Stealth trip
Yrs trly went to Altoona (PA) the past week to chase trains; drive down Wednesday, March 19th, chase trains all day Thursday, March 20th, then return home Friday, March 21st.
I’m a railfan, and have been since age-2. I’m now 70.
Another lonely trip down the “proposed I-99 corridor.” That corridor is a joke! Hardly anyone uses it. Compared to other limited-access expressways I’ve driven, it’s empty. Millions of dollars were spent cutting away rock-faces, and building bridges, but there’s hardly any traffic. I pretty much have to road to myself. A car or semi might catch up from behind, pass, and then disappear.
Central Pennsylvania is not the Los Angeles basin. Long stretches of expressway cross utter desolation.
I almost wonder why this road was built? Apparently it was a Congressman.
I don’t mind. It cuts a seven-hour trip to five hours.
I don’t drive the Interstate to get across New York. The “proposed I-99 corridor” is in Pennsylvania. I use rural two-lanes to get down to Pennsylvania.
Once in Pennsylvania I can wick up the cruise to 65-70. It’s pretty much the “proposed I-99 corridor” all the way to Altoona.
There is a small portion south of Williamsport that isn’t limited-access. But it’s only about six miles. The rest is all expressway, except where the “proposed I-99 corridor” heads south from Interstate-80.
I also use a rural two-lane to cut a dog-leg; that’s perhaps eight miles.
Altoona is the base of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s assault on Allegheny mountain, what used to be a barrier to trade across Pennsylvania in the early 1800s.
The railroad is no longer “Pennsy,” it’s now Norfolk Southern.
But the railroad is still there, and has a lot of traffic.
I call the area “Allegheny Crossing,” because it’s where the railroad crossed Allegheny mountain.
It’s very much a mountain railroad. Trains often need additional locomotives to get up the mountain. Those helper-locomotives often stay on to help hold back the train descending.
Trains have run away.
I went alone this time.
Usually I chase trains with a friend in the area named Phil Faudi (“FOW-dee;” as in “wow”).
Phil is a railfan extraordinaire, and knows railroad operations in the area extremely well.
He used to give tours to railfans as a business, but gave it up due to liability considerations and a new car.
He used to drive tours in his previous car.
I did my first tour in 2008, and it was railfan overload. I think I saw 20 trains over a single nine-hour day, including two at once.
I have toured with Phil at least 10 more times since. When he gave up his business, he was still interested in leading me around. Some of those 10 times are me driving my car.
I take lots of pictures, and with those pictures I produce a calendar from a photo-site.
I say my calendar is by me and Phil, because the pictures are at Phil’s photo-locations.
Phil is very conscious of photo-quality, so how well I do is as much him as it is me.
I also began inviting my brother Jack from Boston since my wife died.
My brother, who is younger at age-56 — I’m the oldest — became more a railfan since I introduced him to 765 back in 1987. (”765 was a game-changer,” he says.)
He gets my calendar, so he’s used many of my photo-locations, which of course are Faudi.
My brother is not Phil, but we do okay. The line is occasionally quite busy; so we do fine despite not being as hip as Phil about local train operations.
My brother occasionally does quite well — I have used his pictures in my calendar, if his were better than mine.
I also have a nephew named Tom, the only son of my other brother from northern DE, and I’ve used his pictures too. My nephew is very much a railfan, his father isn’t.
Faudi, Tom and I have chased trains.
I have yet to get Faudi and my brother-from-Boston together.
I decided to go alone this time because -a) Phil maximizes train-count, so I miss locations I’d like to get.
If Phil hears a train in his railroad-radio scanner, we drop everything and try to beat that train to a photo-location.
I, on the other hand, am more interested in photos. I’ll miss trains to get what I want.
-b) My brother-from-Boston is still discovering many of my photo locations. We also have found some on-our-own.
He also likes to drive, which means we go where he wants to go, not necessarily where I want to go.
So in order to get two locations at the extreme ends of the Allegheny Crossing area, I decided to go stealth.
My trip was very sudden, mainly so a lady could paint my kitchen without intrusion. Otherwise I might have informed Phil; he probably would have gone where I wanted.
But my trip ended up being more than stealth. Life at home is a disaster since my wife died. It seems like life is no fun any more.
But I seemed to be having fun down in Altoona; and no one was around to distract from my sorrow.
I was leery of going alone. I’ve been down there alone before, and it was extremely lonely right after my wife died.
But back then I had Phil or my brother-from-Boston to distract me.
Not this time! I’d really be alone.
I suppose things aren’t as bad as right after my wife died. I found myself easily distracted by the trains.
Train-waits were longer than with Phil.
It was coldish, and often I was waiting 45 minutes or more. With Phil I might wait 5-10 minutes.
I started by driving clear up to Plummers Crossing, just east of Tyrone (“Tie-ROWN;” as in “own”), perhaps 15 miles north of Altoona.
Tyrone is where the railroad turns east toward Harrisburg.
Altoona-to-Tyrone is railroad-east, but mainly northeast.
I wanted westbound, and the westbound trash-train pulled through as I drove in.
I couldn’t get it — I was unable to set up. Westbounds into Plummers are telephoto.
I waited at least an hour before another westbound arrived, the empty coal-train pictured.
Westbound empty coal-cars into Plummers Crossing. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
There it goes; toward Tyrone. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Then I drove into Tyrone.
I’ve never done well at Tyrone. I took some pictures, but they’re not worth flying.
But I think I can make Tyrone work with strong telephoto.
The I-99 expressway leaps over the railroad and the notch it negotiates on a gigantic bridge.
Telephoto the railroad, and I get a dark background; no sky. Normal lenses at Tyrone never work because they always get sky and mountain. I also have to avoid a bridge.
The beautiful old Tyrone station is there, but I never can make it work.
From Tyrone I drove to what I call “Six Targets.” It’s actually at “McFarland’s Curve” north of Tipton. An old Pennsy signal-bridge spans the tracks, and has six target-signals on it. It makes a great photograph; the signal-bridge silhouettes the sky.
My scanner was telling me something was coming; I waited 5-10 minutes. Finally, the train was blowing for the grade-crossing in Tipton; it wouldn’t be long.
Eastbound stacker charges through “Six Targets.” (Photo by BobbaLew.)
From there I drove clear up to Gallitzin (“guh-LIT-zin;” as in “get”) to get something on Track One under the Main St. overpass.
My scanner was silent; another hour in the cold.
Then I heard a train-engineer call out the signal at AR.
“AR” are the old telegraph call-letters of a signal-tower abandoned but not torn down.
AR is on Track One up the western slope of The Hill.
AR is also a signal-bridge.
I ain’t movin’. Something’s coming.
Finally it showed in the distance, slowly hammering up the grade.
I kept hearing “Train-400.”
Finally it filled my viewfinder, and 8102, the Norfolk Southern Pennsy Heritage-Unit, was on the point.
Loaded coal-train hammers up The Hill. 8102 is leading. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
What a pleasant surprise.
8102 is one of 20 new locomotives Norfolk Southern bought delivered in paint-schemes of predecessor railroads.
Pennsy is one of the predecessors, and 8102 is painted as a Pennsy engine.
Time to think like Phil. If it’s a bog-slow coal-extra, I can probably beat it down into Altoona.
I was going to go to a location my brother found in Altoona, where the drag-tracks turn.
But I wasn’t sure it would use the drag-tracks through Altoona, although it probably did.
The railroad separates into express- and drag-tracks through Altoona.
So I went to 24th St. overpass over Slope Interlocking, where trains enter (or leave) Altoona Yard.
I was sure to get it there.
8102 again (at Slope). (Photo by BobbaLew.)
After about 20 minutes, I could hear it blowing for Brickyard-Crossing up the line.
I had beat it, although doing so was easy. The train was bog-slow. Two helper-sets were on the back, that’s four locomotives, to help hold back the train descending The Hill.
But the light wasn’t good. It was still early afternoon, so 8102 was entirely in shadow.
After Slope I drove up to Brickyard-Crossing. It’s the only grade-crossing in Altoona, and it’s actually Porta Road.
But a brickyard was once nearby, so railfans and the railroad call it “Brickyard-Crossing.”
I photographed a train approaching, then started to leave.
As soon as I did, the gates started down again.
Back up on the embankment!
I think this might be the UPS train, crossing Brickyard-Crossing. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Another train passed, then an eastbound being held on Track Two in the distance started.
I thought it might be 16G; I was hearing scanner-chatter about 16G getting a clear signal.
But it wasn’t. The eastbound I was seeing wasn’t 16G. It was an empty slab-train, all empty gondola-cars for carrying steel slabs.
After that I left, and as I did another train came up The Hill.
It sounded like it was the actual 16G; the train-engineer called out the signal past Brickyard as “16G westbound on Track Three,” or so I thought I heard. (Phil tells me 16G is eastbound.)
So I decided to see if I could beat it up to Cresson (“KRESS-in”). Cresson is the location of the bed-and-breakfast where I was staying, and the railroad is right across the street.
When I got there that train was was being held so the UPS train could pass. I also had heard scanner-chatter, the dispatcher wanting to get the UPS train moving.
The UPS train is a priority train; coast-to-coast.
If it’s late, the railroad is penalized.
It was mainly UPS trailers on flatcars.
And I had also heard the dispatcher talk about moving the UPS train.
The engineer also had the pedal-to-the-metal!
I think this is the UPS-train (at Cresson). (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Then I turned west where what appeared to be the grain unit-train was being held on Track One. Norfolk Southern brings a grain unit-train full of corn for processing into ethanol up in Clearfield (PA). The railroad is an old Pennsy coal-branch, operated by R.J. Corman Railroad Group.
Corman has to get that grain unit-train full of corn up to that ethanol-plant on time or it gets penalized.
I don’t know as it was the unit grain train since it usually would be on the Cresson Running-track, not the main.
An auto-rack train was next to it on Track Two. Both were stopped for the UPS train, but after it cleared they both started rolling.
Would this be my double (two trains at once)?
But the auto-rack slowed and disappeared behind the grain train.
But then the grain-train stopped, and the auto-rack train reappeared.
My double. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
One more stop; faraway South Fork to the south (railroad-west).
By now it was 5 o’clock and it would take almost a half-hour to get to South Fork.
South Fork and Plummers are the extreme ends of Allegheny Crossing.
In South Fork the railroad does a big curve toward Johnstown and Pittsburgh. It makes a dramatic shot when late-afternoon back-lit.
But by 5:30 my light was going away. South Fork has to be telephoto, and I was down to 1/200th at f/5. My lens will open to 4.5, but anything less than 1/200th and I get blurring.
I could hear 07T, Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian on my scanner, but that’s westbound, and I wanted eastbound.
I figured I would wait at least until Amtrak passed, but then I heard an approaching eastbound call the signals at SO past South Fork.
Pay-dirt!
It was 6 o’clock, but I had my photograph.
Redemption! —Makes my trip worthwhile. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Both South Fork and Plummers are smashing photographs, the reason I made this trip.
Both will probably end up in next year’s calendar.
So I could return home a happy railfan.
But the sorrow hit as soon as I got home.
I miss my wife!
“Back to reality,” I’d always say when leaving Altoona.
And now reality is worse than it ever was.
• My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17th, 2012. I miss her dearly. —She wasn’t a railfan, but she always came along on my various railfan jaunts because she enjoyed seeing me happy. “Chasing trains beats chasing women,” we always said.
I’m a railfan, and have been since age-2. I’m now 70.
Another lonely trip down the “proposed I-99 corridor.” That corridor is a joke! Hardly anyone uses it. Compared to other limited-access expressways I’ve driven, it’s empty. Millions of dollars were spent cutting away rock-faces, and building bridges, but there’s hardly any traffic. I pretty much have to road to myself. A car or semi might catch up from behind, pass, and then disappear.
Central Pennsylvania is not the Los Angeles basin. Long stretches of expressway cross utter desolation.
I almost wonder why this road was built? Apparently it was a Congressman.
I don’t mind. It cuts a seven-hour trip to five hours.
I don’t drive the Interstate to get across New York. The “proposed I-99 corridor” is in Pennsylvania. I use rural two-lanes to get down to Pennsylvania.
Once in Pennsylvania I can wick up the cruise to 65-70. It’s pretty much the “proposed I-99 corridor” all the way to Altoona.
There is a small portion south of Williamsport that isn’t limited-access. But it’s only about six miles. The rest is all expressway, except where the “proposed I-99 corridor” heads south from Interstate-80.
I also use a rural two-lane to cut a dog-leg; that’s perhaps eight miles.
Altoona is the base of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s assault on Allegheny mountain, what used to be a barrier to trade across Pennsylvania in the early 1800s.
The railroad is no longer “Pennsy,” it’s now Norfolk Southern.
But the railroad is still there, and has a lot of traffic.
I call the area “Allegheny Crossing,” because it’s where the railroad crossed Allegheny mountain.
It’s very much a mountain railroad. Trains often need additional locomotives to get up the mountain. Those helper-locomotives often stay on to help hold back the train descending.
Trains have run away.
I went alone this time.
Usually I chase trains with a friend in the area named Phil Faudi (“FOW-dee;” as in “wow”).
Phil is a railfan extraordinaire, and knows railroad operations in the area extremely well.
He used to give tours to railfans as a business, but gave it up due to liability considerations and a new car.
He used to drive tours in his previous car.
I did my first tour in 2008, and it was railfan overload. I think I saw 20 trains over a single nine-hour day, including two at once.
I have toured with Phil at least 10 more times since. When he gave up his business, he was still interested in leading me around. Some of those 10 times are me driving my car.
I take lots of pictures, and with those pictures I produce a calendar from a photo-site.
I say my calendar is by me and Phil, because the pictures are at Phil’s photo-locations.
Phil is very conscious of photo-quality, so how well I do is as much him as it is me.
I also began inviting my brother Jack from Boston since my wife died.
My brother, who is younger at age-56 — I’m the oldest — became more a railfan since I introduced him to 765 back in 1987. (”765 was a game-changer,” he says.)
He gets my calendar, so he’s used many of my photo-locations, which of course are Faudi.
My brother is not Phil, but we do okay. The line is occasionally quite busy; so we do fine despite not being as hip as Phil about local train operations.
My brother occasionally does quite well — I have used his pictures in my calendar, if his were better than mine.
I also have a nephew named Tom, the only son of my other brother from northern DE, and I’ve used his pictures too. My nephew is very much a railfan, his father isn’t.
Faudi, Tom and I have chased trains.
I have yet to get Faudi and my brother-from-Boston together.
I decided to go alone this time because -a) Phil maximizes train-count, so I miss locations I’d like to get.
If Phil hears a train in his railroad-radio scanner, we drop everything and try to beat that train to a photo-location.
I, on the other hand, am more interested in photos. I’ll miss trains to get what I want.
-b) My brother-from-Boston is still discovering many of my photo locations. We also have found some on-our-own.
He also likes to drive, which means we go where he wants to go, not necessarily where I want to go.
So in order to get two locations at the extreme ends of the Allegheny Crossing area, I decided to go stealth.
My trip was very sudden, mainly so a lady could paint my kitchen without intrusion. Otherwise I might have informed Phil; he probably would have gone where I wanted.
But my trip ended up being more than stealth. Life at home is a disaster since my wife died. It seems like life is no fun any more.
But I seemed to be having fun down in Altoona; and no one was around to distract from my sorrow.
I was leery of going alone. I’ve been down there alone before, and it was extremely lonely right after my wife died.
But back then I had Phil or my brother-from-Boston to distract me.
Not this time! I’d really be alone.
I suppose things aren’t as bad as right after my wife died. I found myself easily distracted by the trains.
Train-waits were longer than with Phil.
It was coldish, and often I was waiting 45 minutes or more. With Phil I might wait 5-10 minutes.
I started by driving clear up to Plummers Crossing, just east of Tyrone (“Tie-ROWN;” as in “own”), perhaps 15 miles north of Altoona.
Tyrone is where the railroad turns east toward Harrisburg.
Altoona-to-Tyrone is railroad-east, but mainly northeast.
I wanted westbound, and the westbound trash-train pulled through as I drove in.
I couldn’t get it — I was unable to set up. Westbounds into Plummers are telephoto.
I waited at least an hour before another westbound arrived, the empty coal-train pictured.
Westbound empty coal-cars into Plummers Crossing. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
There it goes; toward Tyrone. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Then I drove into Tyrone.
I’ve never done well at Tyrone. I took some pictures, but they’re not worth flying.
But I think I can make Tyrone work with strong telephoto.
The I-99 expressway leaps over the railroad and the notch it negotiates on a gigantic bridge.
Telephoto the railroad, and I get a dark background; no sky. Normal lenses at Tyrone never work because they always get sky and mountain. I also have to avoid a bridge.
The beautiful old Tyrone station is there, but I never can make it work.
From Tyrone I drove to what I call “Six Targets.” It’s actually at “McFarland’s Curve” north of Tipton. An old Pennsy signal-bridge spans the tracks, and has six target-signals on it. It makes a great photograph; the signal-bridge silhouettes the sky.
My scanner was telling me something was coming; I waited 5-10 minutes. Finally, the train was blowing for the grade-crossing in Tipton; it wouldn’t be long.
Eastbound stacker charges through “Six Targets.” (Photo by BobbaLew.)
From there I drove clear up to Gallitzin (“guh-LIT-zin;” as in “get”) to get something on Track One under the Main St. overpass.
My scanner was silent; another hour in the cold.
Then I heard a train-engineer call out the signal at AR.
“AR” are the old telegraph call-letters of a signal-tower abandoned but not torn down.
AR is on Track One up the western slope of The Hill.
AR is also a signal-bridge.
I ain’t movin’. Something’s coming.
Finally it showed in the distance, slowly hammering up the grade.
I kept hearing “Train-400.”
Finally it filled my viewfinder, and 8102, the Norfolk Southern Pennsy Heritage-Unit, was on the point.
Loaded coal-train hammers up The Hill. 8102 is leading. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
What a pleasant surprise.
8102 is one of 20 new locomotives Norfolk Southern bought delivered in paint-schemes of predecessor railroads.
Pennsy is one of the predecessors, and 8102 is painted as a Pennsy engine.
Time to think like Phil. If it’s a bog-slow coal-extra, I can probably beat it down into Altoona.
I was going to go to a location my brother found in Altoona, where the drag-tracks turn.
But I wasn’t sure it would use the drag-tracks through Altoona, although it probably did.
The railroad separates into express- and drag-tracks through Altoona.
So I went to 24th St. overpass over Slope Interlocking, where trains enter (or leave) Altoona Yard.
I was sure to get it there.
8102 again (at Slope). (Photo by BobbaLew.)
After about 20 minutes, I could hear it blowing for Brickyard-Crossing up the line.
I had beat it, although doing so was easy. The train was bog-slow. Two helper-sets were on the back, that’s four locomotives, to help hold back the train descending The Hill.
But the light wasn’t good. It was still early afternoon, so 8102 was entirely in shadow.
After Slope I drove up to Brickyard-Crossing. It’s the only grade-crossing in Altoona, and it’s actually Porta Road.
But a brickyard was once nearby, so railfans and the railroad call it “Brickyard-Crossing.”
I photographed a train approaching, then started to leave.
As soon as I did, the gates started down again.
Back up on the embankment!
I think this might be the UPS train, crossing Brickyard-Crossing. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Another train passed, then an eastbound being held on Track Two in the distance started.
I thought it might be 16G; I was hearing scanner-chatter about 16G getting a clear signal.
But it wasn’t. The eastbound I was seeing wasn’t 16G. It was an empty slab-train, all empty gondola-cars for carrying steel slabs.
After that I left, and as I did another train came up The Hill.
It sounded like it was the actual 16G; the train-engineer called out the signal past Brickyard as “16G westbound on Track Three,” or so I thought I heard. (Phil tells me 16G is eastbound.)
So I decided to see if I could beat it up to Cresson (“KRESS-in”). Cresson is the location of the bed-and-breakfast where I was staying, and the railroad is right across the street.
When I got there that train was was being held so the UPS train could pass. I also had heard scanner-chatter, the dispatcher wanting to get the UPS train moving.
The UPS train is a priority train; coast-to-coast.
If it’s late, the railroad is penalized.
It was mainly UPS trailers on flatcars.
And I had also heard the dispatcher talk about moving the UPS train.
The engineer also had the pedal-to-the-metal!
I think this is the UPS-train (at Cresson). (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Then I turned west where what appeared to be the grain unit-train was being held on Track One. Norfolk Southern brings a grain unit-train full of corn for processing into ethanol up in Clearfield (PA). The railroad is an old Pennsy coal-branch, operated by R.J. Corman Railroad Group.
Corman has to get that grain unit-train full of corn up to that ethanol-plant on time or it gets penalized.
I don’t know as it was the unit grain train since it usually would be on the Cresson Running-track, not the main.
An auto-rack train was next to it on Track Two. Both were stopped for the UPS train, but after it cleared they both started rolling.
Would this be my double (two trains at once)?
But the auto-rack slowed and disappeared behind the grain train.
But then the grain-train stopped, and the auto-rack train reappeared.
My double. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
One more stop; faraway South Fork to the south (railroad-west).
By now it was 5 o’clock and it would take almost a half-hour to get to South Fork.
South Fork and Plummers are the extreme ends of Allegheny Crossing.
In South Fork the railroad does a big curve toward Johnstown and Pittsburgh. It makes a dramatic shot when late-afternoon back-lit.
But by 5:30 my light was going away. South Fork has to be telephoto, and I was down to 1/200th at f/5. My lens will open to 4.5, but anything less than 1/200th and I get blurring.
I could hear 07T, Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian on my scanner, but that’s westbound, and I wanted eastbound.
I figured I would wait at least until Amtrak passed, but then I heard an approaching eastbound call the signals at SO past South Fork.
Pay-dirt!
It was 6 o’clock, but I had my photograph.
Redemption! —Makes my trip worthwhile. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Both South Fork and Plummers are smashing photographs, the reason I made this trip.
Both will probably end up in next year’s calendar.
So I could return home a happy railfan.
But the sorrow hit as soon as I got home.
I miss my wife!
“Back to reality,” I’d always say when leaving Altoona.
And now reality is worse than it ever was.
• My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17th, 2012. I miss her dearly. —She wasn’t a railfan, but she always came along on my various railfan jaunts because she enjoyed seeing me happy. “Chasing trains beats chasing women,” we always said.
Labels: trains
posted by BobbaLew at 1:56 PM
1 Comments:
Great Post Bob! and I think your wife would be proud of you that you decided to go stealth. Who knows, maybe she had a little something to do with all the trains being in the right places:)
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