Strasburg Rail Road History Topic of Talk
By Cindy Hummel
Lancaster New Era
January 10, 2007

Strasburg businessmen in the 1830s believed the bypassing of their town by the Pennsylvania Rail Road (PRR) meant “economic death.”

Their financial reprieve: The entrepreneurs built their own railroad with a station at Leaman Place, near Paradise, where passengers and freight could transfer with the PRR. The new line became known as the Strasburg Rail Road (SRR).

Kurt Bell, archivist for the PA Historical and Museum Commission, will give a presentation about the SRR to the Strasburg Heritage Society at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 15, in the First Presbyterian Church, 101 South Decatur Street. The event is free and open to the public.

Bell, who is writing a book on the history of the railroad, will share pictures that will appear many of the old photos that will appear in the book.

In his presentation, Bell will explain how early plans show the railroad extending to a building now known as the White Swan, where Route 741 and Strasburg Pike meet. Another plan showed the tracks reaching the intersection of Routes 741 and 896, where Strasburg Antiques Market now exists in a former tobacco warehouse.

Bell will also share other lesser-known facts.

The SRR, he explained:

· Sold at a sheriff’s sale in the 1890s.
· Lost its passenger business a trolley in the 1920s.
· Ceased operation in 1957 when a storm named Hazel washed away the tracks.
· Applied for abandonment with the Public Utilities Commission. The PUC denied the request.
· Sold as part of an estate in 1958 to 24 Strasburg businesspeople and area railroad buffs for $18,000. Some folks believed the investment unwise.
· Saved a wooden railroad car from flames by accepting it from the Reading Railroad. The movie, “Hello Dolly,” featured the car.
· Began passenger service in 1959 after residents saw the wooden car and wanted rides.
· Had 8,000 passengers in 1959 and 60,000 in 1960.
· Created trains used in movies such as “Wild, Wild West” released in 1999 and “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” in 2000.

Heritage Society member Ron Harper said most people know little about the SRR before it became a tourist destination.

“The railroad also has a history,” Harper explained, “a life that spans more than a century and a half; a life that took place all on the same rail bed, serving and being operated by the people of the Strasburg area.”

Bell, who worked part time as a conductor for 16 years, has been the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Archivist at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania since 1991. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in American History from Millersville University and earned his M.S. at the University of Delaware in the same subject. He has published articles on railroad history in several journals.

For more information, call the Strasburg Heritage Society at 687-3534 and leave a message.

To read the entire article, please visit Lancaster Online.