, but I'd hardly call it disgusting.

Actually, Lancaster is a very historic yard chock full of artifacts. The old alignments for where the Reading came in, the alignments that led to the Quarryville Branch, the old trestles, the old engine house, the old tracks that led to the tobacco warehouses, the old baggage car used as a tool shed, even the fact that it is a yard that is still in the heart of the industrial sector of the city.

For it's size, it is a very efficient operation. A lot of cars get handled through that tiny little yard. But either way it was going to be rebuilt - either at its current operation, or at the new site west. And the new site gets it away from the city streets and F&M, so it may be a little better.

Also, as was pointed out, Lancaster is an old yard. And railcars aren't getting smaller or lighter. In this day and age of enormous LPG cars and 4-pocket hoppers... the yard needs upgraded to remain efficient.

I went to F&M from 70 to 74. My band played my 35th class reunion last summer. Some of my fondest memories were watching switching in that yard & the couple times I got to see a train trundle down Water Street onto the Quarryville branch. In 1972 Agnes came & that was the end of the branch, though a scrapyard at the end of Water Street still had rail service for some years afterward.

the wosrt thing abuot the new yard locating is that you won't be able to watch trains anymore, well atleast not nearly as well i'd rather see that yard totally rebuilt then remove for the use of a collage , not to mention where armstong was, could have put a new business in the exspecially with the prime rail access but instead they plant grass nothing wrong there except grass don't pay taxes or make the city any money. it will definetly be hard to get used to no rail along harrisburg pike. "sigh"

I'm trying to envision a collage as large as a railroad yard, or why the F&M Art Department would want to create one.......but ceratinly there might be room for railroad artifacts in it if it is based on local heritage or industrial preservation.

dave

it would be neat to see F&M include the tresles in there rebuilding plan give them a coat of paint and past them of as some art deco theme. could do the same with the old baggage car (or mabye give it to stasburg?) one of the trestles is almost completly intact including the rails (although on stringer about midway is missing) except for the wood walls that came off the piers. two are still there but have caught fire at some point. the other all thats left is the piers.

If they are going to keep a trestle (or part of one), I'd hope they'd consider preserving the one that is still in use today. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Have you seen the old coal trestle near the Amtrak station in Elizabethtown?

From the archives of a friend are these blueprints of said unloading trestles. Don't ask me what exactly it is, I'm not sure