Allegheny Crossing

(This is only two-thirds of the map).

The August 2010 issue of my Trains magazine has a large foldout map (above) of Norfolk Southern Railroad’s storied Pittsburgh Division.
The NS Pittsburgh Division is the old Pennsylvania Railroad’s crossing of the Allegheny Mountains.
The Allegheny Mountains, part of the Appalachians, had always been a barrier to west-east commerce.
New York State was first to tap the midwest with its Erie Canal.
The Appalachians didn’t reach directly into New York. It was possible to build a canal all the way across the state from the Hudson (which was navigable) to Lake Erie.
Although there were locks in it.
Most challenging was climbing the Niagara Escarpment at Lockport; a stairstep of five double-locks — now two.
But to the east, river courses could be followed; mainly the Mohawk (“Moe-HAWK”).
The Erie Canal was phenomenally successful, so much other eastern seaports became worried, particularly Philadelphia and Baltimore.
But south of New York were the Appalachians. No way could a canal breach them.
Boston suffered even more.
The entire state of Massachusetts faced it to the west, with the Berkshire Mountains blocking the NY border.
Pennsylvania responded with its “Public Works System,” like the Erie a state-sponsored endeavor.
It was canals combined with a portage railroad.
The portage railroad was to cross the Alleghenies.
It included inclined-planes at first; ten inclines where flatcars carrying the canal-packets got winched up the hills by stationary steam-engines.
It was cumbersome and slow. 22 power changes were required over the 36-mile railroad.
There also was transloading the canal-packets onto railroad flatcars.
Capitalists in Baltimore founded the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the first common-carrier railroad, opening in 1827.
It was the only way Baltimore could tap the midwest (Ohio).
Even then its railroad was difficult. It included a number of arduous grades.
Early 19th century grading technology was not up to the Alleghenies.
B&O made it to the Ohio River, but its railroad was always dreadful — and hard to operate.
Washington DC instituted the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal up the Potomac River in Maryland. But it never got past Cumberland, foot of the Alleghenies.
Washington DC was never much of a seaport.
Capitalists in Philadelphia were so unhappy with the Public Works System, they chartered the Pennsylvania Railroad to build from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. —There was already railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia on the Susquehanna south of Harrisburg; part of the Public Works System. (Pennsy eventually got it.)
Better for B&O was access to Pittsburgh.
It allowed easier crossing of the Alleghenies than its original railroad — now the “West End.”
But Pennsy blocked them to Pittsburgh a long time.
A number of physical challenges faced Pennsy, but most difficult was the Allegheny Crossing.
The capitalists brought in John Edgar Thomson from Georgia Railroad to help them build.
He decided the best way to conquer the Alleghenies was rather suddenly; i.e. helper locomotives.
But not a railroad so steep it’s impossibly difficult.
Its steepest westbound grade from Altoona is only 1.8 percent; 1.8 feet up per 100 feet forward.

Horseshoe Curve.

To maintain that grade required a trick, “Horseshoe Curve.”
The railroad loops back along two parallel mountainsides.
It stretched out the climb, so that without that curve, the railroad would have been quite a bit steeper.
Eastbound, up the western face of the Alleghenies to the summit at Gallitzin (“guh-LIT-zin”), was not as steep; at most 1.44 percent.
But steep enough to require helpers.
The Pennsylvania Railroad became a cash-cow.
Its managers merged midwestern railroads that fed the main stem at Pittsburgh.
Clear to Chicago and St. Louis.
Pennsy became the largest railroad in the world, and dominated the nation’s economy.
It also became a widow’s and orphan’s stock — it always paid dividends.
Mega-tons of midwestern commerce funneled over Pennsy.
The Allegheny Crossing eventually had four tracks over the summit, two in Pennsy tunnels, and two more in New Portage tunnel, which Pennsy acquired.
The State of PA built a “New Portage Railroad” to circumvent the inclined planes.
But New Portage Railroad only lasted less then two years.
Pennsy was triumphant. No more transloading canal-packets.
Pennsy eventually bought the entire failed Public Works System dirt-cheap. That included New Portage Railroad, which also included New Portage Tunnel. —Slightly higher than Pennsy’s tunnel, but it could be incorporated.
With New Portage Tunnel Pennsy now had multiple tracks over the summit.
A second Pennsy tunnel, Gallitzin, was opened in 1904, but was abandoned in 1995 when the original Pennsy tunnel, “Allegheny,” was enlarged to accommodate double-track, but mainly to clear doublestacks. —Gallitzin tunnel was parallel to Allegheny.
Allegheny was single-track when opened, but quickly went to double-track. It went back to single when Pennsy began using New Portage tunnel — which was double-track for a while. (New Portage Tunnel was single-tracked in 1971.)
Allegheny also went back to single-track as equipment got larger.
New Portage Tunnel also had its floor dropped so it could clear doublestacks.
Five tracks were on each side of the summit tunnels. Four on the original alignment on the eastern slope and one on the east-slope alignment of the New Portage Railroad, and two on the original Pennsy alignment on the western slope, with three on the west-slope New Portage alignment.
Pennsy had competition, of course.
Mainly New York Central Railroad and Baltimore & Ohio.
Of those, Pennsy was number-one, NYC a close second, and B&O a distant third.
The winds of change were working against railroading, mainly that -1) they were private enterprise, and therefore heavily taxed, and -2) governments were subsidizing alternative transit modes, mainly air and highway.
Giant airports were built and a control-system instituted, and a giant interstate highway system was constructed.
A railroad marshaling yard was privately funded, as was dispatching.
Eventually railroading became so untenable it began failing. Mighty Pennsy had to merge with arch-rival New York Central as Penn-Central, and even that failed in eight years.
Still, railroading was an incredibly efficient way to ship freight, so Penn-Central was folded into Conrail with other bankrupt eastern railroads.
Conrail was at first a government enterprise, but eventually it went private as it began to succeed.
Government reforms reversed the negative approach to railroading.
Conrail was put up for sale, and was gonna go CSX, until Norfolk Southern bid the ex-Pennsy lines.
Norfolk Southern now owns and operates Pennsy’s old Allegheny Crossing.
Norfolk Southern is a long-ago merger of Norfolk & Western and Southern Railway.
Pennsy tried to merge with Norfolk & Western, but failed.
Norfolk & Western was phenomenally successful; it served the Pocahontas coal-region in WV and KY.
As one who’s chased trains all over the Pittsburgh Division, I found the map interesting.
Most of this train-chasing was with Phil Faudi (“FOW-dee;” as in “wow”), the railfan extraordinaire from Altoona, PA, who supplies all-day train-chases for $125.
Faudi has his rail-scanner along, and knows the whereabouts of every train, as the engineers call out the signals, and various lineside defect-detectors fire off.
He knows each train by symbol, and knows all the back-roads, and how long it takes to get to various photo locations — and also what makes a successful photo — lighting, drama, etc.
Phil and I have covered all the way from Altoona to Conemaugh (“kone-uh-MAW”) Viaduct just west of South Fork.
Conemaugh Viaduct is a fairly longish hike over the “Path of the Johnstown Flood” trail, an old trolley right-of-way converted to a hiking trail.
Long enough for a number of trains to be missed, passing below.
Conemaugh Viaduct washed out in the Johnstown Flood and was replaced.
It’s a stone-arch viaduct over the Little Conemaugh River.
The photo location is a rock outcrop high above the railroad.
It was worth the hike. We went in a hurry, because trains were coming on Phil’s scanner.
I seem to walk slower since my stroke, but we made it.


At Conemaugh Viaduct. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

Lots of other places we’ve hit are on the map; Portage and Brickyard and Lilly, Carney’s Crossing, Summerhill, and Alto (“al-toe”).
“Alto” is the old operator’s tower in Altoona; not far from where the grade over the Alleghenies starts.
It controls most operations in Altoona; crew-changes and attaching (and detaching) helper locomotives.
All via radio, 160.8, the local Norfolk Southern operating channel. (Actually it’s ex-Conrail.)
I get Alto on my scanner.
As does Phil.
As you can tell, I think the world of the Pittsburgh Division.
It’s still quite busy; my rule is wait 20 minutes, and a train will pass.
But it’s not as busy as it was in the past.
The old four-track main is down to three tracks, with three tracks over the summit.
No longer is that river of midwestern product traveling over the Alleghenies.
The river of product is out of Los Angeles and Long Beach; product from China.
Yet Allegheny Crossing can be a bottleneck.
Say two trains are coming up The Hill out of Altoona on Two and Three.
An eastbound priority train might have to follow a slowpoke down Track One.
That fourth track might have to be reinstalled.