Sun & Sunset over the Susquehanna River (Rockville Bridge)

[E.M. Bell]

Last week, Mr. Odell (Trainchaser2) and myself made a hard charging  4 day road trip to Pennsylvania with the aim of making the most of every second of daylight we could. Carmon stayed home this time, so it was a guys only trip (meaning we could hit the trains even harder)..   We had a pretty tight schedule to keep, and achieved everything we set out to see, along with a whole lot more.  1600 miles in 4 days  netted us steam at Strasburg, Amtrak action on the Harrisburg to Philly line (plus on CSX in Maryland and NS in PA) and Two whole days on the NS Pittsburgh line and Middle Division.  I will share my results as I get around to process them, and here is round #1...

We left Kentucky early Wednesday morning (July 23rd) and made a quick 6 hour drive to Cumberland, Maryland for lunch. As luck would have it, Amtrak (The Capitol Limited) was running several hours late, so after a quick bite we headed up the mountain a bit to shoot them but not before nabbing a Eastbound CSX stack train with a nice set of B&O CPL's at CP Mexico at the East end of the yard.  All of that killed about an hour and a half, and we hit Interstate 68 again with Harrisburg PA (Rockville) as our destination for the night.  I had never been to Rockville bridge before, and we had reservations at the Bridge-view B&B for the night...

We arrived in Rockville in the middle of a nasty thunderstorm, but after we got checked in and settled for the night the weather cleared up. After driving over 600 miles in One day, it was nice to be able to hang out there on the deck and the side of the Susquehanna  river and let the trains come to us!  Lazy railfanning is not normally our style, but when you have such a scenic spot (and comfortable chairs)....hey, why not!   We stayed out until dark shooting the endless parade of trains and enjoyed a great sunset before calling it a night..

The next day was spent hunting steam and Amtrak to the East (more on that in a few days) but we found ourselves back in Rockville that evening (hey it was on the way to Altoona, so why not!) and we enjoyed some more great light before calling it a night.  

If you have never stayed at the Bridgeview before, I would highly recommend it!  Great view, clean rooms and some friendly folks made it a nice experience. I usually avoid those type of places, but I will be back to this one.  

Here are a few samples from 07/23 & 07/24 at Rockville Bridge.  You can find the whole set at this link >>> http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nspitt14

A Eastbound manifest eases across the bridge late in the day. The setting sun causing the arches to glow red.


The river is wide and slow moving, not the sort of thing you can find here in KY. In this view, Gage is down on the bank shooting a train as a nasty thunderstorm churns over downtown Harrisburg in the distance.


"Golden" After an oppressively hot and humid evening, the sun finally starts to set, creating a golden glow that reflected in the waters of the Susquehanna River as a Eastbound train crosses Rockville Bridge. Even though I was being eaten alive by the biggest skeeters you can imagine (swarms of them) I found it hard to go inside and not watch the show....


"Susquehanna Sunset" A NS SD70Ace is silhouetted against the setting sun as it leads a Westbound train across the famous stone arches of the Rockville (PA) bridge. Handheld F4.0 @ 30 3600iso...yea it was that dark!


"Symmetric" The low evening sun lights up the weather beaten arches of Rockville bridge as an empty unit oil train (65R I think it was) crosses above. After spending several hours shooting steam at Strasburg last Thursday, , this was a good way to end the day.


A Eastbound with a old Santa Fe Warbonnet and a new CITIRAIL GE ease across the bridge.


Gage had the right idea..kicked back in a deck chair in the shade with his camera, letting the trains come to him.  Normally, such actions would bring down swift  and never ending heckling from our group...but this time I was doing the same thing...hey, it was a vacation after-all!  

[Matt L]

Nice shots! The sunset shots were especially good. I love the glow of a summer sunset in the Northeast.

[leroy]

What great shots of the trains and the bridge... The Rockville Bridge is a great thing; and i would love to see (...and photograph it...)... It is a genuine engineering marvel and an aesthetic triumph...   I know you all enjoyed the trip and the feast for the eyeballs...

Thanks for takin the time to post these great pictures...
leroy

[NSMoWandS]

Nice! I'm glad you had fun in my backyard! And I see you found my spot by the sewage/water tanks!
DE Dan

[chipallen16]

You had some excellent shots in that bunch, EM. Glad to see all the driving was worth it!

-Chip 

[E.M. Bell]

oh yea..that one spot was by the Marysville sewer plant....and I kept blaming Gage for the stench..

Gald yall liked them, and stay tuned for a LOT more as I get to them..

[dschlegel]

Great set if photos from my neck of the woods! I'm glad you guys enjoyed the trip. I've never stayed at the B&B at the bridge, but fan that area 4-5 times a year (we live about an hour east of there). If you make another trip to the area give us a heads-up and maybe, just maybe I can grab my brother and pop to come meet up with you guys.
PA Dan