On Friday, December 1, 2023, I joined my friend Nick from NixCrossing to chase the Inaugural Excursion of the Trail Sisters on the Northern Central Railway (NCR) of York, PA. The Trail Sisters are two midtwentieth century pullman style passenger and lounge cars owned by Bill Hatrick, commonly known as Conductor Bill. These cars recently arrived at the NCR, and this nighttime excursion was the first time the cars were used for a public excursion on the line.

These cars were pulled by GP9 diesel locomotive #6076, formerly Pennsylvania Railroad #7249 built in 1959. With the NCR's trackage being former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), this locomotive is the only former PRR locomotive that still operates on former tracks of the PRR. Its sixteencylinder engine generates 1,750 horsepower, and it can be heard using a good portion of this power pulling the consist back to New Freedom, PA.

Additionally, this excursion departed New Freedom, PA at 6:00pm, and traveled north to Seven Valleys, where the locomotive ran around the train to return south to New Freedom.

Also, I have to provide a big thank you to Nick for driving me around to the different locations, and allowing for both of us to have a successful chase. Make sure to visit his channel @NixCrossing to see his video of this excursion, as well as other epic railroad content!

Additionally, if you are interested in riding the Trail Sisters for yourself, or riding one of the NCR's other excursions, be sure to visit their website at https://www.northerncentralrailway.com/.

Please enjoy this epic night chase of the inaugural excursion of the Trail Sisters on the Northern Central Railway!!

0:00 #6076 moves the Trail Sisters across W Franklin St.
1:05 Intro
2:27 Departing New Freedom Station
3:46 Traveling through Railroad, PA
4:32 Through the trees over Walker Rd
5:24 Traveling through Glen Rock
6:54 Crossing Seven Valleys Rd
7:46 Hanover Jct. Northbound
9:02 Hanover Jct. Southbound
9:58 Crossing Seitzville Rd
10:38 Seitzland, PA
11:36 Taylor Hill Rd
12:47 Returning to New Freedom Station
13:58 Outro

Music in this video:
Song: Straight Fuse
Artist: French Fuse
Licensed to YouTube by: YouTube Audio Library