Harpers Ferry trip. Lots of pics.

[Caleb Austin]

For my 16th Birthday my Dad and I drove up to Harpers Ferry WV. I came through the town when I was 13 on a Appalachian Trail hike and have wanted to come back ever since.

I got my first train in Weverton MD, just east of Harpers Ferry.




This was Taken from the hill by the old church in Harpers Ferry.


Here is the Harpers Ferry tunnel in the late afternoon.


The next day we hiked up to the cliffs above the tunnel known as Maryland Heights where we saw this westbound grain train.


This is an eastbound passing the HF station.


The same train passes below us.


A westbound empty coal train rumbles out of the tunnel and over the Potomac.


Some fellow hikers look on, as the eastbound Capital Limited makes its station stop.


Starting to move across the river.


Chugging over the Potomac.

[Dave V]

Wow, that second photo looks familiar... ;D



I'm with you.  Made my first trip to Harper's Ferry this past July.  What an awesome area.  I'd do B&O through there if I had to start over again.

[davefoxx]

What awesome pictures!  You must have just had a great time, and it seems as if the railroad gods were cooperative on your trip.  I keep telling myself that I'm going to railfan Harpers Ferry one day, but I still haven't done so.  Everytime I've been through that area it was the middle of the night. 

Dave

[wm3798]

Awesome pictures!  I've never been up to Maryland Heights... probably too old and fat now!

For my freshman year, I went to college at Shepherd, about 12 miles up stream from Harpers Ferry.  It's an area that has always fascinated me.  For years I've been trying to figure out how to build a module of the junction of the two rivers.  It would have to be huge to give it justice.

I've also always had an urge to build a 19th century layout featuring the water-powered industries of Virginius Island, just upriver on the Shenandoah side.  Here's some shots I've taken there over the years...


Westbound empty stone train heading back to Millville.  2006


Westbound on Virginius Island.  Note the canal in the foreground.


Amtrak in Ph 3 paint, 1982.  Eastbound Capitol Limited.


B&O Geep and WM F unit, westbound.  1977 (shot by a 13 year old punk with a pocket camera)


Westbound stone train on the Winchester Branch, shot from the front patio of St. Peter's.

Gotta get back up there soon.

Lee

[tom mann]

My wife and I go there a lot...maybe a good place for a Railwire Meetup this spring?

[Caleb Austin]

Cool pics guys, Davefoxx, you should really head down there sometime, although the traffic has slowed down quite a bit.

Lee those are some great shots! That whole area has some much cool history.
I went to camp along the winchester branch a couple years ago and the rock train would blow its horn and wake the whole camp up at 6 am
every morning, its the only time I've ever been pissed off at a train!

[TrainCat2]

B&O ... Harper's Ferry ...

When do I start driving ??

Y'all might like this Harper's Ferry pic

[Bob Bufkin]

For a place that's really not that far from me, I haven't been there for at least 25 years.  Sounds like a spring trip coming on.  Also want to get back to Point Of Rocks someday.  Both those locations are some old haunts.  And Lee, I also am too damn old to climb those rocks anymore.

[wm3798]

Bob Knight, can we expect components for a Bollman bridge in the near future?  There's a living one at Savage, MD if you need to take some measurements...

Lee

[Caleb Austin]

B&O ... Harper's Ferry ...

When do I start driving ??

Y'all might like this Harper's Ferry pic

Bob, awesome photo! I guess the road bridge on the left was built after the original RR bridge was destroyed? Then maybe it washed away in one of the many floods.

[TrainCat2]

The "road" bridge is the actual 1862 Bollman's that replaced the wooden ones burned down in the Cival War. Originally, the Bollmans were used for both train and horse/cart traffic until the second HF bridge was built by the B&O in 1894. The Bollman's were washed away in the 1936. Funny that no one EVER found them in the Potomac.

Lee, I have the full set of plans for both the Savage and the Harpers Ferry Bollman's. I tried several type of resin and nothing was rigid enough. Until I get a spin-caster, that project is on my wish list.

[wm3798]

There's a book titled "Harpers Ferry Time Remembered" which has a good illustrated chapter on the history of crossing the rivers from the time of the ferry to about 1980.

Lee

[davefoxx]

There's a book titled "Harpers Ferry Time Remembered" which has a good illustrated chapter on the history of crossing the rivers from the time of the ferry to about 1980.

Lee

"Impossible Challenge II" also has a lot of info on Harpers Ferry.

Dave

[One of One-Sixty]

Wow, that second photo looks familiar... ;D

I guess you can say "It's life imitating art"!

 

[Caleb Austin]

So then, this thread is old but I finally got around to posting a video.

http://www.rail-videos.net/video/view.php?id=5200

Enjoy.