The crew is operating No. 611 in a reunion
event with Strasburg’s No. 475, which is also a former N&W locomotive. The train rides, special nighttime photo sessions and other festivities are serving as a fundraiser for maintenance of 611 and for updating its controls so that they are compatible with modern railroad detection/operation
systems.
I left my car at a park just west of the
center of town, and rode my bike along Main Street towards the railroad
grounds. My family and I have visited the excellent Railroad Museum of
Pennsylvania, directly across the street, many times, but because we had
our fill of tourist train rides all over the country and in Europe, we seldom
stopped at the Strasburg Railroad. It is a really wonderful experience visiting
the grounds and seeing/smelling the live operation of steam locomotives, and
the rolling farmlands of Lancaster County provide attractive scenery for a ride
in vintage passenger cars.
A side aspect of the Strasburg Railroad of which
few people are aware is their extensive mechanical department that not only
oversees maintenance and repairs to their own equipment, but also restores
historic rail equipment and fabricates parts that would no longer be available
to keep the old locomotives and cars running on the rails. For over fifty
years, the team at Strasburg has been performing world-class work in the steam
railroading industry.
Regular excursions are an out-and-back
affair on the same tracks without the ability to turn the locomotives at each
end, and really, that would be quite a time-consuming operation for a
relatively short journey. The locomotives run backwards to the east for 4.5
miles then run around the passenger cars on an adjacent track to couple back
onto the train and pull it, facing forward, for the return trip. Obviously, the
run back to Strasburg was the desirable direction for the many photographers
who were out to record the event, and I had timed my visit well to see No. 611
leading its train across the countryside.
We have been having an incredibly warm September,
but autumn really felt like it was setting in this day, as not only were the
temperatures seasonably cool, but the leaves were being stirred up in blustery winds
coming out of the north. I headed away from the rails in the right direction,
being able to ride with the wind as I started the long, steep climb up Keneagy
Hill Road over Mine Ridge.
After grinding my way over the top, I was
sheltered a bit by the hill and trees as I turned east on Georgetown Road. I eventually
hooked up with Mine Road, which ran parallel to its namesake ridge to the town
of Gap. The appropriately-named town is where the Pennsylvania Railroad cut
through the hills into the flatter Lancaster farmlands, and I connected with
Route 741 alongside the wide right-of-way that had at one time consisted of
four parallel tracks busy with freight and passenger trains but now has just
two tracks served by the occasional Amtrak train.
Coming through Gap, the road looped back in
nearly a 180-degree turn, heading west now along the north side of Mine Ridge. The
railroad may have had an easier time out in this countryside, but streets in
this area are anything but flat, and I was dreading the fight against the
howling wind when I would eventually have to turn north.
I did not like Hoover/Hensel Road at all!
After a brief descent into a bowl-like depression, the pavement went
practically straight up, made only worse by the railroad overpass at the top.
In hindsight, it seemed an underpass would have been a simple engineering
alternative.
The intersection with busy Lincoln highway
didn’t improve the opinion about my route choice here, particularly since there
was no traffic light. Although it was picturesque, I wasn’t too excited by the
next long grind ahead that curved up around a farm set atop a knoll.
I can’t say I was happy to be smacked in the
face by a tremendous gust as I came around the hill, but it was better than
being broadsided, since I probably would have been blown off of the road. In
fact, the wind was so strong that, as I slowed for a stop sign on the steep
drop to Amish Road, I laughed to realize that I hadn’t even squeezed my brakes!
The left turn, out of the full force of the
wind, onto Route 772 (Newport Road) would have been more welcome if there was
any shoulder of which to speak. Being buzzed by several tractor trailers made
for a very nervous ride, and I couldn’t have been much happier to turn left
onto Osceola Mill Road. The wind was now off of my right shoulder, and I was
moving along nicely down Harvest and Irishtown Roads into the town of Ronks.
Many of the major roads had a noticeable
depression near the righthand white stripe, caused by years of wear from
horse-drawn buggies. Some repaving had been done here on Ronks Road, and where
the newer asphalt met this depression, a hard-edged groove had been formed. It
was difficult enough to hold my line with the wind, but negotiating a safe area
to ride between the edge of the road, busy traffic and this nasty pavement
groove became nearly impossible at times. I caught my front wheel badly once
and yanked up hard on the bars to jump out of a possible spill!
I pedaled along Cherry Road and across busy
Route 896 to reach Leaman Road, which was a tremendously enjoyable section of
my route. The wind was at my back following the long, sweeping curves of the
road that went slightly downhill towards the watershed of Pequea Creek. A
couple of Amish children waved at me during recess from their one-room
schoolhouse.
From here it was only a couple of miles down
Strasburg Pike back to my car, but it seemed this could have been another
situation negotiating traffic with only a narrow shoulder. I must have just
lucked out with my timing, and maybe somewhat the speed I was going with the
wind, because there was plenty of traffic heading the other direction, but I
was only passed by a couple cars along the way.
I had been doing many longer rides of the
50- to 60-mile variety recently and had decided this day to “back off a bit” with something
in the 30-mile range, but it was amazing what hills and wind can do to ruin
that plan!
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