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The following article appeared in the August, 1998 issue of Eastern Railroad News; an internet magazine dealing with railroading east of the Mississippi River (more or less). For more information about ERN, check out their website. Reprinted with permission.
Erie, PA is an interesting and unique railfan location. In this quaint city, one can watch trains on Conrail's Chicago Line, on Norfolk Southern's Cleveland District, and on the Allegheny & Eastern. The Conrail and NS lines are within blocks of each other, so finding a strategic location and listening to the scanner can prove to be a fruitful railfan endeavor, full of variety.
The NS line features a particularly rare piece of history frozen in time. The tracks run directly through Nineteenth Street in the middle of town. This was done in 1882 to complete the Nickel Plate line from Cleveland to Buffalo. Because the city of Erie would not give the Nickel Plate permission to complete the line through the city, the railroad chose to construct the approximately ten blocks of in-street track on a Sunday, since the courts would be closed, and there would then be no legal way to stop the work. The most feasible solution for the railroad was to lay the track down the middle of 19th street, where the track remains today.
![]() Conrail COBU-6 switches the GE Plant at CP-83 on July 16, 1998 behind Conrail "Ballast Express" C32-8 6610 and C36-7 6623. - J. Alex Lang |
Railfanning Conrail's Chicago Line is not difficult: find a spot and wait! Scanner-equipped railfans will want to monitor Conrail Radio Channel 3 (160.860 MHz), as the Albany Division's "Lake Shore" dispatcher controls this territory from MP 2 (at Buffalo) to MP 97 (10 miles west of Erie). A hotbox/dragging equipment detector is located in downtown Erie at milepost 88.7 (Click to listen to the Erie DED) Conrail refers to it's dispatcher-controlled interlockings as "Control Points". There are three in Erie, all controlling crossovers and access to yard tracks: CP-89 is at the west end of Erie, CP-85 controls access to Erie Yard. CP-83 is located in Lawrence Park adjacent to the GE plant. |
For many railfans, Erie is best known as the home of General Electric Transportation Systems' locomotive plant. Here, all GE locomotives are assembled, painted, tested, and set out for interchange and delivery. The newest GE units can be photographed here in the GE "backlot". The plant is located in Lawrence Park (eastern Erie), adjacent to U.S. 20 (Buffalo Ave) and PA 5. Immediately adjacent to both Conrail and NS, many railfans prefer to view trains at or near the GE plant. GE's switching railroad, the East Erie Commercial, operates a three-mile test track for the testing of new or experimental locomotives. The EEC track is equipped with overhead catenary for electric locomotives for those occasions when electrics must be tested. The test track is also multi-gauged for testing of foreign units.
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The two other players
in Erie's railroading are the Bessemer & Lake Erie,
and the Allegheny & Eastern. The B&LE main line
runs from North Bessemer (northeast of Pittsburgh) to
Albion, where it splits to run either to Fairview or to
Conneaut, OH. Traffic to Erie used NS trackage rights
east of Fairview. The majority of the B&LE's traffic
now runs to Conneaut, OH. The B&LE line from Albion
to Fairview is slated for abandonment. The Allegheny & Eastern runs from Erie to Emporium, PA on a former PRR line. Conrail runs unit pulpwood log train HPA to Erie from Lock Haven, PA (Buffalo Line) using trackage rights over the A&E. The HPA trains are generally nocturnal but can sometimes be found during daylight. The A&E is part of the Genessee & Wyoming family of railroads. Power on the A&E varies; any power from GWI roads can be found there. |
Erie has other attractions for railfans and non-railfans alike. Swimming, hiking, and biking are available at Presque Isle State Park, noted for beautiful sandy beaches. Presque Isle is also known as a migratory "rest stop" for many rare birds (not just BNSF units!). The Port of Erie has a lookout tower across Presque Isle Bay, views of CR's port area trackage can be had from here. Also, the Waldemeer amusement park near Presque Isle can bring fun to the kids if no trains are running.
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