Another Train

On the way to the grocery store today I stopped by the Dykeman Spring Nature Park duck ponds and was surprised to find some visitors there - a Canvasback drake, a Bufflehead drake, and a Scaup hen. Unfortunately the Canvasback was gone by the time I got out of the woods and close enough to photograph, and the shots of the Bufflehead and the Scaup just didn't work. Oh well...

Time was passing, so I headed up to the railroad tracks to take he shortest route to the grocery store, and my luck was in. A train! Yes, I have a thing about trains, not just as a mode of transportation (although I do prefer traveling by train over other modes), but also from a historical sense (trains have played such an important role in the building of the US) and for the fact that their abandoned tracks always lead to interesting places. So here's today's train.

The engine rounds the curve above the Dykeman Spring wetlands

It was a long train with a lot of cars

This car has been sidetracked for over a week now near the Baltimore Rd. overpass. According to a sign on the other side of the car, it's too tall to make it under some of the local underpasses. Oops!

This time I think I'll include a little train music. This tune is called "Puffin' Billy" by Edward White, and was used as the theme for a children's show on BBC radio; the title comes from a nickname for old trains in Great Britain. But if you grew up in the US in the '50s and '60s you'll recognize it as the theme song for Captain Kangaroo. 

Photos © 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Out For a Walk

It was a very cold day today; I even needed earmuffs! So today's walk to the grocery store was a brisk one, but I did manage to get a few shots that caught my eye on the way. Enjoy!

Branch Creek and its "bridges" between the ball fields

Mallards on the creek in the Dykeman Spring wetlands

I walked down the tracks from the nature park and found a train heading for Harrisburg

© 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

On the Tracks Again

The railroad tracks going through Shippensburg follow two routes that merge (or split, depending on which way you're heading) at the Queen St./Baltimore Rd. overpass. I'm pretty sure the tracks that run about two blocks behind my house aren't used any more; I've never seen a train on them. It's these tracks that I follow out into the country to the Mennonite bulk foods store on Rowe Rd., and it's these that I followed in the opposite direction today to head for my regular grocery store. As you can see from the photos, we still have some snow hanging around. And alas, no train passed this time.

The tracks just a couple of blocks behind my house

The trestle over Earl St.

The railroad crossing at Penn St.

Approaching the Queen St./Baltimore Rd. overpass

© 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Whee! A Train!

Today I took a different route to the grocery store. Oh, I still visited the Dykeman Spring Nature Park, but this time instead of going up to the meadow I decided to climb up to the railroad tracks that run elevated through the park and follow them up to Baltimore Rd. And I was rewarded; a train actually came through when I was just at the right spot for good pictures. So I got shots of the engine approaching, the train passing under the Baltimore Rd. overpass, and a shot of the tracks under the overpass where all the go-no go lights and switches are. Enjoy!

© 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger