By the 1820s, the canal system had replaced the
Conestoga wagon as the primary method of overland transportation. When the
Susquehanna Canal opened, the majority of goods were directed through
Baltimore, Maryland, rather than
Philadelphia. The small amount of goods that were destined for Philadelphia traveled via a wagon road through Strasburg. A charter was issued by the Pennsylvania Legislature with the signature of Governor
George Wolf on June 9, 1832 to "
incorporate the Strasburg ". Although the pre-1852 history of the Strasburg Rail Road is sketchy, it is believed that the line was
graded in 1835 and was operational by 1837. The railroad operated as a
horse-drawn railroad until it purchased a second-hand
Norris-built,
4-2-0 steam locomotive named the
William Penn in 1851. In 1866, the Herrs were granted a charter to extend the Strasburg Rail Road to
Quarryville; surveys were carried out, but the extension was eventually canceled because of an
economic depression. Isaac Groff managed The Strasburg Rail Road for about 20 years until the fire of January 16, 1871, which destroyed the depot, grist and merchant mill, planing mill and machine shop — in all, more than $50,000 worth of property, equal to $ today. In 1878, the Strasburg Rail Road and the shops were sold. The railroad was sold again in 1888 to Edward Musselman, with the Musselman family retaining control of it until 1918 when it was purchased by
State Senator John Homsher. By this time, the number of passengers had dropped off because tracks for the
Conestoga Traction Company's
streetcars had reached Strasburg in 1908, offering a more direct route between Lancaster and Strasburg. In 1926, the Strasburg Rail Road purchased a , gasoline-powered,
Plymouth switcher locomotive — the only locomotive that was ever built specifically for the Strasburg Rail Road. Upon the death of Bryson Homsher, the Homsher estate filed for abandonment with the
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Learning of the potential abandonment, an effort to purchase and save the railroad was organized by
railfans from Lancaster Henry K. Long and Donald E. L. Hallock. They organized a small non-profit group to purchase the railroad. After the better part of a year of hard work, the purchase was completed on November 1, 1958. Tourist
excursion service began on January 4, 1959, and the first steam locomotive arrived in June the following year. Today, the line carries passengers on a 45-minute round-trip journey from East Strasburg to
Leaman Place Junction through nearly in southeastern Lancaster County. A percentage of each train ticket's revenue is contributed to the Lancaster Farmland Trust. The railroad operates the United States' only operational wooden
dining car on which visitors may dine while riding. Attractions at the station include the fully operational gauge
Pint-Sized Pufferbelly (
Cagney steam-powered
ridable miniature railway), a vintage pump car and several c.1930s "
cranky cars", along with several gift shops and a cafe. The railroad's mechanical and car shops maintain and restore locomotives and rolling stock and a wide variety of public and private clients, including other railroads, steam locomotive operators, train museums, and other heavy industries. In 2016–17, the shops were enlarged to to accommodate increasing demand for their services. Its freight department provides shipping and
transloading for local and regional clients. Interchange is with
Norfolk Southern at Leaman Place Junction on Amtrak's Keystone Corridor. When the railroad returned to operation for tourism, freight business was still pursued but was diminished compared to the past. Business from the Homsher feed mill ended in 1976, and one of the only sources of freight traffic was imported plastic pellets for a battery manufacturer in
Lampeter. Occasional carloads of lumber were also carried, but freight traffic as a whole came to a near standstill a few years into the 2000s; the plastic pellet business was lost to trucks. Several years went by with no freight shipments at all, and the railroad was in danger of losing its designation as a
common carrier entirely. The railroad made a strategic decision to actively seek out new freight business in 2008; at the time, the railroad was averaging less than one freight car per month. Improvements were made to the main line to accommodate the heavier weight of modern freight cars, and the railroad also purchased
EMD SW8 #8618 to handle freight duties. Increased freight shipments justified an additional locomotive purchase, a rebuilt
EMD SW9, in 2019. The
United States Department of Labor ordered the railroad in January 2025 to pay back wages and compensatory damages to an employee of the Strasburg Railroad who had unlawfully fired after the employee
raised safety concerns. ==Equipment==