Quintessential Pennsylvania

  Along an active Norfolk Southern Railroad line situated on the east edge of town is the Greenville Railroad Park and Museum, a must-see for railroad buffs and history buffs alike. Traveling along PA 358, it can’t be missed, as a steam switch engine towers beside the street, along with its tender, three cabooses, an ore car and a 1904 patio flat car. The Greenville Railroad Park & Museum was started in 1985 by a group of volunteers interested in preserving and promoting the robust railroad history in Greenville, Pennsylvania. Greenville owes much to the canals and railroads that once kept the town a busy place. Those modes of transportation allowed the borough of Greenville to grow to 10,000 people in 1940. However, with the decline of the railroads and related industries, the population has dropped by about half that amount. Greenville was home to a number of railroad shops. First, the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad began construction of the shops in 1893, but ...

The Miniature Railroad & Village at the Carnegie Science Center has been a Pittsburgh tradition for over 60 years.  Whether at the old Buhl Planetarium or now at the Science Center, generations of Western Pennsylvania families have visited this exhibit.  Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, this was an annual Winter and Christmas time attraction.  In fact, the exhibit traditionally was only on display for four months from November through February. When I began writing about our visit to the Miniature Railroad, I kept struggling over how to discuss the exhibit's history while including the enjoyment of my two young sons during their first visit.  You see, neither of my boys wanted to leave the display.  Colton, my oldest, insisted on going around the display multiple times to see everything.  While Nash, my youngest, would stay at a certain area minutes at a time in amazement and waiting for the next train to come by. I think that the experienc...

Kinzua Bridge , or Kinzua Viaduct, was a rail viaduct in northwestern Pennsylvania. Completed in 1882, it was considered to be the highest and longest railroad viaduct in the world at the time of its completion. Partially destroyed by a tornado in 2003, this engineering marvel of a viaduct is now the centerpiece of the Kinzua Bridge State Park . I have some before and after photos of the viaduct to share. The first group of photos was taken by Bill Symons in August 1985, presenting a view of what the lay of the land was once like... Now for the photos after the destruction called by the tornado, with a foreword by John Krakoff (who took the "after" photos in August 2004): On July 21, 2003 an intense line of thunderstorms blew out of Ohio and when it moved in to PA, it became a "bow echo" and kept intensifying, until finally wrapping around and forming an "eye" on the radar screen. Meanwhile, the forward lin...