West Chester Railroad Railfan Day

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In March of 1999 the up and coming West Chester Railroad held its first Railfan day. The railroad did a tremendous job in showing off its line and its equipment to the public and topped it all off with a night photo session.


The day started with a noon departure time from the West Chester station in the center of town. Here the power for the southern leg of the trip, the West Chester RR 1803 idles waiting for departure time. If you look closely you can see the old markings from CP Rail, the former owner of the unit.

The first stop on the trip was the West Chester yard about a mile south of the West Chester station. The 3 is an Alco S-2 built for the B&O in 1949.

Another locomotive on the WCRR's roster is the GE 65 tonner. The locomotive was built for the U.S Army in 1941 and has served on many railroads.

After the brief stop in the yard to check out the railroads equipment the train proceeded west to an open dirt field for a number of runby's. The 1803 is throttling up with the traditional Alco smoke.

The 1803 had pulled the train down to one end of the field, so the engine on the northern end of the train pulled it back past the crowd. The WCRR 99 is painted in Pennsylvania colors and emits some non-traditional EMD smoke.

Next stop for the train was the beautifully restored station at Cheyney. The 1803 again smokes it up under the ex-Septa wires.

The 99 poses with the restored station and an extra touch is added with the lamp post.

The excursion ran all the way to the end of track for the WCRR at this quarry south of Glen Mills. The 1803 at left is at the end of the track, although just recently the WCRR up graded the line and now interchanges with Septa.

On the return trip to West Chester the 99 led the train. Here it is stopped at the Locksley station right next to the ex-PRR position light signal.

Another photo stop for the train was at yet another beautifully restored depot on the line. The Westtown depot houses a craft shop but makes a great prop as the 99 is stopped along side of it.

The last stop of the day would be at this old bridge with the afternoon shadows creeping in.

The night photo session kicked off with a great shot of 3 of the 4 mainly used locomotives by the WCRR. The 3 leads a train at left, while the 9 smokes it up in the center next to the 99.

The final shot of a great show that the West Chester Railroad put on was the 99 again posed with a smoking 9.

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