Another Altoony train-chase

Every once in a while The Keed snags a really good one. — Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian on Track Two passes Norfolk Southern’s 11V on One. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

“Maybe you should just slap me upside the head, and I might get this right,” said my brother.
We were at Allegheny Crossing near Altoona, PA, where the Pennsylvania Railroad took on Allegheny Mountain in the 1840s.
The railroad is still used, but it’s no longer Pennsy. It’s now Norfolk Southern after collapse, bankruptcy, gumint intervention, and finally sellout.
We were listening to our railroad-radio scanner. “21J, 252, Track Three, CLEAR!”
“21J is climbing,” my brother said.
“It is not!” I exclaimed.
“Track Three is down The Hill on this side.”
“Correct. Maybe you should just slap me upside the head,” etc.
In the early 1800s Allegheny Mountain was a barrier to trade between Philadelphia and the midwest.
It had to be crossed by packhorse.
The mountain didn’t extend into NY, so that state was first to open trade with the midwest with its Erie Canal.
Philadelphia capitalists, worried about the success of the Erie Canal, got PA to build competition; but it was combination canal and railroad.
Philadelphia to the Susquehanna River was railroad already in place, canal was built to Hollidaysburg, also from Johnstown to Pittsburgh.
Allegheny Mountain couldn’t be canaled. There were no river notches or low spots.
It couldn’t even be railroaded with 1830s grading.
The state built a portage railroad with inclined planes over the mountain. There were 10 planes about eight percent. That’s eight feet up for every 100 feet forward.
No way could an adhesion railroad climb eight percent. Stationary steam-engines winched the cars up the planes.
The state’s system was so cumbersome and slow, Philadelphia capitalists decided to build a private common-carrier railroad like Baltimore & Ohio.
They engaged John Edgar Thomson to lay out a route, including over Allegheny Mountain.
Thomson’s route over the mountain was sudden, but not impossible. A complete train could conquer the mountain with helper locomotives.
Pennsy became a cash-cow. It merged midwest railroads to feed its main stem in Pittsburgh.
Pennsy succeeded despite Allegheny Mountain. Its competition was New York Central Railroad across NY state. Pennsy and Central dominated railroad trade with the midwest and west.
My brother drove to Allegheny Crossing Wednesday, July 26th. I would drive there Thursday, July 27th.
That meant he could chase and photograph trains alone half the 26th after he arrived, then half the 27th until I arrived.
His first destination was Gray Interlocking, a few miles railroad-west of Tyrone (“tie-RONE;” as in “own”) toward Altoona.
An interlocking is often crossovers between tracks, or where tracks switch off the main, or where another railroad crosses at grade.
Gray is where the two-track railroad becomes three tracks toward the mountain = two plus a long signal-controlled siding. He shot other locations including Tyrone, which is where the railroad turns toward Harrisburg.
The next day he went to a road along the tracks about half-mile railroad-west of Tyrone.


Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian approaches Tyrone. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)


22W approaches Tyrone. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)


65R negotiates McFarlands Curve. (65R is a unit crude-oil extra; here it’s empty, returning for more crude.) (Photo by Jack Hughes.)

“I gotta go directly to Fostoria,” I said, Bluetoothing via my car.
He’d been there already, but “I gotta shoot Fostoria.”
“You got all day tomorrow,” he said.
“It may rain, and right now the sun is out.”
My brother is management; he’s used to getting his way.
“Tell ya what,” I said. “You go where you want, and I’ll go shoot Fostoria myself.”
He was in Tyrone, so we met there.
After that Fostoria together. I wasn’t buckling. I drove transit bus once.
But my attempt at Fostoria, wide-angle this time, bombed.


Train 60N, steel slabs being shipped to a rolling-mill, passes under the signals in Fostoria. —The right-most track is the signaled siding. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

Not bad, but it needs morning sunlight. I’ll try again in a couple weeks.
We hit other locations on our way to supper, particularly the crew-change point in Rose.


20Q rolls into Rose for a crew-change. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)


20R, a stacker, heads toward the PA Route 53 overpass. At this point there are FIVE tracks: right to left they are Four, the train is on Three, Two, One, and a storage siding. The original PRR alignment is Four and Three. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

Our chase began, all-day Friday, July 28th.

Adventures in Barree
Our first destination was Barree, about 12 miles railroad-east of Tyrone.
Calling Barree part of Allegheny Crossing is a stretch. But it’s a beautiful location, very rural.
The tiny town of Barree is at the west end of what railroaders call the Barree Straightline.
After Barree the railroad curves toward Spruce Creek tunnels — now only one, the second was abandoned.
That remaining tunnel had to be enlarged to clear doublestacks.
We set up at a grade-crossing into Barree, aimed west into the curve. Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian would be coming.
An eastbound local, C42, roared through on Track Two. The eastbound Pennsylvanian would also be on Two, so it could serve Tyrone station without passengers crossing tracks. Two is normally westbound, but signaled both ways.
Track One was closed so Foreman Pearson could drive his shiny new Chevy pickup road-railer to Barree. It was awash with 89 bazilyun flashing yellow mini-strobes.
After getting his pickup off the track, and clearing his track-authority by radio, he came over to check us out.
I’ve successfully parried such encounters myself, but deferred to my brother — he does better.
“Whacha doin’?” Foreman Pearson asked.
“Livin’ the dream!” my brother smiled.
“We’re waitin’ for 04T,” I added. 04T is Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian; it was on our scanner.
“C42 just came through,” Pearson said.
“We just shot that,” I said.
“Obviously these guys ain’t stupid,” Pearson was probably thinking.
“Be sure to move if one our track-worker trucks appears,” Pearson said.
“A big maintenance truck came through earlier,” I said. “We were set to move, but he drove around us.”
Pearson returned to his pickup, apparently satisfied we weren’t terrorists or a threat to railway safety.
11B westbound boomed toward our grade-crossing on Track One doing the long straight.


11B splits Barree. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)

My brother crossed the tracks to get it, but I was still set up on my tripod awaiting 04T.
Finally it came, my lede photo. But my brother couldn’t get it, blocked from crossing by 11V.
I had a hunch; two trains at once — a double — 04T on Two with 11V behind.
From Barree we probably went back to Tyrone, but got nothing worth flying.
Almost immediately we went to Lower Riggles Gap Road overpass railroad-west of Tyrone.

Adventures at Lower Riggles Gap Road overpass
I usually avoid this location because it crosses a long tangent — straight both sides. I prefer curvature, although railroad-east the line curves into the straight far away.
That accentuates the length of a train. Locomotives in-yer-face, then perhaps 100 cars back the long train is curving onto the straight.
Add to that train-frequency. Wait 10 minutes, then here comes another.
We hung around the overpass about an hour, and saw at least six or seven trains. Photographed every one, but I won’t bore you with everything.


Extra 67R (empty unit crude-oil tankcars) approaches Lower Riggles Gap Road overpass. —That lead car is an idler to protect the crew in case of a pile-up. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)


38Q on the controlled siding passes 67R stopped on One. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

After that we headed toward Altoona, but via the bridge over the Rose crew-change location.
“26T is stopping for a crew-change,” my brother said. “And C42 is coming back. Do we stop?” —We stopped.
The crew-change repeats the earlier picture, but below is C42.


Local C42 returns to the yard. The stacker departing on the express-tracks is 26T. In the middle, helper-sets await duty. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

Adventures in Lilly
“Okay, but it’s a long straight westbound toward the overpass,” I said; “and curved eastbound. Nice, but I’ve shot it before.”
“You and yer silly rules,” my brother cracked. “Can’t repeat anything!” At the beginning of the straight, far away, the tracks curve into town. I thought I could telephoto out to that curve.
At least three westbounds passed, including the hotshot UPS-train.
“It sure looks like the UPS-train,” I observed. “Three units pulling — only the UPS-train gets three units.


21J — perhaps the UPS-train — approaches the overpass in Lilly. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

I get various inputs regarding the UPS-train. What’s pictured is actually 21J. My railfan friend in Altoona, Phil Faudi, who years ago showed me many of my photo locations, claims 21E is the UPS-train.
My brother claims both 21E and 21J can be UPS. Both had three locomotives.
21J is the better shot, so that’s what I’m running. It may or may not be the vaunted UPS-train.
The UPS-train is cross-country, very high priority. NS turns it over to Burlington Northern Santa-Fe near Chicago.


Eastbound 20Q approaches the overpass in Lilly. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

After Lilly we charged to the other side of The Hill to The Slide, where Track One descends from New Portage tunnel to the original Pennsy alignment.
The Slide is steeper than Pennsy’s original alignment: 2.28% versus 1.8% on average. New Portage Tunnel is higher than Pennsy’s original tunnel. The tunnel became part of Pennsy, who had to ramp up to it.
We stopped at a signal across the tracks from Bennington Cemetery Road, which is trackside.


20Q again after descending The Slide toward Altoona. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)

Then headlong to Gallitzin (“guh-LIT-zin;” as in “get”) where Tracks Two and Three duck under Jackson St. Bridge.
Nothing worth flying. I never can get Jackson St. Bridge to work.
A street is right next to the tracks, and it ruins pictures. I (we) need to cross the tracks, if possible. (I don’t like directly crossing railroad-tracks. But there’s a grade-crossing in Gallitzin.)
Next was Cresson (“KRESS-in”) toward MO interlocking. ”MO” are old telegraph call-letters for a signal-tower once there.
The railroad is a long straight through Cresson, and the grade visibly increases (slightly). But I thought I could do okay with strong telephoto.


A slam-dunk! Why did I not see this earlier? —20T approaches MO interlocking. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

It was beginning to rain. Rain was predicted, but held off all day.
Back down to Altoona. We went to Altoona’s Amtrak station. It was late enough in the afternoon for Amtrak’s westbound Pennsylvanian.
I snagged another picture across from the station; a pedestrian overpass to Altoona’s Railroaders Memorial Museum is visible over the railroad.


39Q passes the Amtrak station. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

It began to rain harder. We went up on the pedestrian-bridge to escape the rain. The westbound Pennsylvanian arrived.


Amtrak’s westbound Pennsylvanian is stopped at Altoona’s station. 39Q (earlier photo) cools its heels until the westbound Pennsylvanian clears. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

We then set up under Seventh St. Bridge. Let it pour! —Under the bridge was dry.
A helper-set of two SD40Es came under the overpass, right next to us. Only one of the two locomotives was running.
The set pulled ahead so a guy on the non-running locomotive could come out on the gangway without getting drenched.
He opened a hood-door, opened two valves, then returned to the cab. Suddenly the locomotive came to life, started by an air-starter.


SHADDUP-AND-SHOOT! (Photo by BobbaLew.)

“Shaddup-and-shoot!” I screamed. “It’s right next to us!”
I quickly mounted my wide-angle on my camera and shot. Light was low, but I had my ISO at 1250; usually I shoot at 400, 800 if cloudy.
The helper-set disappeared and coupled to a westbound up the mountain.

Saturday, July 29th.

Back to reality.
I stopped at a Sunoco in Gang Mills to gas up.
“Clerk inside has receipt,” the pump said.
“Clerk has receipt,” I said to the clerk.
“Excuse me?”
“Clerk has receipt,” I repeated.
“Before I leave I should use the bathroom.”
“Excuse me?”
Repeat request; slightly angrier this time.
“Hire the handicapped,” my widower friend would say.