Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad facts for kids
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Middletown, Pennsylvania |
| Reporting mark | MIDH |
| Locale | Dauphin County, Pennsylvania |
| Dates of operation | 1976– |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 7 miles |
| Other | |
| Website | mhrailroad.com |
The Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad (MIDH) is a special kind of train company. It's a shortline railroad, which means it operates on a shorter track than big train lines. This railroad carries both freight (goods and materials) and passenger trains for tourists. It runs between the towns of Middletown and Hummelstown, Pennsylvania.
Contents
Fun Train Rides: Passenger Excursions
The Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad (M&H) offers exciting train rides for visitors. They use both old-fashioned steam locomotives and newer diesel locomotives to pull the trains. A locomotive is the engine that pulls the train cars.
The passenger cars are from the 1920s and used to belong to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. You can board these trains at the old freight station in Middletown, which was built in 1891. The round-trip journey is about 11 miles long. As you ride, you'll travel along the beautiful Swatara Creek and the historic Union Canal. A narrator on the train tells you interesting stories about the canal and other cool places you pass by.
The M&H Railroad has been carrying freight since 1976. They started offering these fun passenger train rides in 1986. At the Middletown Yard, you can also see a collection of old train cars and engines that are part of railroad history.
Crossing Challenges: U.S. Route 322
The M&H Railroad owns all the tracks between Middletown and Hummelstown. However, for a long time, their trains usually only went as far north as Indian Echo Caverns. This is because a big four-lane highway, U.S. Route 322, is between Indian Echo Caverns and Hummelstown.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) used to allow the M&H trains to cross this busy highway only 12 times a year. This rule made it hard for the M&H to connect with the bigger Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) line in Hummelstown. The M&H Railroad said that this limit made it very difficult to grow their freight business. PennDOT wanted more safety devices at the crossing because of how busy Route 322 is. Also, some people in Hummelstown didn't want more freight trains going through their town.
Big Flood of 2011
In September 2011, a very strong storm called Tropical Storm Lee caused huge floods. The flood waters badly damaged parts of the railway along Swatara Creek. One part of a bridge over the creek was completely washed away!
Fixing the damage was very expensive, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because of this, the train route now stops shorter than it used to. It no longer reaches Indian Echo Caverns or Hummelstown.
Special Delivery in 2014
Even with the flood damage, the M&H Railroad still helps with important deliveries. On January 24, 2014, they used a special engine from Norfolk Southern to deliver a huge electrical transformer. This transformer was brought to the PPL power station on Fiddlers Elbow Road.
This was a big event because it was the first time a transformer had been delivered to that power station by train since 1994! It showed how important the M&H tracks are for moving very large and heavy items.
Train Collection: The Fleet
The Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad has a collection of different trains and cars. This collection is called their fleet.
Locomotives
These are the powerful engines that pull the trains.
| Number | Original Owner | Original Number | Manufacturer | Type | Year Built | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US Army | 7272 | GE | 60 Tonner | 1941 | Used For Passenger Service |
| 2 | Standard Slag and Stone Co. | 46 | GE | 65 Tonner | 1955 | Used For Passenger Service |
| 66 | Kansas City Public Service | Unknown | GE | Steeplecab | 1948 | Not currently running |
| 91 | Canadian National Railway | 1013 | CLC | 2-6-0 | 1910 | Not currently running |
| 151 | Western Maryland Railway | 151 | ALCO | S-6 | 1956 |
This engine was painted back to its original Western Maryland colors in 2009. It's used for freight service. |
| 1016 | Newburgh and South Shore Railroad | 1016 | ALCO | T-6 | 1969 | Used for Freight Service |
Other Train Cars
The M&H Railroad also has other types of train cars:
- Trolleys: These are older electric streetcar-like vehicles. Many of them are not currently running.
- Coaches: These are the passenger cars where people sit during the tourist excursions. Most of the coaches used for rides were built between 1916 and 1920.
- Cabins (Cabooses): A caboose is a special car at the very end of a freight train. It used to be where the train crew would ride.
- Freight Cars: These cars are used to carry different kinds of goods, like flatcars for large items, hopper cars for loose materials like coal, and reefer cars for things that need to stay cold.
