Will they no longer be using the picnic grove at Cherry Hill?

On a related note, a quick look at Google Maps indicates that Cherry Hill is now home to a traditional Amish "adventure farm" with a giant corn maze, petting zoo, small race track, outdoor theater, batting cages and who knows what all the rest of that stuff is.

Looks a wee bit different from my last visit...

Lancaster County has, for the past several decades, been at increasing risk of "carnivalizing" or "theme-parking" virtually the entire county, to the point where the long-running joke is "will the last Amish congregation to leave Lancaster County please extinguish the kerosene lanterns behind them?" The children and grandchildren of Amish who "fled" from Lancaster County to Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario are now themselves "fleeing" to Wisconsin, Missouri, and Colorado. Strasburg and environs, sadly, is now in the heart of that "crass commercialism," to the extent that the railroad itself instigated and brought about a great deal of it.

I have known about the "Maize Maze" for several years, and it's become part of the reason I'm no longer as eager to suggest the Strasburg train ride to folks. But watching the video was an utter shock to me. A road along the track for almost a mile or so???? This is getting preposterous. Rather than an idyllic "ride to Paradise," this is getting to be like a ride through Disney World. Now, millions of folks go to Disney World of their own free will, mind you. But "this ain't your daddy's old train ride" any more.

Is Groff's Grove soon to be the Maize Maze Stop?

Half of it is a farm/dirt road (the second half) and the other half is an access road for th Maize group. Permission was received to do this once, and only once. Don't push your luck by asking for it many other times, and definitely don't use anything other than an SUV (or truck) on that second stretch, or you probably WILL get stuck.

I'm also going to be in PA for a few weeks of work starting the 12th. I'll be in Mechanicsburg, PA just the other side of Harrisburg inspecting their railroad track and their track inspection program and since the DOD isn't letting any of us work overtime the rest of this year, I should have the middle weekend all free. I usually have to choose between Strasburg, East Broad Top and Gettsburg for my free time, and Strasburg usually gets one of the days.



Greg

Well, your choices are easier this time...

Unless somebody knows something I haven't heard and they haven't announced, it appears that EBT won't be running this year. Shade Gap Electric will be operating.

Gettysburg hasn't had passenger runs in quite a while, so unless you're looking to chase a freight or ride a "side door Pullman", not much going on there either.

So, that leaves Strasburg & RRM PA.

Of course you do have some more options nearby:
Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad and the Wilmington & Western Railroad come to mind. I don't know when their season starts though.

Well I was thinking of the other historic things to do in and around Gettysburg when I mentioned that one. It kind of stands on its own even without railroad attractions. :-)

I did drop in on the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad on my last trip when I took my wife along, and I might just do that too. They weren't running trains then either, but I got a very nice and estensive tour of the facilities by an older gentleman whose name esapes me.

Greg

How much of it can you really blame on the railroad? Did all the "commercialism" occur simply because there's a steam train ride? If so, then why isn't EBT also surrounded by tourist traps, or the Wilmington & Western. Strasburg is a wonderful railroad with some of the finest equipment around, but I think you'll admit the ride isn't quite as spectacular as say the Durango & Silverton NG. So there must be something more to it.

The town Strasburg has always been touristy to some degree. When I was a kid, it was far more rural and charming, with lots of real Amish buggies on the road, but it also had lots of kitschy "Roadside Attractions".

The Caboose Hotel was there, as a fledgling version of the RRMPA. The Lionel Museum came along not long afterwards. They also had the Choo-Choo Barn and Roadside America to name just a couple of other attractions.

Hershey Park wasn't far, and Dutch Wonderland was even closer, though at the time it was geared mostly to the younger set. (The world's least scary roller coaster name "Sky Princess")

Lots of roadside souvenir stands and places to buy antiques and Amish items, both authentic and "authentic replica" or "reproduction"

It wasn't exactly Southern California, but there was plenty of stuff to do on a vacation in the area. I have to think that the Strasburg RR didn't cause it all so much as they were fortunate to be in the middle of all of it, and to ride the rising tide.



That has me wondering too. Do the Maze and the railroad work together? I noticed a link to the railroad on the corn maze website.

Is the new picnic ground a way to distance themselves from that operation? After all, every dollar junior spends in the batting cage is a dollar he won't spend in the RR gift shop or snack bar. Of course even if it is, nobody's likely say that in public.

Then again, maybe it's simply designed to provide railfans a way to hang out and watch trains go by on the mainline. I have no idea.

As a son of a Lancaster County native and a longtime covered bridge enthusiast, I have had a long-time association with Lancaster County. Somewhere in our stuff are photos of me and my sister at the Strasburg in 1968.

We could debate this until the cows come home, but I would make the strong case that without the 1959 revival of the Strasburg and its development as a steam mecca, combined with a healthy dose of marketing, Strasburg wouldn't be nearly the tourist attraction/"trap" it is now. Strasburg RR begat Red Caboose, Toy Train Museum, Choo-Choo Barn, the RR Museum of Pa., the corn maze, plus all the Strasburg RR's shops, photo kiosks, Cagney steam ride, bus parking lots, etc., and downtown Strasburg itself would be considerably quieter--like Manheim, Ephrata, or Mount Joy.

Without the railroad, I'm fairly certain something tourist-related would have popped up in the Strasburg area instead over the decades. But Strasburg most likely wouldn't need that "bypass" it now has.

There's very little traffic in and around Strasburg - and the railroad itself, outside of a "Thomas event", anyway. Are you sure the relatively recent explosion of tourist to the area was not in fact due to all the outlet stores that have been opening along the "main drag" being Route 30? No doubt the railroad contributed, but...?

/Mitch

Even in the mid 1980s to early 1990s (after the first of the outlets went in at 896 and 30), if you hit Strasburg at the "wrong" times, the line to get into Strasburg from the north or east, and wait for the traffic light in the heart of town, could be as much as a mile north of the center of town, or starting at the old mill at the end of the Strasburg RR. Until the bypass was put in, Strasburg was good for eating up 10-20 minutes of your travel time on a "bad" day. I became quite adept, even in pre-GPS/Internet days, at navigating a few little-known back roads to avoid the congestion, and inspect Neff's Mill Covered Bridge in the process. To this day, I can get from the Baltimore Beltway to Strasburg/RR Museum of Pa. on nothing over two-lane roads (counting an occasional passing lane on hills).

Now, it's been a while since I was more or less "regularly" in Strasburg, but I doubt the drop in tourism has been enough to ameliorate those traffic jams.....

On a happier note, since another video was shared earlier from Strasburg's Vintage Base Ball Day, here's mine to contribute as well:

http://youtu.be/y_Hf3bumw28

.

I did the train and maize maze combo a few years ago with one of our grandsons. It was a great experience to be at the maze location and see/hear the afternoon background provided by the train.

Wesley