Heavy Snow Fall and Winter Trains on the Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Line

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• published: 07 Jan 2013
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Like any winter, it's always a pleasure and a fun challenge going out in dense snow fall to see trains despite the adversity of the weather and roads. Scenes in this video depict anything from light snow flurries to dense, 1+ inch/hour snow fall in with low visibility. Let's also not count out a variety in train types, motive power, and even some train meets, which are all too common on this densely populated, two-track mainline. December 26, 2012 The first snow accumulation of the winter is just starting as snow flurries fall lightly. 20E is the first train through the mess with a squeeling P3 horn doppler. 0:00 - 20E - MP 76.7 NS SD60I 6751 NS SD70 2505 NS C40-9W 9407 Closely behind was M4G with the wet snow starting to stick. 1:26 - M4G - MP 77.5 NS C40-9W 9149 NS C40-8W 8344 NS SD70 2579 December 27, 2012 That next morning there was calm between the storms. No snow fell, but there was just enough on the ground to make things interesting, despite the thick, overcast weather. First up is CP track rights train 158 running just after sunrise with a nice mix of power, including a former Boston and Maine locomotive remaining in that paint scheme, albeit rather tattered and rusty. CP 158 can be heard calling the signal at 75 shortly after passing. 3:04 - CP 158 - MP 76.7 CP SD40-2 5698 DME SD40-3 6088 CP GP40-2 4653 66Q then heads through Myerstown across the defect detector at milepost 79.9 at the Railroad Street crossing, which has a unique set up of stand-alone No Left Turn and No Right Turn crossing signals. 4:16 - 66Q - MP 79.8 NS C40-9W 9973 UP SD9043MAC 8120 UP SD9043MAC 8068 15 minutes later 20W and 34A meet each other at the crossing. The most interesting thing about 20W is that all five units were running elephant style, with an SD60E tucked in the middle. 34A meets the hind-end, and has no unordinary power. The abutment for the race street overpass can be seen in the distance. As always, the defect detector announces after the train passes, and 20W can be heard calling the signal at 782E. 6:06 - 20W - MP 79.9 NS C40-9W 9294 NS C40-9W 9415 NS SD60E 6913 NS C40-9W 9153 NS C40-9W 9545 34A - MP 79.9 NS C40-9W 9770 NS C40-8W 8327 That afternoon the thick, overcast weather only got worse. However, a light power move for Reading Yard contained the CNJ Heritage unit tucked away in the consist. The train was just barely caught again after a short pause at DORF. 9:41 - 967 - MP 76.7 and 73.5 NS SD60 6707 NS C40-9W 9213 NS SD70ACe 1071 CNJ NS ES44AC 8063 December 29, 2012 Now the snow starts to fall like a real winter storm. Although the final accumulation was barely more than 4 inches, it fell at a rapid rate. That morning 23M and 14G meet in Richland as the snow starts to accumulate. 10:52 - 23M - MP 77.5 NS C40-9W 9298 NS C40-9W 8992 12:05 - 14G - MP 77.5 NS C40-9W 9813 NS SD70M 2606 NS SD70M 2603 NS GP40-2 3038 Over at Newmanstown, the shot of 18N could no longer be had because the visibility was cut thin by the intense snowfall. However, it was still cool seeing he train quickly emerge from nothing. 13:11 - 18N - MP 74.6 NS ES40DC 7600 NS C40-9W 9587 21M heads west through the heaviest of the snowfall that day. So much so that the planned shot of the field behind the rails was not capable due to very low visibility. The majority of the train could not be filmed due to snow build up on the lens. 14:12 - 21M - MP 76.7 NS ES40DC 7524 NS C40-9W 8918 NS C40-9W 9463 11J gets a good lick of snow as well, and again, a lot of the train could not be filmed because of snow on the lense. 15:13 - 11J - MP 77.5 NS SD70M 2591 NS SD70M-2 2715 With visibility returning and the storm starting to subside, 19G turned out to be one of my favorite shots of the day. 16:14 - 19G - MP 76.7 NS ES40DC 7523 NS SD70M 2589 Then it was back to Myerstown for 211. 17:38 - 211 - MP 79.9 NS C40-9W 9748 NS C40-9W 9412 NS SD70M 2626