Around The Bend #15350

The Story

This old-time steam locomotive and train cars aren’t relics, they are built-from-scratch reproductions of Lincoln’s funeral train that are only a few years old. The Northern Central Railway is located in South Central Pennsylvania and runs out of New Freedom, PA. The train operates on ten miles of re-railed Northern Central Railroad track that the original Lincoln funeral train ran upon. This was accomplished with York County Parks working with the locomotive builder, and together they’ve created something very unique that you can visit and ride through some very scenic landscape. It is also paralleled by a rail trail that is open to everyone for a wonderful ride through some beautiful and scenic farmland in York County. Go to www.northerncentralrailway.com to book a ride!

Occasionally this steam engine is borrowed by Hollywood for period movie making. It is trucked to where it’s needed, given cosmetic changes to suit, and then filmed in its movie part. Afterward, the locomotive is brought back to this 1865 appearance and returned to New Freedom. Historical Civil War weekend encampments are done nearby and reenactors sometimes accompany the railroad operations. That’s when it becomes a true time machine.

This piece of living history is a one-of-a-kind accomplishment and worth visiting if you enjoy history and live steam railroading at the Northern Central Railway. It’s a great chance to steam into history, as they say on this little railroad.

There’s another enticing view of this old-fashioned train taken the same day. It’s in motion in a scenic setting running across a bridge over a stream with the title of Mr. Lincoln’s Train #14580.

Location: near New Freedom and Glen Rock, York County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks