One of my favorite locations to do railroad photography has been the ex-PRR Port Road Line that runs from Perryville (MD) to Harrisburg (PA). It is a line that is very scenic and presents the photographer with challenges due to being rather inaccessible, tree-lined with not much traffic during the daylight hours. In other words, locating a suitable photo location and have a train included within the scene can prove to be rather difficult. On Saturday, the Conrail Historical Society ran a excursion called the "Susquehanna Limited" that featured two 1950s vintage "E8" diesels, a AMTRAK diesel and a consist of sixteen Amtrak passenger cars. So the question to be answered was where to photograph this train? My friend Jeff answered that by meeting me at a small park in Washington Boro, about three miles south of Columbia. The location was very scenic along with capturing some of the aspects of the Port Road. There was the Susquehanna River in the background and poles that supported the power lines for this electrified line for the E44s and GG1s which once traveled this line. This was where I would wait for the special! It wasn't long before other spectators started showing up here. License plates showing NJ, MD, DE and VA provided evidence as to how far some of them had traveled to see this train! It would be a little around 11 AM that a headlight appeared in the distance. Ahhh.... it wouldn't be long now I thought. Another few minutes and the Susquehanna Limited passed by my vantage point and what a sight it was to see. I also breathed a sigh of relief as my one fear of a Turkey Hill tractor trailer passing by my location and intruding into the scene never materialized!
