2012-05-16 10:29:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
The HO scale layout of the Manheim area created by the Stiegel Valley Model Railroad Club is changing hands. The display is housed in part of the Manheim railroad station complex at 210 South Charlotte Street that serves as the headquarters of the Manheim Historical Society. Bruce Her......
2012-05-03 10:47:00
CORRESPONDENT
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will highlight the history of a fallen flag railroad during Conrail Days on Friday, May 11, through Sunday, May 13.
...
2012-04-20 22:20:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
By the time of his death in 1885, just 35 days shy of his 60th birthday, Anson Stager had served as the president of several powerful companies: Western Electric, the Chicago Telephone Co. and the Chicago Edison Co. During the Civil War, the New York-born Stager proved to be an expert on the......
2012-04-16 15:57:00
CORRESPONDENT
A switch was flipped and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's new geothermal system of heating and cooling in Rolling Stock Hall started up recently. The measure protects the museum's historic treasures, provide comfort for vis......
2012-04-01 19:17:00
CORRESPONDENT
The Manheim Historical Society will hold its annual Appraisal Fair from 6 to 9 p.m., Thursday, April 12, at the Manheim Railroad Station, 210 S. Charlotte St., Manheim. The event is open to the public.
...
2012-03-10 23:01:00
Jon Rutter
BALA CYNWYD — Along a remote stretch of Chester County rail line known as Duffy's Cut, 57 Irish immigrants died in the 19th century and were consigned to anonymous trackside graves. On Friday, five of the workers –– who researchers believe were murdered –– we......
2012-03-06 22:55:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The next phase of Ephrata's rails-to-trails walking path will commence next month.
During borough council's workshop meeting Monday, the board approved two bids that will involve major changes around the town's historic railroad station.
The first contra......
2012-03-05 23:13:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Renovation work at the Lancaster Amtrak station will end five months earlier than previously planned, under a new schedule unveiled Monday.
The "capstone" work at the McGovern Street station is now slated to be completed by the end of August 2014. The previous completion date, announced i......
2012-03-03 13:01:00
CINDY HUMMEL
Thirty-five cents won't buy much today, but on March 31 it will get you into the National Toy Train Museum on its 35th anniversary. In addition to entry to the museum, which typically costs $6 for an adult, visitors can listen to live music by Blue Light Special, from 1 until 4 p.m. Th......
2012-02-28 22:22:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A month ago, Amtrak promised to make a fast start to the largely cosmetic work remaining after a two-year, $14.2 million renovation of the Lancaster station.
Yet, on Tuesday, peeling paint, crumbling plaster and graffiti-scarred benches remain unchanged in the passenger area of the 83-yea......
2012-02-17 18:25:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
Some 60 people turned out Friday for the grand opening of Stiegel Glassworks 1976. The open house was held at the glass studio in the Manheim Railroad Station complex, 210 S. Charlotte St. The glassworks has been revived as part of this year's 250th anniversary celebration. It is the culmina......
2012-02-15 23:23:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
During the heyday of passenger rail service, nothing surpassed Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited.
Running between New York and Chicago — with Pennsylvania stops at Philadelphia, Paoli, Harrisburg, Altoona and Pittsburgh — it was the cream of the crop when it came to lux......
2012-02-13 10:17:00
CORRESPONDENT
The public is invited to celebrate and congratulate the volunteers of Stiegel Glassworks 1976 at the grand opening from noon to 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17. The glass studio is located in the Manheim Railroad Station complex, 210 S. Charlotte St.
Refreshments will be available at......
2012-02-11 20:22:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
The restored Manheim Railroad Station comes alive Tuesday evenings with the toe-tapping sounds of Scottish music as the Red Rose Scottish Country Dancers gather for their weekly dance session. "When most people hear the term Scottish Country Dance, they think of young ladies in tartans danci......
2012-02-07 13:15:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
The glass blowers at Stiegel Glassworks 1976 have been perfecting their craft since last fall. To celebrate the rebirth of glass blowing in Manheim, SGW invites the public to its open house at the glass studio in the Manheim Railroad Station complex, 210 S. Charlotte St., from noon to 3 p.m. Feb.......
2012-01-09 12:47:00
Staff
Kids ages 3 to 11 can now have their own membership in the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, along Route 741 east of Strasburg Borough.
...
2012-01-09 09:51:00
Staff
Take the throttle on a simulated run in a real Norfolk Southern freight locomotive cab, sit in an engineer's seat, climb aboard a caboose, explore Steinman Station early 20th century replica passenger depot, inspect a 62-ton locomotive from underneath, view restoration activities in real time via......
2011-12-19 12:25:00
BETH ANNE HEESEN
Fear of re-experiencing the traumatic flooding caused by Tropical Storm Lee in September is very much alive in Marietta Borough. And at a borough council meeting on Dec. 13, two Front Street residents questioned the status of a flood control project that's been in the design phase since 1996......
2011-12-16 15:23:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
Motorists and pedestrians in Manheim may notice something different about the restored 1881 railway station — the historic gas lamp at the intersection of South Charlotte and Railroad Avenue is no longer lit. Burt Savitz, a member of the Manheim Historical Society, said that the gas la......
2011-12-08 14:49:00
LAURA KNOWLES
Greenberg's Train and Toy Show will be rolling into the station at the Lancaster County Convention Center this weekend.
Lancaster is just one stop for the show, which features a huge display of model trains, train collectibles, demonstrations, a train marketplace and even a train that car......
2011-12-02 22:46:00
ENELLY BETANCOURT
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around Lancaster County. That means it's time for trains, trains and more model trains.
The charming mini-locomotives chugging around ornately decorated tracks along miniature villages and twinkling lights are popping up everywhere for the enjoy......
2011-12-01 21:27:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
The work of a dozen artisans will fill the festively decorated Manheim Railroad Station, 210 S. Charlotte St., next weekend.
Manheim Historical Society's annual Christmas Folk Art Show will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.
It will f......
2011-11-21 20:37:00
Rochelle A. Shenk
The Stiegel Valley Model Railroad Club is hosting an Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4. The club is located at 230 S. Charlotte St., Manheim, next to the restored railway station.
The club's HO layout is a 16-foot x 26-foot depiction of the Columbia and Reading Rail......
2011-11-07 12:39:00
CINDY HUMMEL
War re-enactors gathered among vintage trains at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania to salute those who served during the Trains and Troops event Saturday and Sunday.
Soldiers from the Civil War through the Gulf War were honored by re-enactors displaying war me......
2011-11-01 13:44:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
The Manheim Historical Society is busy sprucing up its complex in preparation for next year's celebration of Manheim Borough's 250th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Tony Greiner — the society's treasurer — and a group of volunteers are restoring a 1917 N5 Pennsylvania Railroad......
2011-09-15 15:49:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The Civil War Road Show, the state's mobile museum commemorating the war's 150th anniversary, will make its only Lancaster County stop Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the Ephrata Public Library.
Housed in an expandable 40-foot trailer, the Civil War Road Show features hands-on, interactive......
2011-08-12 09:23:00
Rochelle A. Shenk
The Manheim Historical Society's restored railway station, located at 210 S. Charlotte St., is open for tours on Sundays through Labor Day, and the organization's Fasig House, located at 30 E. High St., is open for tours from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sundays through August.
Visitors at th......
2011-08-07 00:19:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
They've been working on the railroad. And the new rail yard tucked behind the Lancaster Post Office on Harrisburg Pike is just about done. Part of a contentious $46 million plan to consolidate Norfolk Southern's rail operations west of the Dillerville Road bridge — and redevelop t......
2011-08-01 23:18:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Despite ongoing renovations at Lancaster's Amtrak station, train ridership increased last year and along the length of the Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
Passengers boarding and exiting Amtrak trains at the McGovern Avenue station increased 5.7 percent in the fisca......
2011-07-10 20:56:00
P.J. REILLY
Jumping off a cliff and landing in the Susquehanna River near Cooks Landing Road in Fulton Township seems to be a rite of summer.
Unfortunately, getting there is illegal.
And state police in recent weeks have been practicing their own summer ritual of citing people there for tresp......
2011-07-03 17:33:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
For 258 years, the house has silently witnessed the passing of time. Judy Fry hopes it will keep watch for a couple of centuries more.
Fry, a Lancaster native now living in York, wants to preserve the historic farm, which sits on 5.65 acres adjacent to Route 30 in West Hempfield Township.......
2011-05-29 19:00:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
After 35 years, Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has discovered a way to heat and cool its cavernous Rolling Stock Hall: Let Mother Earth do it. Workers are drilling what will total about 125 wells 500 feet to 600 feet into the ground around the museum, including under its parking lot, a......
2011-05-28 23:54:00
BRITTANY HORN
In the Pennsylvania Railroad's deadliest wreck, its Red Arrow passenger train tumbled off the tracks near Altoona on the cold, foggy night of February 18,1947. The derailment killed 24 and injured 140. Dennis McIlnay gives the passengers a voice in "The Wreck of the Red A......
2011-05-17 09:52:00
Rochelle A. Shenk
Manheim residents got a glimpse of the past on May 16 as approximately 75 horseless carriages converged on the restored Manheim railroad station. The cars were all part of the "Brass for Berks" tour. The tour and related events are sponsored by the Olde Tyme Car Club, an affiliate of the Horseles......
2011-05-12 14:56:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
After 35 years, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has discovered a way to heat and cool its cavernous Rolling Stock Hall; let Mother Earth do it.
Workers are currently drilling what will total about 125 wells 500 to 600 feet into the ground around the museum, including under its parking......
2011-04-15 21:18:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A little locomotive legend made a Friday morning stop in southern Lancaster County.
More than 100 people were stationed in Strasburg as the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania unveiled a model replica of a train that once raced an airplane and won — well, sort of.
The locomotive......
2011-04-07 23:34:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Oliver Cromwell Kelly and his companions didn't have a lot of information to work with when they reached Lancaster County in 1848.
Kelly, who was later known as O.C. Gilbert, and his companions dropped to their knees after crossing the Susquehanna River, thinking they had reached Canada....
2011-03-16 22:05:00
AD CRABLE
Workers on Wednesday removed soil from along the Landisville Railroad tracks near Hempfield High School.
Neighbors along Leisure Road said they began noticing a strong odor of diesel fuel last week after the heavy rains.
Serena and Todd Riedel said they found a puddle in their bac......
2011-03-10 16:23:00
Staff
50 and growing ... Saturday
Train buffs from across the country visit Lancaster County's historic town of Strasburg to take in its array of railroad destinations. This weekend, one of those tourist hot spots hits a milestone. On Saturday, the Choo Choo Barn opens for the season with a ban......
2011-02-20 17:44:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2011-02-13 21:42:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
From Aug. 9, 1862, to Oct. 12, 1865, Pennsylvania Railroad's general superintendent, Enoch Lewis, wrote about 230 letters to John P. Laird, voicing company concerns.
Some letters cautioned Laird, a Pennsylvania Railroad superintendent in Philadelphia, to be leery of the quality of equipme......
2011-01-16 19:36:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2011-01-10 18:12:00
ENELLY BETANCOURT
The Lindbergh Engine, a Pennsylvania Railroad E6s No. 460 locomotive, was moved to a restoration shop Monday morning for the application of a chemical rust inhibitor and rebuilding of the tender.
The engine had been kept in storage at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's pole barn, in St......
2011-01-06 15:23:00
JON FERGUSON
Ilona Knopfler well remembers a childhood spent watching her parents perform.
Knopfler, born in France, lived all over the world as her father, a pianist, and mother, a singer, plied their musical trade.
The couple, which performed jazz standards and traditional French songs, woul......
2011-01-02 16:17:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2010-12-26 19:27:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-12-23 16:42:00
Staff
There's something about the holidays and trains.
What kid, young, middle-aged or old, doesn't love checking out a miniature railroad, complete with houses, stores, trees and the train chugging through town?
Every holiday season, a number of places bring out their model train displ......
2010-11-14 20:41:00
TOM KNAPP
Conestoga native Abraham J. Quamony left more than seven children behind when he died in 1912.
Quamony, a Civil War veteran who served with the United States Colored Troops, left a legacy of African-American pride that was felt Sunday by three descendants and several dozen other people wh......
2010-11-07 16:02:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
Michael Gonzalez holds his newly plucked-from-the-patch Jack-Be-Little pumpkin up to the light, surveying all the crevices and crannies like a jeweler checking the potential of a gem.
"I picked this yesterday," said Gonzalez, 19, who is part of the United Support Group After School Progra......
2010-11-04 20:44:00
TOM KNAPP
Down in Strasburg this weekend, they're going to jump and jive like it's 1945.
At least, that's the plan at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, where the museum's eighth annual swing dance will have couples swinging and swaying to those heavy brass sounds, all among the heavy iron and st......
2010-11-02 10:09:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Police nabbed two teenagers who allegedly broke into a Marietta restaurant building Friday and tried to steal alcoholic beverages.
Daniel D. Heisey, 19, of 95 Ashley Drive, Marietta, and Joseph Paul Yatsko Jr., 19, of 236 Avenue J, Columbia, were charged with burglary, theft and criminal ......
2010-10-29 22:34:00
BERNARD HARRIS
When James Delle and his students broke into a brick cistern during an archeological dig in Lancaster city eight years ago, they were expecting to find a pile of trash dumped in an underground tank.
They did. But, what they found was intriguing.
The trash was newer — about 4......
2010-10-26 21:02:00
TOM KNAPP
The national network of Underground Railroad sites has lacked an actual railroad — until now.
A portion of Amtrak's Keystone Corridor, which stretches from Lancaster to Philadelphia, has just made the list.
The National Park Service announced Oct. 21 that the busy 70-mile-lo......
2010-10-19 21:33:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The sun shone brightly on Lancaster County on the recent Columbus Day weekend, and when that sun set, visitors to the county took to hotel rooms — many hotel rooms.
Nearly all the county's hotel rooms — 97 percent — were occupied during the busy holiday weekend.
......
2010-10-07 16:46:00
Staff
Harvest Days ... Saturday, Sunday
The weather may not have cooperated too well during the county's fair season, but autumn's crisp temps and clear skies are a good possibility for this weekend's annual Harvest Days and Pumpkin Patch at Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum. On Saturday an......
2010-10-07 16:30:00
JACK ROBERTS and ALEJANDRO RIOS
Once again it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the two guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene.
• We have a winner! Actually, we've got a bunch of them.
Don Judy & Tom Cook took first place in the solo/duo category at the Blues Society of Centr......
2010-09-19 19:48:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2010-09-18 23:55:00
STAFF
One year to the day after Confederate guns opened on Fort Sumter and started the Civil War, a tall, mysterious smuggler and self-appointed Union spy named James J. Andrews, along with 19 infantry volunteers, infiltrated north Georgia and stole a steam engine called the General. Russell S. Bo......
2010-08-16 18:46:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Someone derailed the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's website.Anyone logging on to the website at www.rrmuseumpa.org starting Thursday night got the message "HACKED By Real_Karizma System Open Security No.. Kücükk......
2010-08-12 22:06:00
TOM KNAPP
The years haven't been kind to Buffalo & Susquehanna combine car No. 35.The once-rich red paint is wrinkled and peeled. The arched windows are dark, and many lack glass.Inside, there are tattered seats with horsehair stuffing poking through holes in the cotton duck and leath......
2010-08-12 16:21:00
STAFF
Rigs With Bling .... SaturdayWhat has 18 wheels and a big heart? Truckers Day at the Buck, of course. This 21st annual event at Buck Motorsports Park on Saturday features the Children's Miracle Network's "Truckers for Miracle Kids" Safe Truck Drivers Rodeo at 8 a.m. And a......
2010-08-02 21:02:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
When it rolled out of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Altoona shops in 1914, the wooden caboose known as cabin car No. 478396 was state-of-the- art.One of the last of the four-wheel so-called "bobber cars," it boasted three bunk beds for the crewmen, ample seating both on the mai......
2010-08-02 20:44:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The renovation of the Lancaster Amtrak station is back on track.Three weeks after the $12 million project appeared in danger of derailing over cost increases, representatives of Amtrak, Lancaster County, project officials and politicians have met and talked through the issues."......
2010-08-01 19:57:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-07-12 17:41:00
TAYLOR BUNDY
A new historical marker was installed at Shreiner Cemetery on Monday to honor cemetery founder Martin Shreiner and historical figure Thaddeus Stevens, who is buried there."We think it's going to get us on the historical tour, so to speak," said Mike Peck, president of the boa......
2010-07-11 19:25:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-07-09 23:47:00
MATT BLYMIER
Doug Dennison got a break to get to the NFL, while Kris Wilson did it the traditional way.And though their roads were different, both their journeys began at McCaskey and came full circle Friday evening.Dennison was in town as the keynote speaker at the Kris Wilson Foundation's ......
2010-06-20 20:27:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-06-13 20:01:00
TIM BUCKWALTER
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-06-04 18:14:00
TOM MURSE
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has always dreamed big, imagining multimedia exhibits that would one day tie together centuries of history.It lacked just one thing: money.Now the popular Strasburg attraction, already one of the premier museums of its kind in the nation, can chec......
2010-06-03 16:30:00
Jack Roberts and Alejandro Rios
Once again it's time to rock 'n' roll with Rios and Roberts, the guys who keep you updated on the local music scene.• There'll be dancing in the streets of Marietta this Saturday -- and some crawling as well.Yes, it's time for the annual Marietta Bluegrass P......
2010-05-31 23:38:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A series of strong storms swept through Lancaster County on Monday, turning Memorial Day into a memorable evening.Heavy rain fell, especially in the central and western portions of the county, making for a busy night for emergency personnel.Randall S. Gockley, the county's emerg......
2010-05-30 15:32:00
TIM BUCKWALTER
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-05-06 17:15:00
Staff
Planting time ... Friday, SaturdayGardening has become one of America's favorite pastimes, but here in Lancaster County, it's a way of life. One staple of the local gardening community continues to be the annual Landis Valley Herb and Garden Faire. Happening Friday and Saturda......
2010-04-06 21:51:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Old wooden railroad ties being transported in open container train cars caught fire in Drumore Township Tuesday. The ties were in three cars being pulled by a locomotive along the Norfolk Southern line near the Muddy Run Power Plant when the fire was noticed by train crew members. The t......
2010-04-04 19:12:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-03-22 06:01:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Correction March 24, 2010 — Mary Louise Boomsma quoted the wholesale price of her book, "Andy's Peach Bottom Railroad Adventures," in the article below. Retailers set their own prices.•&b......
2010-03-18 16:32:00
Staff
Collage Combo ... opens MondayCollages will collide at Millersville University when "Collage Menage" opens at Ganser Gallery Monday. The show will feature 40 Lancaster area artists who all have different styles but use collage techniques. The exhibit, which runs through Thursday,......
2010-03-15 08:00:00
JANE HOLAHAN
More than 3,100 train fans weren't going to let a little rain put a damper on their visit to Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.Especially when that visit was free. Sunday was Charter Day, which celebrates England's King Charles II's granting of land — which would bec......
2010-03-12 00:04:00
BERNARD HARRIS
No one will ever really know whether runaway slaves hid inside an old cistern behind Thaddeus Stevens' house.Archeologists found a badly patched opening there in an otherwise well-built cistern wall. They found that the man-sized opening corresponds to a patched wall in the basement of......
2010-03-12 00:03:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Jim Lewars has jumped centuries.After more than 25 years of administering the 18th-century historic sites at Daniel Boone Homestead, Conrad Weiser Homestead and, briefly, Ephrata Cloister, Lewars finds himself in the 19th century as the new director of Landis Valley Museum & Village....
2010-03-12 00:01:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Generous grants will allow the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania to complete one large project and start another.A $59,980 grant from the Norfolk Southern Foundation will allow the Strasburg museum to put the final touches on its 1915 Golden Age of Railroading street scene.Begun in 20......
2010-03-11 16:13:00
Staff
Charter Day ... SundayWhen William Penn received a charter for land in America from King Charles II back in 1681, he saw the potential for freedom to practice his religion without fear of retribution. He had no idea that his quest for freedom would some 340 years later translate to our que......
2010-03-07 00:08:00
MARY BETH SCHWEIGERT
Dennis and Gary Schlossman grew up playing with model railroads. But as each brother moved out, got married and started a family, the toy trains went into boxes. And stayed there. Once their children were grown, the Schlossmans returned to their long-ago hobby — in a big way.......
2010-01-28 17:17:00
Jack Roberts and Alejandro Rios
Now it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene.nIt's a new music venue for Brian Campbell with Brian Morgante, Tiger Mimic Queen, Mike Mizwinski and Valerie Nicole.Wait! It's a new music venue for all of us......
2010-01-24 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-01-11 00:03:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
For Charles Fox, his assignment as the new director of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is "like being "a kid in a candy shop.""It's a phenomenal facility and I'm very excited at the prospect," the 45-year-old Bucks County native said.Fox's lo......
2009-12-21 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2009-12-17 16:48:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
One week, folks. If you had any hopes of slowing down and really enjoying this holiday season, time is running out. But don't panic. Plan. Whether you have a family with young kids or teens, are empty-nesters, just-starting-outers or anything else on the social spectrum, Lancaster......
2009-12-12 06:29:00
TIM MEKEEL
The Dillerville rail yard project stayed on track Friday, when PennDOT awarded it a $3 million grant.The new state dollars will not go toward relocating part of the Norfolk Southern operation — the aspect of the project that's been controversial.Rather, it will go toward u......
2009-12-07 08:31:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Model trains are a serious hobby for three Willow Valley residents. George Baile, Chuck Jones and Don "Santa Claus" Williams spend many hours of their time working with the model train display at Willow Valley Cultural Center. Baile, who cofounded the retirement community's m......
2009-11-30 00:04:00
TOM KNAPP
Encroaching winter weather took a break Sunday, providing visitors to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania a warm and sunny autumn day.But the Tuscan-red Delaware & Hudson boxcar that museum officials hoped to fill with food and toys for the needy stood empty."It's disap......
2009-11-29 00:03:00
STAFF
As an engine and caboose pass each other, Frank Smith works on The Train Guys' railroad display at Elizabethtown Public Library, 10 S. Market St. The holiday exhibit runs up to 20 trains at a time and features 40 push buttons visitors can operate. The display is open the following days......
2009-11-20 00:03:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Pennsylvania's budget crunch is starting to affect Lancaster County's three state-owned museums, which are being forced to lay off employees and reduce hours of operation.Nine of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's 16 staff members were furloughed this week, and staff cuts ar......
2009-11-16 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2009-11-06 21:45:00
JACK ROBERTS and ALEJANDRO RIOS
Now it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the two guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene.• It's not even Thanksgiving and already we have something to be thankful for.D.C. & Co. have just announced that they'll be back with their annua......
2009-10-29 16:35:00
LAURA KNOWLES
Everyone who is anyone is bound to be there. It might be Marge and Homer Simpson, or perhaps Frankenstein, just escaped from the graveyard. Watch for Betty Boop, Dracula and Britney. Check out that poor Titanic victim with frozen eyeballs or that really scary looking alien. And by the way,......
2009-10-13 07:59:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
Tulle veil tucked delicately into place, pristine white gown worn to perfection, Erica Bare carefully maneuvers her wedding train, slides her feet into blue polka-dot plastic boots and jumps into a creek.In full bridal attire, the Quarryville resident also leans against the rusted railing ......
2009-10-12 08:30:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania soon will be inviting guests on a journey to places few visitors have gone before.The museum is creating a computerized information center that will include virtual tours of unique locomotives and rail cars not open to the general public.Pieces of......
2009-10-11 00:08:00
JEANNETTE SCOTT
In a 1927 ceremony in Washington, D.C., President Calvin Coolidge honored Charles Lindbergh for flying The Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, N.Y., to Paris, the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. Newsreel makers filmed the presidential ceremony to be shown in New York theaters. On......
2009-10-04 00:06:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
Locomotives thunder past English boxwoods and a Japanese red maple in the Manheim Township backyard of Mark and Mary Beth Oles. The trains whistle and smoke as they haul passenger and freight cars around a towering oak. And the couple doesn't mind. In fact they — and lots o......
2009-08-07 00:30:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
The late O. Winston Link was a successful industrial and commercial photographer. But it was a body of work he captured on his own time and with his own money that has earned Link a place in the history of iconic America. "O. Winston Link: The Railroad Photographs" opens tonig......
2009-08-02 00:12:00
DIANE BITTING
On a hot summer night, couples cuddle in their cars at a drive-in movie while a steam locomotive chugs by. A farmer and his son bring in their cows while the distant smoke plume of a passing steam locomotive transects the night sky. Swimmers cavort in a favorite swimming hole, seemingly ob......
2009-07-17 00:30:00
JACK ROBERT and ALEJANDRO RIOS
OK, here's what's happening on the local music scene. It's Music Friday, and you know what that means: The streets of Lancaster will be drenched in song. We can't tell you who'll be on every street corner, but we do know who'll be at the Music for Everyone stage on Lancaster Square: Pat Fr......
2009-06-22 19:08:00
CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE
The history of a town, borough or city is often overlooked. However, there are dedicated groups of individuals who work to keep history alive and ensure that it is passed on from generation to generation — these are the members of local area historical societies.There are the better-......
2009-06-21 00:04:00
JON RUTTER
Kristi Largoza had planned to go into farming. These days, though, besides fields of corn, she oversees forests and fountains. Rivers. Highways. Baseball parks and suburbs, indeed, an entire snow-frosted mountain range. It's all inside Strasburg's Choo Choo Barn, the mo......
2009-06-18 12:24:00
LAURA KNOWLES
The best way to understand history is to live the experience. That is the premise of "Living the Experience," a program of Bethel Harambee Historical Services at Bethel AME Church in Lancaster. While Living the Experience usually relates to Lancaster's role in the Underground Railroad a......
2009-06-12 00:24:00
PATRICK BURNS
An interactive theatrical tribute in Lancaster next week will feature dramatic tales of the great lengths to which slaves in this country went to be free.The two-day event, which kicks off the state tourism department's summer Live and Learn Weekends in Pennsylvania, begins June 19 at ......
2009-06-04 11:28:00
BERNARD HARRIS
As the workers at the surrounding Lancaster County Convention Center prepare for an opening this month, the old buildings at the corner of South Queen and East Vine streets appear to be a long way from being ready for their close-up. Scaffolding — and behind that, boarded windows — ......
2009-05-30 01:34:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The days of Conrail will come alive again this weekend at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.The museum, in conjunction with the Conrail Historical Society, will feature the equipment, history, spirit and people of Conrail, which ended its run 10 years ago."Visito......
2009-05-22 00:56:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
If the budget passed by the Senate in Harrisburg were implemented, Pennsylvania history could be put on hold.The $27.3 billion spending plan proposed by Senate Republicans and approved along party lines earlier this month would cut funding to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commissi......
2009-05-14 10:33:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is rolling out the red carpet to honor a movie star this weekend. A large and loud movie star. No it's not Rosie O'Donnell. It's the iron horse — a giant, smoke-spewing machine that has filled movie screens since, well, since there were......
2009-05-10 00:02:00
STAFF
Worth a drive
The current iteration of the experimental-indie-rock sensation Animal Collective, from left, Geologist (Brian Weitz), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) and Avey Tare (David Portner), will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. It'......
2009-05-07 11:59:00
JACK BRUBAKER
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2009-05-07 11:58:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Since March 17, on each day when it hasn't rained hard, workers have dug enormous amounts of trash-laden dirt from an abandoned municipal dump behind the U.S. Post Office off the Harrisburg Pike in Manheim Township. They pack more than 1,000 tons of trash a day into 50 to 60 trucks that ......
2009-03-23 00:06:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Rick Fisher first met a ghost when he was 7 years old, seeing what he believes was the spirit of his great-grandfather. He's been hunting spirits and collecting eerie stories ever since.Sunday, about 100 people — a mixed bag of believers and the merely curious — gathered at......
2009-03-10 00:57:00
TOM KNAPP
The economic downturn has brought unexpected benefits to Elizabethtown Borough.An ambitious improvement project that would create a second downtown around the borough's deteriorating train station is in line for an $8 million boost from Washington, D.C.The federal plan to stimul......
2009-03-09 00:02:00
MICHAEL YODER
For the past decade Charter Day has given Pennsylvanians the opportunity to spend a Sunday afternoon in March getting in touch with their historical heritage — for free.But this year's annual event took on a more poignant tone because proposed budget cuts threaten to close as man......
2009-02-27 01:04:00
MICHAEL YODER
The first phase has commenced for the controversial relocation of a portion of the Dillerville rail yard west from Lancaster city into Manheim Township.Workers began cutting trees about 8 a.m. Thursday at the former Lancaster Brickyard city dump site, behind the Lancaster Main Post Office,......
2009-02-25 00:43:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Under Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed budget, some of the state's historic sites could become, well, history.Barbara Franco, executive director of Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, told legislators at a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee on Monday that proposed c......
2009-02-05 09:36:00
BERNARD HARRIS
It wasn't a railroad and it wasn't underground, but Lancaster County may lay claim to the term "Underground Railroad." Leroy Hopkins, a Millersville University professor, told an audience Wednesday that there are two different stories that trace the term's origin to Columb......
2009-01-13 10:50:00
BERNARD HARRIS
With as many as 300 workers busy each day building the surrounding Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott, it's no surprise that the old buildings of the Stevens & Smith Historical Site appear neglected. The one-time home and law office of Thaddeus Stevens and the adj......
2008-11-30 00:07:00
STAFF
A locomotive pulls into the Girard station as Eric Metzler inspects a train in preparation for the "Magic of Christmas" display at the Elizabethtown Library. This is the 10th year that The Train Guys of Elizabethtown have created the holiday display, which will be open to the public f......
2008-10-29 12:41:00
CHAD UMBLE
On Saturday, the Railroad House, 280 W. Front St., Marietta, unveiled a refurbished tavern in what was formerly a dining room. The tavern, which includes a newly installed bar, is part of recent renovations at the Marietta landmark. The building, which dates from the 1820s, includes a bed an......
2008-10-26 00:08:00
JON RUTTER
One day in 1942, Rio Grande Southern locomotive No. 20 careened off the tracks in a mountain pass and pinched its boiler against a rock. Now, 66 years later, the Strasburg Rail Road mechanical shop is bolting and hammering the little coal burner back together again. In about three years, i......
2008-10-13 00:05:00
JENNIFER TODD
Phillip Brown slowed the locomotive to a lazy chug as the train rounded the turn near the tiny village church.He carefully maneuvered the cars past the post office and general store, letting them pick up speed as the train crossed the bridge heading into the east side of town."......
2008-10-04 00:58:00
STAFF REPORT
A portion of Peters Road in Upper Leacock and Earl townships will be closed to through traffic for three days, beginning Tuesday.The road closing, at the railroad crossing south of Route 23 near Groffdale, will continue through Thursday.During that time, Norfolk Southern Railway Co.......
2008-09-28 00:19:00
Jon Rutter
Baby heads, we called them back in the days when I rode rugged mountain bike trails. Smallish, skull-sized rocks that shake the living daylights out of you. The ballast stones beneath my tires Wednesday on the Enola Low-Grade Line reminded me of baby heads. They weren't quite so jarrin......
2008-09-21 00:08:00
JON RUTTER
Henry "Box" Brown had himself sealed inside a crate and shipped to Philadelphia by train. Such was the determination of blacks fleeing the pre-Civil War South. Many of the fugitives filtered into southern Lancaster County, where they found a haven amidst the large Quaker populati......
2008-09-16 01:01:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and the Keystone Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club have teamed up to spotlight the genius of industrial designer Raymond Loewy.Loewy, a car designer for Studebaker Corp. for 21 years, also plied his trade for the Pennsylvania Railroad.So when......
2008-09-12 02:17:00
TOM KNAPP
Work on a new Strasburg bypass is about two months and some paperwork away."We've been working on this for a very long time," borough Mayor Bruce Ryder said Thursday. "We are very much looking forward to having it done."Greg Penny, a spokesman for the state D......
2008-09-06 01:12:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
Fulton Theatre opened its 156th season with interesting news Thursday night.Managing Director Aaron Young announced before an opening night crowd that the theater was officially designated by the National Park Service as a site of significance to the Underground Railroad.Before a th......
2008-08-26 22:22:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
A 32-year-old man has been charged with firing a shotgun in southern York County July 21 at a train carrying Lancaster County residents.Robert Bentley Gracey, 10662 Guinston Road, Felton, allegedly shot three rounds from a shotgun in the area of Muddy Forks at 6:30 p.m. July 21, according ......
2008-08-14 07:08:00
MOLLY STIEBER / Manheim Township graduate
The Strasburg Rail Road is a fun, relaxing way to enjoy the beauty of Lancaster County's Amish country, while learning a great deal about the county's history. Founded in 1832, the Strasburg Rail Road is America's oldest short-line railroad. In 1958, it became an established to......
2008-08-13 11:22:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
If belated breakfasting and leisurely lunching on summer weekends whet your appetite, sink your teeth into brunch. From overstuffed omelets to lush lobster, the ambrosial combo of breakfast and lunch is as much about the food as it is about the time it takes to enjoy the meal. What better ......
2008-07-31 12:57:00
LIZ NAVRATIL
Step into the 18th century. Watch pack horses pull a cart to one of the local farms. Drive a locomotive from Lancaster to Harrisburg. All of these activities have become easier to do this August, thanks to a new program run by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission....
2008-07-25 01:10:00
LAURA FREEMAN
If you ask a kid in the summer to name the first president of the United States, chances are it might take him a minute or two to answer. According to a Johns Hopkins University study, children actually lose knowledge over the summer, when they are not learning. The Pennsylvania Historical......
2008-06-22 00:13:00
JON RUTTER
African-American freedom marchers returned to town Saturday for the first time in decades. The "Juneteenth" commemoration of the release of the last American slaves in 1865 was the catalyst. Abolitionists Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith were the honorees. It was th......
2008-06-20 02:39:00
JOHN WALK
It was on June 19, 1865, that slaves in Galveston, Texas, received word of their freedom — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863.The date is commonly known as "Juneteenth," marking the oldest known celebration to commemorate the end of slavery in ......
2008-06-18 00:35:00
P.J. REILLY
The Amtrak train station in Elizabethtown has seen a lot of traffic in recent years.With gas prices climbing, it could get busier.Even if use of the station doesn't increase, borough officials recognize it needs a facelift.Its platforms are badly in need of repair, its pa......
2008-06-10 11:59:00
CINDY STAUFFER
The Old Mill Stream Campground, out on Route 30 in the midst of the county's tourism strip, is taking summer reservations from folks in some unexpected places. Leola. Mount Joy. Quarryville. Ephrata. "Staying closer to home is the trend, I think," says Jim Breneman, the campg......
2008-06-07 02:13:00
MICHAEL YODER
Pieces of Lancaster history are now incorporated into the new edifice rising downtown — all part of a complex officials hope can shape the future of the city for the next century.Friday afternoon saw the first official tour of the Lancaster County Convention Center and Marriott Lanca......
2008-05-29 01:25:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The age of steam locomotives is just a memory to older Americans, while their children don't recall it at all.But now, visitors to Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg can see the golden years of railroading through the eyes of a well-known railroad artist."Railroad......
2008-05-15 13:30:00
By KATHLEEN DAMINGER
In life and in death, artist Ted Rose was rather a private man. Although his passion was painting specific landscapes — mainly the industrial landscape of depots, trains and grain elevators, but also the Southwestern desert beauty that he called home — Rose was never pigeon-hole......
2008-04-27 00:21:00
GIL SMART
As a boy, Mark Whallon prowled the woods near his Farmingdale Road home, sneaking up to the railroad line and laying pennies on the tracks. "We played all around there," said Whallon. The tracks were relatively quiet, with few spare boxcars to climb. But the hike and the flattened pen......
2008-04-04 17:48:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Two Lancaster County historic railroad sites will be featured on national television Monday.The Strasburg Rail Road will be highlighted on History's "Modern Marvels" at 8 p.m., followed at 9 p.m. by The Learning Channel's "Jon and Kate + 8," in which the stars v......
2008-03-26 01:23:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Residents fighting a plan to move a rail yard to the edge of their neighborhoods hope they got their group's cause on TRAC.The Railroad Action Committee, which currently is seven homeowners in Lancaster and East Hempfield townships, held its first public meeting Tuesday to inform neighbors......
2008-03-25 10:10:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
Work on the final phase of the multi-year project to restore the Manheim Railroad Station to its 1881 exterior appearance began earlier this month. The building, at 210 S. Charlotte St., serves as the headquarters of the Manheim Historical Society. The project to restore the station began in 20......
2008-03-25 01:26:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Mass mailings, neighborhood get-togethers and a large public meeting are all part of Franklin & Marshall College's plan to inform residents of its intent to relocate a railroad staging yard from Lancaster city to the suburbs.Responding to published reports about a growing resistanc......
2008-03-21 11:32:00
CHAD UMBLE
Relocating the Dillerville rail yard, which sits between Franklin & Marshall College and the former Armstrong site in the city's northwest, is a charmed idea for many. By shifting the yard west, the college can get rid of an ugly barrier between its current campus and the tract where it......
2008-03-21 01:03:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Residents fearing the relocation of the Norfolk Southern rail yard from Lancaster city to their suburban neighborhood are gearing up for a fight.The Railroad Action Committee, or TRAC, will hold an informational meeting Tuesday that it hopes will be the opening salvo in a battle to prevent......
2008-03-19 09:36:00
CHAD UMBLE
A $12 million renovation and upgrade of the Lancaster Amtrak station is on track to finally begin this fall. Today, Lancaster County Commissioners committed their remaining share of $400,000 pledged toward the project, a move that will trigger the release of $11.6 million in state and federal m......
2008-03-15 00:40:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Amish taxi drivers will make their case before the Public Utility Commission next week, saying assessed fees, which have risen as much as 320 percent, are much too high.•••Amish taxi drivers, faced with huge increases in the fees they p......
2008-03-09 00:02:00
STAFF REPORT
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission will publicly display the original 1681 Charter, granted by England's King Charles II to William Penn, from noon until 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 9, at The State Museum, 300 North St., Harrisburg. In addition, admission to the planetarium and t......
2008-02-18 00:58:00
JAMES BUESCHER
It's an industry that employs about 36,000 people in Lancaster County and one the state ranks as its second-leading industry after health care.According to Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitor's Bureau, it's not agriculture — it's tourism.And thanks to a new effort by Lan......
2008-02-16 02:00:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
People driving through rural Lancaster County expect to see rolling fields, silos, cows, horses.Chances are they're not expecting a county farm to be home to an 83-foot-long, 208,000-pound rail car.However, if you drive along Parkview Heights Road in Ephrata Township, that's......
2008-02-04 00:59:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Local author Todd Mealy has written a new biography. But it's not about the life of a person, but a city."Biography of an Antislavery City: Antislavery Advocates, Abolitionists, and Underground Railroad Activists in Harrisburg, Pa." is the story of the coming of age of a city......
2008-01-28 00:04:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Jane is a young slave on a large Virginia plantation before the Civil War. While unhappy with her life of forced servitude, she is unwilling to make the dangerous flight to freedom.Then fate takes a hand.Enmeshed in a forbidden, doomed affair, Jane strikes out on a perilous journey ......
2008-01-11 00:25:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg has twins: two 58-year-old Diesel locomotives weighing in at 255,000 pounds each.The new arrivals were brought to the museum Wednesday via the main line at Paradise and the tracks of the Strasburg Rail Road.Dubbed the 902 and the 903,......
2008-01-06 00:05:00
MARTY CRISP
"When I was a kid on Christmas morning, I'd see the depressing assortment of gifts the adults got — shirts, socks, ties," said Strasburg Rail Road President Linn Moedinger. "And I'd think, if that's what it's like to grow up, I don't want to." ......
2008-01-03 00:33:00
TOM KNAPP
With new plans in hand for renovations to its railroad station and platforms, Elizabethtown Borough needs only two more things.One is a stack of approvals from state and federal agencies that have oversight on the project.The other is about $4 million.Borough manager Pete Whi......
2007-12-26 00:31:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
My New Year's resolution for 2008 is to get rich.I don't know how I'll do that, but it's my goal.It's not that I want a big house or a fancy car. And I certainly don't relish going into a higher tax bracket or having supposed "long-lost cousins" knocking on my door to tell me they n......
2007-12-23 00:11:00
MARTY CRISP
"When I was a kid on Christmas morning, I'd see the depressing assortment of gifts the adults got — shirts, socks, ties," said Strasburg Rail Road President Linn Moedinger. "And I'd think, if that's what it's like to grow up, I don't want to." ......
2007-12-19 11:59:00
DAVID OCONNOR
It was known as "the East Yard," or Manor Yard, and was one of Columbia's two rail centers at a time when railroad was king. Through the holiday season, a small version of "the Columbia of yesterday" is yours to see. In Ephrata, the year is 1953, and you can see a whole ......
2007-12-18 18:28:00
CARLA DI FONZO
When the Strasburg 275th Anniversary Committee began planning its New Year's Eve celebration, some thought dropping a train might be fitting — but completely impractical.True, the area is known for attractions like the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and the National Toy Train Mu......
2007-12-16 00:06:00
MARTY CRISP
Christmas and model trains go together like mistletoe and smooches. This year, the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg is kissing up to yuletide train enthusiasts big-time, showing "The Polar Express" at its IMAX theater and offering a collection of eight new model-train gardens in its Hars......
2007-12-10 00:05:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It's the locomotive that helped jubilant Americans honor Charles Lindbergh.In June 1927, the Pennsylvania Railroad E6 Atlantic locomotive No. 460 raced from Washington, D.C., to New York City bearing newsreel footage of Calvin Coolidge presenting the famed aviator with a presidential m......
2007-12-07 03:06:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
All aboard the Peanuts Express. Next stop, the governor's residence.Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, Woodstock and good ol' Charlie Brown will spend this holiday season riding the rails around Gov. Ed Rendell's Christmas tree, thanks in part to the folks at the Railroad Museum o......
2007-12-07 02:54:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Santa's Paradise Express is about to pull out of the station.The popular holiday train ride features Christmas carolers, brass horns and a personal visit with Santa during its 45-minute journey through the Amish countryside.Festivities will begin as soon as the visitor reaches t......
2007-12-04 01:28:00
TOM KNAPP
The glass is broken in many of the windows that aren't already boarded up.Wooden door frames at the Elizabethtown train station are warped under peeling paint, and the concrete steps leading to the railroad platform are cracked and broken.Yet the deeply rutted mud-and-gravel par......
2007-12-01 03:19:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Admission fees at Landis Valley Museum and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will increase by $1 beginning next year to help pay for improvements at both sites.The museums have not raised rates since 2002, Barbara Franco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commi......
2007-11-05 00:06:00
TOM KNAPP
The history of warfare is linked indelibly to transportation.From aircraft and naval vessels to jeeps and motorbikes, the military always has had to find better ways to get where it needs to go. That's where the histories of trains and troops overlap."Railroads really were ......
2007-10-15 01:03:00
PATRICK BURNS
The sign at a vendor's table at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania read "Stop, Look, Listen." And that's exactly what enthusiasts do at model railroad shows."I can't explain it; there's something magical about it," John V. Luppino, operations manager of......
2007-10-11 15:40:00
CINDY HUMMEL
When Clair and Joan Shearer opened their Lancaster home for a garden tour several months ago, only a couple of their 300 visitors had ever seen a garden railroad. The century-old European hobby, where model-train layouts literally run through backyard gardens, has become increasingly popular in......
2007-10-11 09:32:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
Ryan Kunkle, supervisor of visitor services at the Railroad Museum of Pa., can remember lying in bed as a little boy as the not-too distant echoes of train whistles lulled him to sleep. "The trains got in my mind and they never let up," he says. He's not alone. An est......
2007-10-10 21:20:00
KIMBERLY MARSELAS
Earl Township officials plan to meet this fall with state representatives and local businesses to secure funding for improvements on a busy stretch of Route 322.A plan to add lights at Railroad Avenue and Wanner Road was estimated at $402,000 during early planning stages. But Earl secretar......
2007-10-08 11:08:00
AD CRABLE
They were asked by Norfolk Southern to let the long-controversial Low Grade rail line be passed to seven Solanco municipalities unimpeded. But county planners on Tuesday will consider an initiative to get the municipalities and the county to agree to recognize and establish guidelines for pr......
2007-10-07 00:05:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
There's a locomotive tearing through Ken Murry's well-tended garden. And there's a passenger train barreling through Mel Pankuch's pristine backyard. That's just fine with both men. Murry, 69, of Mountville, and Pankuch, 67, of New Holland, are garden-railway enthu......
2007-10-03 20:20:00
CINDY HUMMEL
Strasburg Township supervisors Monday approved an ordinance that states fewer tracts of land can be subdivided off farms.Under the new agricultural zone ordinance, farm owners who have 50 to 99 acres could subdivide one parcel from the parent tract.The previous ordinance allowed a s......
2007-10-02 11:29:00
CINDY HUMMEL
As model-railroading gains steam, hobbyists increasingly search for trains, tracks and accessories. The Strasburg Rail Road is helping to meet that demand by expanding its model train shop, which dates to 1961. A small area of the store once contained model trains within its 300 square fee......
2007-09-28 13:18:00
Rochelle Shenk
The Underground Railroad has cemented its place in U.S. history. Part of that story includes stops in Lancaster County. The Historical Society of Salisbury Township will feature three of those stops on its fifth annual Historic Salisbury Day Tour, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. "T......
2007-09-27 11:24:00
AD CRABLE
As it prepares to turn over the abandoned Enola Low-Grade rail line Line to seven Solanco municipalities, Norfolk Southern railroad is asking county planners to skip their review of the takeover. But a local history advocate says the county vetting is possibly the last chance to insure protecti......
2007-09-23 00:03:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
At the turn of the 20th century, the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad, the "standard of the world," linked all the great cities of America's East and Midwest except one: New York. Gotham-bound passengers in the Pennsy's fleet of plush Pullman cars disembarked not in the heart o......
2007-09-12 11:35:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Sen. Arlen Specter is doing his best to keep plans for the CorridorOne commuter rail line alive. Appearing at a press conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's senior senator said he is working to arrange for $11.2 million for the rail line from Lancaster to Harrisburg. The show of s......
2007-09-06 07:58:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The days are getting shorter, there is just a little nip in the air in the evening, and the garden is changing. Mums are growing, berries are popping up and pumpkins are getting fatter every day. Those changes, both subtle and obvious, are all taking place at Longwood Gardens, where Eve......
2007-09-01 03:09:00
LORI VAN INGEN
A two-alarm fire broke out in a vacant house at 11:33 p.m. Friday at South Charlotte and Railroad streets in Manheim Borough.No one was reported injured in the blaze at 246 S. Charlotte St. The fire remained out of control with flames and smoke visible for more than an hour after it was re......
2007-08-23 01:09:00
DAVE PIDGEON
It's not every day someone posts a "For Sale" sign outside a 187-year-old former house, general store, cigar factory, abolitionist meeting place, underground-railroad stop and youth hostel.On Sept. 14, though, Professional Partners Auction Services of Reading will auction the......
2007-08-22 01:38:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Because of requirements relating to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the cost of an Amtrak station proposed for Paradise Township has soared to $10 million."We here in Paradise have no problems with the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act," supervisor Dennis Groff said. " &he......
2007-08-09 06:52:00
DAVID OCONNOR
The circus calliope began playing at lunchtime, the sound seeming to carry across the parking lot and out to the rest of Strasburg, as Tom Persell gazed upon the small-but-special world of his circus. They were all there, and you could almost feel the excitement of a circus comi......
2007-07-27 11:46:00
TIM MEKEEL
Keep on trucking?Not Alcoa. The local plant is spending $2.4 million to build another railroad spur, so it can begin to use railroad cars to bring in a kind of aluminum ingot. The project, part of $14 million being invested to upgrade the 1480 Manheim Pike complex, will replace 5,000 tr......
2007-07-20 01:35:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Stepping out from behind the veil of time, Pennsylvania Past Players spent Thursday mingling with modern-day visitors at two county tourist attractions.The Past Players, 18 actors and Civil War re-enactors dressed in period attire, spent Thursday afternoon in Strasburg, strolling the groun......
2007-07-16 01:06:00
JAMES BUESCHER
While the rest of Lancaster County celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and picnics, Strasburg Railroad engineer Steve Weaver was getting ready for a moment he had been anticipating for nearly a year: flipping the main electrical switch in the newly refurbished Reading Car No. 10.&......
2007-07-09 12:30:00
By JENNA SPINELLE, PAUL FRANZ and MEAGAN INGERSON
Railroad enthusiast Gary Wemyss has been coming to the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum in Strasburg every summer for as long as he can remember. This year, however, the Rockport, Mass., resident won't make it past the front door. Starting today, the railroad museum, Ephrata Cloister an......
2007-07-09 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY
More than 24,000 state government workers are staying home today, casualties of a partial government shutdown.Following a full day of budget negotiations Sunday, Gov. Ed Rendell announced at 11:15 p.m. that talks with state Senate leaders failed to move far enough to avert the furlou......
2007-06-26 12:50:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A decade after it was first proposed, renovation of Lancaster City's Amtrak station may be coming around the bend. Station improvements, expected to cost more than $12 million, are on track to go to bid by the end of this year. Construction could start in the spring. Under that schedule, A......
2007-06-22 01:31:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in Rapho Township early Thursday, causing delays for other trains using the rail line through the morning rush hour.Four empty rail cars overturned after the engine derailed on Amtrak's Keystone Quarter line at 1:10 a.m., investigators said.......
2007-06-12 00:58:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg will use a federal grant to protect an important part of America's railroading past.A $42,912 Conservation Project Support grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services will help the museum create new photographic image......
2007-06-09 01:42:00
MADELYN PENNINO
A tractor-trailer collided with a train Friday night at Dart Container in Upper Leacock Township, fire officials said.Upper Leacock Fire Company Chief Nelson Dagen said the tractor-trailer was crossing railroad tracks that run through Dart Container property, located along Route 23, when i......
2007-06-09 00:57:00
STAFF REPORT
The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad will visit The Old Line Museum in Delta, York County, on Sunday afternoons throughout June, presenting photos, memorabilia and drawings.This will be the 32nd consecutive year the museum has honored the M&P Railroad — affectionately called th......
2007-06-07 14:06:00
CINDY HUMMEL
Strasburg Rail Road president Linn Moedinger told a crowd of about 200 people on Wednesday that the railroad, "never did anything in a normal fashion." In a re-creation of a whistle stop tour of political campaigns gone by, Moedinger spoke from the back of an observation car after it ......
