Lehigh Valley Heritage Unit: A Chase to Home Rails

Описание: June 15, 2013: The Lehigh Valley Heritage Unit, NS 8104, is seen leading a loaded autorack train 18N east on the Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Reading Lines east on its journey toward home rails on the Lehigh Line for the first time since its painting 1 year ago.

0:00 - 18N flies east at about 60 MPH on the former PRR main by Milepost 172 near Longfellow, PA.

1:30 - 18N rounds the super-elevated curve at one of the rural grade crossings in Bailey near Milepost 129 along the Juniata River.

2:35 - Having just fueled up on the pad alongside of Harrisburg Terminal, 18N heads east, entering former Reading rails at Paxton interlocking under the Mulberry Street bridge in downtown Harrisburg. The backdrop is the Amtrak station and train sheds, including an idling Amtrak Dash-8 514 in Phase V paint.

3:55 - With no crew available to take the train east on the Harrisburg Line, 18N pulls into the siding at Rutherford Yard, which is a very rare appearance for a heritage unit. This is the second time a Heritage unit has used this track, succeeded by the Wabash unit on Roadrailer 262, which is usually the only train to use this track on a daily basis. Where I am standing is at the Crown Switch into the Triple Crown facility, as the sign in the background states.

6:20 - After sitting in Harrisburg for a couple of hours, it was well into the afternoon, leaving no good shots on the Harrisburg Line between Reading and Harrisburg, so instead, 18N winds its way through the curves on the connecting track from the Harrisburg Line to the Reading Line at CP-Tulp in the Berkshire Heights, just outside of the city of Reading, which can somewhat be seen in the background after the train passes, although the growing trees makes that shot harder. Notice the road sign below, the train is 34 miles from Allentown, where it will come home to LV territory.

8:10 - The train now heads east through the scenic farmland along the Reading Line, past the 222E searchlight signal. 18N is going slow, following train H68 into Allentown Yard, where 18N would have work, picking up autoracks from CP train 258 for New Jersey. At this location, the train is entering Lehigh County, very close to home.

Well, the dilemma here is that I ended my chase, not continuing to catch the train on the Lehigh Line, figuring it would be late by the time it got out of Allentown, and with the sun, it would be blinding with no good shots, not to mention the crowds lined up at all of the locations east of Allentown. In hindsight, it may have been a bad decision, because the train did make good time in Allentown and a light haze allowed good photos east of Allentown on the Lehigh Line, but nevertheless, this video will be continued, as we hope the LV unit comes back home again soon... until then, thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed this 130 mile chase of the Lehigh Valley Heritage Unit!