BobbaLew: Monthly Calendar-Report for November 2013

Train 21J, having passed Altoona’s Amtrak station, continues west toward The Hill as Track Two becomes Track Three. (Photo by BobbaLew with Phil Faudi.)

—The November 2013 entry of my own calendar is not that dramatic. It’s train 21J westbound onto Track Three toward The Hill.
It’s passing Altoona’s Amtrak station, and shows how Norfolk Southern reconfigured the tracks through Altoona.
Altoona was the base of the grade over Allegheny summit. A torrent of freight passed through Altoona with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and still does with Norfolk Southern.
Pennsylvania Railroad no longer exists. It’s owned and operated by Norfolk Southern, a 1982 merger of Norfolk & Western and Southern Railway.
Helper-locomotives have to be added to get trains over the Alleghenies (“The Hill”).

A coal-extra approaches 17th St. overpass on the old alignment. (Note signal-bridge.) (Photo by BobbaLew with Phil Faudi.)

An earlier photo shows how the tracks were.
That earlier picture was the May, 2013 entry in my own calendar.
Both the calendar-picture and my earlier picture were taken from the 17th St. overpass in Altoona.
Two tracks come into Altoona from the east, Tracks One (eastbound) and Two (westbound).
Just west of Altoona-station a third track gets added — Track Three — to get trains over The Hill.
With the old configuration that third track began with a switch.
Trains were usually assaulting The Hill on Track Three, and a switch has to be maintained.
With the new configuration that switch was removed, and Track Two becomes Track Three.
A crossover was added on the other side of the overpass to get trains over to Two if they were using Two to climb The Hill. —Track Two is signaled both ways — the others aren’t.
Alto Tower is on the other side of the overpass, and has been closed.
Alto had a massive signal-bridge (visible below), and that too has been removed.
Tracks south (railroad west) of the 17th St. overpass were also reconfigured.

The old configuration, when Alto Tower was open and had the signal-bridge. (Photo by BobbaLew with Phil Faudi.)

Looking west on the new alignment with a new signal-bridge. (Photo by BobbaLew with Phil Faudi.)

Entering Altoona from the east, the railroad divides into express and drag tracks — two into four.
That coal-train in my earlier picture is westbound on the drag tracks.
It will need to be crossed over to assault The Hill, probably onto Three.
Alignment through Altoona also needed (needs) helper-pockets. Westbound trains often need additional locomotives — helpers — to get over The Hill.
The helpers were added in Altoona, and have been since the railroad opened (1854).
Helpers also get taken off of eastbounds, although this can be done on-the-fly, with an application called “Helper-link.” Helpers helped climb the western slope of The Hill, and helped hold back the train descending into Altoona.
Alto Tower used to do all this. Now a dispatcher in Pittsburgh does it.
Altoona is a bottleneck. Trains stop to add helpers.
Alto Tower was good at it, but they were old hands.
Pittsburgh still has to get the hang of it; trains often stack up and run late.
Altoona still has a dispatcher, although he’s in Pittsburgh.
Alto Tower will supposedly be removed to become part of Railroaders Memorial Museum, which honors the long heritage of railroading in Altoona. Altoona was Pennsy’s main shop facility. Pennsy locomotives were developed/tested and built there.

A westbound stacker descends, while an eastbound ore-train gets helped up The Hill. (Photo by Sam Wheland.)

—The November, 2013 entry in my Norfolk Southern Employees’ Photography-Contest calendar is a westbound stacker on Track Four descending The Hill, while a heavy eastbound ore-train climbs on Track One.
The eastbound ore-train is being pushed by an SD40-E helper-set.
I know exactly where this photograph was taken, since I’ve taken pictures there myself.

Same location, but no sun. (Photo by BobbaLew with Phil Faudi.)

It’s off the State Route 53 overpass just north of Cresson (”KRESS-in”), PA.
It was the April, 2013 picture in my own calendar.
Underneath are five tracks: Tracks Four and Three (at left) are on the original Pennsylvania Railroad alignment, then Tracks Two and One plus Main-Eight are on the old “New Portage Railroad” alignment next to the original Pennsy.
Main-Eight is used for storage.
“New Portage Railroad” was constructed by the State to correct the original Portage Railroad with its inclined-planes.
The Portage Railroads were part of Pennsylvania’s “Public Works System” of canals, etc. The Portage Railroads were how the Public Works System got over Allegheny Ridge.
It couldn’t be canaled.
The Public Works were a response to the phenomenally successful Erie Canal.
The Pennsylvania Railroad, a private endeavor unlike the Public Works System, was so successful it put the State system out of business. A through railroad made far more sense than a combined system of canals and railroads.
By the time Pennsy was built railroad technology had superseded canals.
Pennsy got the Public Works System when it was sold for a song, but incorporated the New Portage alignment. That was because New Portage had a tunnel under the mountaintop, a tunnel that could be added to the original tunnel Pennsy already had.
But New Portage Tunnel is slightly higher than Pennsy’s tunnel.
The New Portage alignment was higher on the western slope of The Hill, but on the eastern side Pennsy had to ramp up to it: “The Slide,” a fairly steep 2.28 percent. —That’s 2.28 feet up for every 100 feet forward.
(It used to be 2.36 percent, but was reduced when Conrail lowered the tunnel-floor to clear double-stacks. [Conrail operated the line before Norfolk Southern.])
Eastbounds usually take the New Portage alignment (Two or One), although they can take Track Three on the original Pennsy alignment.
Westbounds take Track Three or Four. Three is signaled both ways.
I’ve seen pictures galore at this location. The railroad is busy enough to often see two trains at once. One time I missed three trains at once by about 15 seconds.
But two trains at once is not that often. Photographer Wheeland snagged a downhill train as an uphill train almost passed out of sight.
It’s also fall colors, appropriate to a November calendar picture.

Kewel! (Photo by Scott Williamson.)

(What a joy it is to finally attain November and not have to look at that silly ‘53 Chevy custom.)

—The November 2013 entry of my Oxman Hotrod Calendar solves one of the major problems of a 1934 Ford — to me.
I’ve never liked the front-end of a 1934 Ford.
The rest of the car looks fine.

The best there is.

Stock ‘34 Ford three-window coupe.

The front of the calendar-car. (Photo by Scott Williamson.)

Yet the radiator-shell of a ‘32 Ford is gorgeous.
The calendar-car has a different front-end. It’s a modification hot-rodders often did to improve aerodynamics for lake-racing.
Lake racing was flat-out speed trials on the huge dried lake beds up in the desert in southern California.
Rogers dry lake is now part of Edwards Air Force Base.
The vast hard-packed lake can be was used as a runway.
The Shuttle has landed there.
The calendar-car’s top is also chopped; it’s a great-looking hotrod.
About the only thing I find questionable about this car is its paint-job.
I find that red segment questionable, like it’s not needed.
Or maybe it is; at least it’s not dayglo flames.
The car has a 350 Chevy and automatic transmission.
The motor is souped up with triple carburetors.
Would I be interested in this car?
Yes, which is saying a lot for me to like a ‘34 Ford.
But I need four-on-the-floor, not an automatic.

The way it was years ago in Gallitzin, PA. (Photo by Bill Price.)

—(“guh-LIT-zin;” as in “get”)
The November 2013 entry of my All-Pennsy color calendar is Pennsy GP9s toward the summit of the grade in Gallitzin.
The Geeps are on Track One, the old “New Portage” alignment.
As mentioned above, New Portage was the State’s attempt to correct the original Portage railroad with its inclined-planes.
Pennsy put the state system out-of-business, got it for peanuts, then incorporated it because it had a tunnel atop the mountain.
The train is headed for that tunnel. Track One goes through New Portage tunnel.
The GP9 is EMD’s (General Motors Electromotive Division) second iteration of the Geep road-switcher. First was the GP7.
Pennsy had GP7s, but was slow to dieselize; it was trying to stay with steam.
By the time it decided to dieselize, their demand was so great EMD couldn’t supply it. Pennsy had to dieselize with anybody and everybody, including unreliable suppliers.
Geeps were reliable.
That truss highway overpass has since been replaced. Gallitzin is an old coal-town draped from mountaintop down the western slope.
It looks half-dead and not very organized.
Two street overpasses cross the tracks. One is Jackson St. and crosses the old Pennsy alignment. The second is the one pictured (Main St.), which crossed the New Portage alignment, which is a couple blocks south of the original Pennsy alignment.
Both were once trusses like what’s pictured, and both have been replaced.
Both may not have been high enough to clear doublestacks.
Railroading hasn’t changed much in Gallitzin, summit of the Alleghenies.
The locomotives are now Norfolk Southern, that bridge was replaced, but the tracks are still in the same locations.
And those Geeps are probably hammering. The train is uphill toward the summit. The Geeps are almost at the top, but their train is still on the grade.

#7048 is at left. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

One GP9 is displayed at Horseshoe Curve. That’s 7048.
Horseshoe Curve is my favorite railfan spot. It’s uphill — trains are hammering — and the viewing-area is smack in the apex.
The railroad was looped around a valley to ease the grade. It was a trick used long ago when the railroad was built to make crossing the Alleghenies possible.
It’s still in use.

A burn-out king! (Photo by Peter Harholdt©.)

—The November 2013 entry in my Motorbooks Musclecar calendar is something I always poo-poo.
It’s a 1969 396 El Camino.
El Caminos were notorious for not hooking up; that is, stuff your foot into that 396, and smoke the rear tires.
The car is rear-wheel-drive, but its heavy motor is in front.
And the 396 is a high-performance motor.
The El Camino is a stationwagon shorn of its roof.
There’s not much weight on the drive-tires.

A ‘59 Chevrolet El Camino.

A ‘57 Ford Ranchero.

It’s not really a truck; ya don’t carry manure with it, or tow a boat.
Former President Clinton had one in his past, and someone declared “anyone that owns a vehicle that can’t make up its mind what it is, shouldn’t be president.”
It’s more a profiler; Chevrolet’s response to the Ford Ranchero.
The first El Camino was 1959; the first Ranchero was 1957.
By the mid ‘60s Ford and Chevrolet downsized to smaller cars. The first car-pickups were full-size cars.
Ford downsized to the Torino, and eventually the Falcon.
I don’t think Chevrolet ever El Camino-ed its Nova. It never even stationwagon-ed the Nova.
A souped-up El Camino occasionally passes my house, about ‘72 or ‘73.
I think it’s a SmallBlock, but it’s heavily modified.
I can hear it coming; the induction-noise is deafening.
My neighbor’s young sons got the driver to stop, and suggested a burn-out.
The driver complied, and left two angry stripes.
Tire-smoke filled the air. Per usual, the drive-tires didn’t hook up.
Everyone cheered, including me, but all it was was sterm und drang.
The motor is awesome, but about all it can do in an El Camino is generate tire-smoke and noise.
So the calendar-car is pretty to look at, but I don’t think it could win a street-race.

Top of the hill. (Joe Suo collection.)

The November 2013 entry of my Audio-Visual Designs black-and-white All-Pennsy Calendar is a train at the top of Keating Summit.
Keating Summit was the main impediment to trains on the line to Buffalo in northwestern PA.
Keating Summit is the top of the Alleghenies toward the north. The railroad climbs a 2.21 percent grade, and then descends a 1.68 percent grade.
Horseshoe Curve and the eastern slope of the Alleghenies on the PRR mainline is only 1.75-1.8 percent — 1.8 feet up for every 100 feet forward.
More-than-likely the line to Buffalo is a merged line, although Pennsy may have built it.
The train pictured had help climbing the 2.21 percent grade, and is now beginning its descent.
What tells me that it may be a merged line is that semaphore signal; although it may be leftover from earlier times. Pennsy used semaphores before its target-signals.
Semaphores were quite common in the late 1800s.
The locomotives are EMD F7s, EMD’s fourth iteration of the “F” cab-freight diesel-electric.
First were the FTs, introduced in 1939.
At that time Pennsy was still trying to stay steam.
I don’t think they had FTs.
There was an F2, but Pennsy never bought any. —The F2 was essentially the FT rebodied; an upgraded generator was not available yet. Still 1,350 horsepower, like the FT.
Pennsy’s first F-units were the F3, the F-unit uprated to 1,500 horsepower. (Few F2s were built.)
Then there was the F7, still 1,500 horsepower, but more modern.
I have photographs galore of F7s, including FP7s, four feet longer for dual-service (including passenger).

B&O F7s on the Royal Blue line, about 1959. (Photo by Bobbalew.)

Reading FP7s, about 1960. (I think these locomotives still exist.) (Photo by Bobbalew.)

F7s were coming into heavy use while I was a teenager, dominating locomotive usage.
We’d hear faraway F7s on Baltimore & Ohio’s Royal Blue line in northern Delaware (where I lived at that time).
They would chant, as F7s did.
F7s more-or-less established the market for diesel-electric traction, so-called “trolley-motors” due to their rotating power-trucks with electric traction-motors.
Just like a trolley-car, except the electric current for those traction-motors was generated by a diesel-engine on the locomotive, not delivered by wire or third-rail from a distant generator.
Diesel-electric traction was called “electrification without wires.”
Electric traction is much better than steam.
With steam, power transmission is only two thrusts per wheel-revolution; actually four for the entire axle — that’s two thrusts per side, evenly timed. (Unless the steam-locomotive has more than two drive-cylinders, and there were such.)
The power-stroke is short enough and powerful enough to break traction — spin the drive-wheels, especially if the railhead is wet.
A steam-locomotive has to get really going fast to smooth out the power-thrusts.
I’ve ridden behind a steam-locomotive, and could feel it pull the train side-to-side.
Electric traction is constant — the drive-torque is constant. Electric traction-motors can generate much more useable force at slow speed than can a steamer — without slipping the drive-wheels.
Pennsy had quite a few F7s, but also many other brands. When Pennsy finally decided the dieselize, there was no way EMD could supply all the locomotives Pennsy needed.
But F-units were best. EMD became the premier supplier. And when EMD finally marketed a road-switcher — the GP7, Alco was first with the RS-1 — EMD became prime.
It remained there for a while, but General-Electric entered the market with its “Universal-series” (railfans call ‘em U-boats, since they go by the letter “U”).
The train is passing Keating Tower atop the grade.
I don’t know if this line still exists, although I think it does as a shortline.
It doesn’t have enough online or through traffic to attract the big railroads, although it may be Norfolk Southern or CSX.
It was Pennsy’s way to Buffalo. Keating summit is out in the middle of nowhere.

What a turkey! (Photo by Philip Makanna©.)

(It was a pleasure to see I only have one calendar left so this calendar-report won’t be that late.)

—The November 2013 entry of my Ghosts WWII warbirds calendar is a gigantic flip-flop.
It goes from an incredible photograph of the second-best airplane ever, the P-51 Mustang, to what has the be the dumbest looking airplane ever, a Polikarpov I-16.
(To me, the best-ever looking airplane is the Lockheed Constellation in TWA paint.)
I’m not familiar with the Polikarpov I-16, probably because it’s a Russian airplane, and I come from an era when Russia was our mortal enemy.
Yet during WWII Russia was one of the Allies, opposing Nazi Germany. In fact, had it not been for the Russians, the Nazis may have prevailed.
Russia forced the Nazis to fight a second front.
Not only did they have to fight England and us in western Europe, they also had to fight the Russians in eastern Europe.
The airplanes used in western Europe I know, the P-38, P-39, P-40, P-51, the Hawker Hurricane, and the Spitfire.
But there were Russian planes fighting too, like this Polikarpov I-16 (the “Ishak”). The Polikarpov I-16 lacked the beauty and grace of the Mustang and Spitfire.
In fact, even the Navy’s radial-engined fighter-planes, like the Corsair and the Grumman ‘Cats, look much better.
The Polikarpov I-16 is incredibly ugly.
I’ll let my WWII warbirds weigh in:
“The first low-wing monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to enter service, the Polikarpov I-16 was obsolete even before the Second World War began, yet plodded along as the Soviet Union’s first line fighter until 1943 when the Red Air Force finally introduced top-notch aircraft to slug it out with the Luftwaffe for the remainder of the war.
Of advanced design for its time, the I-16 was, none-the-less, an illustration of poor timing, being the fastest of its type when first introduced, highly maneuverable, with excellent climbing speed and roll rate, yet soon outclassed by a newer craft developed by Germany and Japan.
While the aircraft performed well against German combat aircraft during the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939), and against the Japanese Air Force in Manchuria starting in 1937, by the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the aircraft was outclassed by new generations of enemy fighters.
Yet, as the most numerous of the Soviet fighters available at that time, it bore the brunt of the battle for several years.
On the plus side, its simple, rugged construction, all-wood monocoque fuselage and metal wings made the I-16 easy to maintain under frontline conditions, and enabled it to absorb heavy punishment while staying in the fight. In fact, the plane itself was sturdy enough to be used as a ram to destroy enemy aircraft in midair when ammunition ran out in a dogfight.
On the negative side, it had poor longitudinal stability, a tendency to stall in a glide, and was exceedingly temperamental, requiring highly skilled airmanship to perform well and not kill the pilot before the enemy had a shot at him.”
So not only was the Ishak ugly, but it was also out-of-date.