RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.
YORK PA
Railfan Guide
York from where I live is a short hop of about 40 miles. Being so close, you would have thought I would have been there all the time back in the early 70's.... not so... shame on me! Back then, the Ma and PA still went down to Red Lion, and the Northern Central (Pennsy) still ran thru freights and passenger trains from Baltimore to Harrisburg - signaled every two miles with PL's.
So what's left today for the railfan?
Norfolk Southern has a small yard on the north side of town, there is usually a couple of engines working the yard, or resting on the weekends.
What's left of the MA and Pa, renamed YorkRail to keep the railfans from coming around, is just east of the downtown area a couple of blocks off Market St.
As seen below, there are a couple of depots, a Pennsy tower, and numerous freight sheds still standing. It looks like the WM freight shed is used as an apartment building.
The last thing I am aware of that ran down to New Freedom on the "Northern Central" was a couple of engines used to haul equipment out after the the NC Rwy Dinner Train had it's stuff auctioned off in 2002 (if I recollect correctly). The Stewartstown hasn't run anything for a few years, and it's been even longer since a load of lumber's been delivered into Stewartstown.
The aerial shots come from www.maps.live.com, in their "birds eye" view.... great resource!!!
If you have any additional info you would like to share with the rest of us, it would be greatly appreciated.... please email me
1
The old Ma and Pa
depot on on East
Market St.
2
The ex Pennsy depot, with the remaining
freight sheds to the right. The area across the tracks from the depot has
now been turned into a stadium, and the area where the homes are in the picture,
is now part of the stadiums park.
3
The ex-Western Maryland Freight Building
and shed... the shed part is now gone.
4
The Pennsy tower.
5
The York Rail shops. As an be seen,
they fence off everything "good" overnight and over the weekends.
6
Norfolk Southern's Windsor St yard.
There's not usually anyone around on Sunday's to chase you off, but then,
there's usually not anything running, either.
7
Some of the remaining freight sheds.
The aerial shot for the Pennsy depot shows where they are.
8
The two bridges in town are seen in this
picture.... both still in use. The old main line to Baltimore curves off
to the left, skimming by the odd shaped building with the curved side. I'm
sure there used to be signals all through here, but little evidence (very
little) of them remains today. The coal trestle on the right side of the
picture was recently removed.
9
The Harley factory on US 30 east. It
was built in 1973, sits on 230 acres, and is a 1.5 million square foot facility.
You can tour the plant and get a walk thru the actual factory floor, which
starts in the Vaughn L. Beals tour facility. They assemble touring and
Softail models here.
For more info, visit:
http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/Factory_Tours/york.jsp?locale=en_US
Between the tower and the NS yard, stands
this isolated coal trestle.
NEW 2/8/2009
Last Modified 15-Jan-2010