Top 10 hot spots
I’ve had the good fortune to travel extensively during my almost 60 years of rail photography, and have been able to see and photograph railroads throughout the continent. In addition, I’ve lived in the Midwest, the Northeast, Texas, Georgia, and in Virginia for the past 25 years. Here are 10 of my favorite locations to watch trains in North America.
If you’re looking for a memorable railfan experience, Hot Spots is your go-to guide for train-watching throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Havre de Grace/Perryville, Maryland
Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor crosses the Susquehanna River on a century-old bridge between Perryville and Havre de Grace, Maryland. (Its replacement is on the way, but it will be many years before it is in service.) At least partly in deference to its age, the bridge has a 90 mph speed restriction. State-supported MARC commuter trains also connect Perryville with Baltimore and Washington, D.C., during rush hours. Norfolk Southern freights using the “Port Road” to and from Harrisburg, Pa., join the Northeast Corridor at Perryville. They can turn north to Wilmington, Del., and south to Baltimore. During the week, most operate on the Corridor overnight, however. Havre de Grace features a number of stores and a bird decoy museum highlighting regional waterfowl.
Hudson River Valley, N.Y.
Concentrate here on the “Highlands” area, roughly from Peekskill to Cold Spring. Mainline tracks run on both sides of the river, with those on the west side handling only freight for CSX Transportation and those on the east being essentially passenger-only for Amtrak and Metro-North (and as far as Poughkeepsie for Metro-North). There are a number of places, including Manitou, Bear Mountain and Storm King Mountain, where trains can be seen and photographed from the opposite bank.
Alexandria, Virginia
Freight, Amtrak, or commuter train, if you’re heading south directly out of Washington, D.C., you’ll be passing through Alexandria’s Union Station. Since the station is located in the heart of Old Town, there are plenty of places to stay and eat nearby. What can be viewed from the station platforms are all of CSX’s north-south freight operations from the northeast to the south, and numerous Amtrak trains heading for both Richmond on CSX rails and towards Manassas (and beyond to New Orleans and Roanoke) on NS rails. Weekday rush hours also offer Virginia Railway Express commuter trains on both lines.
Cincinnati
Unfortunately no longer a hot spot for passenger trains, Cincinnati Union Terminal is an urban train-watching oasis. Virtually all CSX and NS freight traffic in the region funnels down to a pair of bridges across the Ohio River. An outstanding and comfortable place to view the action is Tower A atop the former Terminal, now the city’s Museum Center. Since it is only open to the public occasionally, it’s best to check with the Museum Center in advance to see when it will be available. Other vantage points for observing the action are the Incline District in the city’s Price Hill neighborhood (good vantage points are near the Incline Public House), and at the scenic overlook at Devou Park across the river in Covington, Ky.
Tehachapi, California
One could certainly do worse than to simply visit the town of Tehachapi, just west of the famous railroad grade’s summit. However, I’d submit that covering a broader swath of territory, from Sand Cut on the west slope to Mojave on the east would be a lot more fun. The area has the characteristics of a model railroad, including numerous tunnels, mountains, curves, single track (for operating challenges!) and, of course, a loop. The trains move relatively slowly — it is, after all, a mountain railroad — so multiple shots are often possible. It can be difficult to time, but consider visiting after the winter rains, when portions of the area are green; the rest of the year dry weather gives much of California another reason to be known as the “Golden State.”
Sandpoint, Idaho
The walkway on the east side of U.S. Route 95 (the Serenity Lee trail) as it crosses Lake Pend Oreille south of town is a great place to view operations on the BNSF Railway’s “Funnel” between Sandpoint and Spokane, Washington. All traffic coming west off the former Great Northern “Hi Line” and the previously Montana Rail Link’s former Northern Pacific main line combines in the town to continue to Washington state. Since the walkway is west of the railroad, photography is best in the afternoon, but it is a great place to watch the substantial volume of rail traffic at any time. In 2022, the BNSF opened a second bridge across the lake west of the original (NP) structure; now there is the possibility of observing meets between east and westbound trains as they cross the lake.
Dorval, Quebec
Located adjacent to Montreal’s international airport, the town of Dorval has separate stations used by VIA Rail and Montreal’s commuter agency, Exo (Reseau de transport metropolitain, or RTM), on the adjacent CN and CP lines. Commuter activity is concentrated on weekdays, but VIA, which operates to both Ottawa and Toronto (as well as east to Montreal’s Central Station), and freight traffic activity are plentiful seven days a week.
Toronto
Canada’s largest city is a significant rail center, with considerable freight activity on both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. Downtown, however, in this walkable (and transit-intensive) city, passenger rail comes to the fore. That includes the commuter rail operations of GO Transit and, to a lesser extent, intercity trains of VIA Rail. A great place to watch the weekday action is the area between Spadina Avenue and Bathhurst Street; both feature bridges with pedestrian access over the multiple tracks in the vicinity.
Powder River Basin
This railfan favorite provides one of the “greatest shows on earth.” Heavy unit coal trains, and their returning empties, operate on a daily frequency that at one time eclipsed that of many transit agencies. Throw in the open grassland scenery, with a cluster of surface coal-mining operations in the middle of the line (bounded roughly by Douglas, Wyo., in the south and Gillette, Wyo., to the north), and there is plenty to see, and photograph. Even with traffic reductions in recent years, it’s still quite a show. For a single location, consider the state Route 59 bridge over the railroad just north of Bill, Wyo. (Hint: Don’t spend much time looking for a ‘town’ at Bill, however.)
BNSF’s Chicago ‘Racetrack’
Alexandria also has Metro trains across from the CSX track adding to the interest.
Don’t see how you could leave off the Keddie Wye. Watching the Big Boy 4014 pass over it on its Western swing this summer was thrilling.
Did you forget about Folkston
My favorites are: Green River, WY, Palmer Lake, CO, Galesburg, IL, North Platte, Alliance and Crawford, NE, and Cheyenne, WY.
While the Hudson Highlands are the scenic hotspot, Croton-Harmon station is also worth the short drive, where the 4 track electrified zone ends.
What about Rochelle Illinois where the webcam is located at?
Obviously it’s tough to pick the best locations but how you can leave out Horseshoe Curve (or anywhere from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh) is hard to understand. OK, if train volume is the only thing that counts how about Berea, OH where NS and CSX make a big X. As far as the west goes how about Cajon Pass where the BNSF and UP challenge the steepest main line grades in the country. And finally the Fraser River Canyon where the CN and CPR traverse a scenic but accessible canyon (From a pure scenery point of view nothing equals CP’s Kicking Horse Pass even though it has less trains).