Strasburg Rail Road Amish Lifestyle Travel Photographer Pictures
Michael ONeill Photographer Writer Motorcyclist Adventurer
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Strasburg Rail Road Amish Lifestyle Travel Photographer Pictures

One of my favorite destinations when traveling on my BMW motorcycle is the Amish Mennonite Pennsylvania Dutch area near Lancaster, PA and one of the great attractions nearby is The Strasburg Railroad in Ronks, Pennsylvania. The Strasburg Rail Road is one of Lancaster County’s most popular tourist attractions and is recognized as one of America’s most significant examples of early 20th century railroading. This photograph is of one of the collection of steam locomotives that operated here: Engine #611; which temporarily spent the summer of 2021 in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. It is a preserved Norfolk and Western (N&W) "Northern" locomotive built in May 1950 by the N&W's East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia.. I photographed this train with a Nikon Z digital mirrorless camera body and a Nikkor zoom lens. The final image was processed using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop software in post processing. Adjacent to the Strasburg Rail Road complex is the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania featuring a world-class collection of more than 100 historically significant locomotives and railroad cars – made and/or operated in Pennsylvania – as well as a collection of more than a half a million photographic images and documents, and over 17,000 smaller artifacts, including tools, uniforms, tickets, station signage, telegraph and signal equipment, works of art, and many other items used to build and operate railroads serving the state. Though I’ve spent a great deal of time in The Amish Country documenting the lives of the people as a photographer and writer, I always make time to visit the rail road attractions. On this day engine #611 was in operation pulling the train of tourists on its path through the Amish farmlands. Other locomotives operate here all the time, while some engines, like #611, make temporary "guest appearances" from other areas in The United States. Elsewhere on this web site you will find photographs captured of these other pieces of vintage railroad equipment. The rail road attractions are just one of many interesting things you will find to explore when in the Amish Country of Pennsylvania. I’ve spent a great deal of time there documenting the lives of The Amish and Mennonite people as, not only a professional photographer, but as a writer/author. The back stories behind some of my travels here can be read in my book, "Road Work: Images and Insights of a Modern Day Explorer", available in paperback and Kindle versions on Amazon and as an Apple Book in The Apple Store. The Strasburg Rail Road runs on a set schedule (sometimes hourly during prime tourist times) and passes numerous road crossings on its round trip excursions through the countryside. These crossings provide convenient spots at which photographers can position themselves to capture great pictures regardless of the time of day. One hint for the photographers reading this: the locomotives pull the trains only in their westbound travels. When moving eastbound the locomotives push the train’s cars so they aren’t really as visible and makes for a less-than-ideal photograph.