Chartered in 1832, the Strasburg Rail Road Company is today a heritage railroad offering excursion trains hauled by steam locomotives on 6.47 km of track in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, as well as providing contract railroad mechanical services, and freight service to area shippers. The railroad’s headquarters are outside Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
Strasburg has a total of 5 operational steam locomotives on its roster, as well as several others in various stages of restoration. As of 2021, Great Western No. 90, Canadian National No. 89, Norfolk & Western No. 475, and Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal No. 15 (rebuilt as Thomas the Tank Engine) are all in active service. Canadian National No. 7312 (No. 31) is currently dismantled outside the shops in the yard, awaiting possible restoration.
The other steam locomotive is 15” Gauge 4-4-0 built by Cagney in the early 1900s. They also have the nation’s largest operating fleet of historic wooden passenger coaches. The Strasburg Rail Road is one of the few railroads in the U.S. to occasionally use steam locomotives to haul revenue freight trains. It hosts 300,000 visitors per year.
The nearby Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania occasionally uses Strasburg Rail Road tracks to connect to the Amtrak Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg Main Line junction in Paradise, Pennsylvania.
According to discoverlancaster.com. Source of photos: internet
