Norfolk Southern Enola Yard Diesel Shop employees pitch in to clean out River Arches

Photos by Mary Parry

Norfolk Southern Corporation’s spring volunteer day brought employees from the Enola Yard Diesel Shop to the Borough of Duncannon this past Saturday, May 12^th with enthusiasm and a back-hoe to help improve access points to the Susquehanna River in the downtown area.   The railroad helpers pitched in with assistance from Borough workers and community volunteers to help scrape sediment, even out the floor and clear brush and debris from under the railroad arches.  They were finishing up just as the first batch of paddlers marched their boats down Ann St. to put-in under the arch on the beautiful day.

The idea for this effort came from Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club President Karen Balaban and was coordinated with assistance from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and DATC as a lead-in to the upcoming Appalachian Trail Community^TM designation event.  The arch-ways receive heavy use from recreational paddlers and pedestrians accessing scenic views of the broad river and surrounding forested ridges.  The Norfolk Southern group’s collaborative efforts with the local community will maximize resources towards improving public safety for pedestrian access following damage from last year’s flooding, helping prevent future erosion, and enhancing the appearance of the river access points.

 “Many of our employees live in Perry County and recognize this rail line for the beautiful scenery of the Susquehanna Water Gaps,” said NSCorp. Enola Diesel Shop Senior General Foreman, Archie Glace.  “We’re happy to help improve local access to the river under our tracks and strengthen ties with the communities where our people live and work.”

For more awesome photos taken by Trailangel Mary, view the facebook photo album here!

Norfolk-Southern Enola Yard volunteers sign on to help improve River Arches

Norfolk-Southern Enola Diesel Shop Senior Foreman, Archie Glace, has coordinated with DATC and signed on his employee volunteer team to come to Duncannon on Saturday, May 12th, and make improvements for access to the river through the archways at Ann St. and Margretta St.

The project will likely entail scraping sediment that has built up over the years, digging a drainage trench for stormwater run-off and clearing brush to the drainage swales at the base of the tracks.  This will serve to improve pedestrian and boating access to river from the downtown areas for residents and folks coming into town for a paddle.  Blue Mountain Outfitters in Marysville also often uses these arches to put-in river trips.

PA-225 Parking Lot

Last year the NSCorp Enola team coordinated with Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club and did awesome work making improvements to the parking lot and trail-head at PA-225 on Peters Mountain.  As you can see from the recent photo at left, it gets heavy use!  We thank them for their efforts to support the A.T. and the A.T. Community initiative in Duncannon.


NS Corp will also have a table at the June 2nd event in addition to various other informational and retail vendors posted on the Event page.  "Before" photos of the Ann St. arch posted below.  "After" photos to come in May!