PERRYVILLE, MD. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor crosses the Susquehanna River on a century-old bridge between Perryville and Havre de Grace. At least partly in deference to its age, the bridge has a speed restriction – 90 mph. State-supported MARC commuter trains connect Perryville with Baltimore during rush hours. Norfolk Southern freights using the “Port Road” to and from Harrisburg, Pa., join the Northeast Corridor at Perryville. They can turn north to Wilmington, Del., and south to Baltimore. During the week, most operate on the Corridor overnight, however. Havre de Grace features a number of stores and a bird decoy museum highlighting regional waterfowl.
HUDSON RIVER VALLEY, N.Y. Concentrate here on the “Highlands” area, roughly from Peekskill to Cold Spring. Mainline tracks run on both sides of the river, with those on the west side handling only freight for CSX Transportation and those on the east being essentially passenger-only for Amtrak and Metro-North (and as far as Poughkeepsie for MN.) There are a number of places, including Manitou, Bear Mountain, and Storm King Mountain, where trains can be seen and photographed from the opposite bank.
ALEXANDRIA, VA. Freight, Amtrak, or commuter train, if you’re heading south directly out of Washington, D.C., you’ll be passing through Alexandria’s Union Station. Since the station is located on King Street in the heart of “Old Town,” there are plenty of places to stay and eat nearby. What can be viewed from the station platforms are all of CSX’s north-south freight operations from the northeast to the south, and numerous Amtrak trains heading for both Richmond on CSX rails and toward Manassas on NS rails. Weekday rush hours also offer Virginia Railway Express commuter trains on both lines.
TEHACHAPI, CALIF. One could certainly do worse than to simply visit the town of Tehachapi, just west of the famous railroad grade’s summit. However, I’d submit that covering a broader swath of territory, from Sand Cut on the west slope to Mojave on the east would be a lot more fun. The area has characteristics of a model railroad, including numerous tunnels, mountains, curves, single track (for operating challenges!) and, of course, a loop. The trains move relatively slowly – it is, after all, a mountain railroad — so multiple shots are often possible. It can be difficult to time, but consider visiting after the winter rains, when portions of the area are green; the rest of the year dry weather gives California another reason to be known as the “Golden State.”
SANDPOINT, IDAHO A walkway just east of U.S. Route 95 at Lake Pend Oreille south of town is a great place to view traffic on the BNSF Railway’s “Funnel” between Sandpoint and Spokane, Wash. All traffic coming west off the former Great Northern “Hi Line” and Montana Rail Link’s former Northern Pacific main line combines in the town to continue west to Washington state. Since the walkway is west of the railroad, photography is easiest in the afternoon, but it is a great place to watch the substantial volume of rail traffic at any time.
TORONTO Canada’s largest city is a significant rail center, with considerable freight activity on both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. Downtown, however, in this walkable (and transit-intensive) city, passenger rail comes to the fore. That includes the commuter rail operations of GO Transit and, to a lesser extent, intercity trains of VIA Rail. A great place to watch the weekday action is the area between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street; both feature pedestrian access over the multiple tracks in the area.
POWDER RIVER BASIN, WYO. This railfan favorite provides one of the “greatest shows on earth.” Heavy unit coal trains, and their returning empties, operate on a daily frequency that eclipses that of many transit agencies. Throw in the open grassland scenery, with a cluster of surface coal-mining operations in the middle of the line (bounded roughly by Douglas in the south and Gillette to the north), there is plenty to see, and photograph. For a single location, consider the state Route 59 bridge just north of Bill. (Hint: Don’t spend much time looking for a town there.)
GEORGE W. HAMLIN is a transportation consultant based in Fairfax, Va. His first photo credit appeared in the April 1963 issue of Trains.
My favorites are: Green River, WY, Palmer Lake, CO, Galesburg, IL, North Platte, Alliance and Crawford, NE, and Cheyenne, WY.
While the Hudson Highlands are the scenic hotspot, Croton-Harmon station is also worth the short drive, where the 4 track electrified zone ends.
What about Rochelle Illinois where the webcam is located at?
Obviously it’s tough to pick the best locations but how you can leave out Horseshoe Curve (or anywhere from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh) is hard to understand. OK, if train volume is the only thing that counts how about Berea, OH where NS and CSX make a big X. As far as the west goes how about Cajon Pass where the BNSF and UP challenge the steepest main line grades in the country. And finally the Fraser River Canyon where the CN and CPR traverse a scenic but accessible canyon (From a pure scenery point of view nothing equals CP’s Kicking Horse Pass even though it has less trains).