Picture it on a Fire & Ice weekend: a steam engine easing into the depot at the entrance to Lititz Springs Park, coaches full of visitors who left their cars ten minutes away in Manheim. That’s the idea a local working group took public for the first time this week, and while nobody involved is calling it a done deal, it has the attention of both boroughs.
The group, called the Heritage Railroad Initiative, includes representatives of Strasburg Rail Road and Lititz-area businesses. It’s exploring passenger excursions between the Manheim Railroad Station & Museum at 210 S. Charlotte St. and the Lititz Welcome Center at 22 N. Broad St. Trains would run during big event days like the Fire & Ice Festival and the Fourth of July, with three to six round trips per day under a concept proposal shared with municipalities. The same proposal floats a multi-use trail along the line.
The group presented the plan in public on Monday night, Nov. 2, at an Earl Township supervisors meeting in New Holland. It has already shared the concept with more than 20 municipalities along the rail lines, and more public meetings are expected.
It hinges on a bigger deal
None of this happens unless Strasburg Rail Road buys the track. The Lancaster County railroad, best known for its steam excursions out of Strasburg, has proposed acquiring several Norfolk Southern lines in Lancaster and Chester counties for its freight division: the Lititz Secondary, the New Holland Secondary, the Mount Hope Industrial Track, and the Parkesburg and Coatesville industrial tracks. The proposal also covers Norfolk Southern’s operating rights on Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor from Lancaster to Coatesville.
Norfolk Southern didn’t respond to LNP | LancasterOnline’s requests for comment, and Strasburg Rail Road declined to comment. There’s no timeline. Before any sale, the initiative and the railroad plan to study what it would cost to buy and run the line, what infrastructure it needs and what grants might help.
“We’re looking at almost changing direction for Lititz to have a railroad heritage site, which is going to be tremendous, and a sister facility to Strasburg,” said Ted Faulkner, an organizer with the initiative.
Both ends of the line
The two stations already look the part. Manheim’s depot is preserved as a railroad museum, complete with a working 1926 trolley, and is owned by the Manheim Historical Society. The Lititz Welcome Center is a modern reproduction of the old Reading & Columbia Railroad depot that stood on the same spot until it was torn down in 1957, shortly after passenger service on the corridor ended.
Wes Geib, vice president of the historical society, is enthusiastic. “It would enhance the growth of that area where our train station is located,” he said. “I just think the opportunities are beyond my imagination.”
Manheim Borough Manager Joel Mutschler is interested but careful, noting that municipal approvals would likely be needed before any trains ran. “Getting more folks to frequent downtown Manheim and visiting our businesses would be a great thing, but we definitely need more information,” he said.
Lititz knows how slow railroads move
Lititz officials have reason to be cautious. The borough has spent years working with Norfolk Southern to take over the stretch of track east of Route 501 so it can extend the Warwick-Ephrata Rail Trail into downtown. It’s about to start a $3 million project, paid for with bond money and state grants, to build a parallel track north of the Lititz Rec Center. Norfolk Southern needs that track before it will abandon the rail east of North Broad Street.
“They have informed us, but until Norfolk Southern says they’re interested, it seems like a wish list more than anything,” said Elijah Yearick, the borough’s managing director of planning and development.
Rich Motz, president of the Lititz Springs Park Association board, sits on the working group but says he’s doing so on his own, not on behalf of the association, since the tracks are on separate property from the park.
Why the idea has appeal
Anyone who has tried to park in Lititz during Fire & Ice or the Fourth of July knows the case for it. Supporters say event-day trains would cut congestion downtown, bring tourists to both boroughs and give Strasburg Rail Road’s freight business room to grow. Whether Norfolk Southern wants to sell is the question that decides everything else.