My calendar for September 2018

61N, a “slabber” at Cassandra Railroad Overlook, returns empty for more steel slabs. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)

Sorry readers. I can’t put the calendar-picture on here due to insanity from PhotoBucket, my usual image-source. I’m trying to set up my own domain to escape PhotoBucket.

—“How come you always prefer yer photos over mine?” my brother asked.
“WHOA, dude!” I said. “That’s not how it works; if you got the better picture, I use yours. If I got the better picture, I use mine.
And the chooser is ME. If you don’t like what I chose, you do the calendar.”
It just so happens 10 of the photos in this year’s calendar are mine, but only three are my brother. The cover is also mine, but I’ve used his.
The September picture is my brother. It’s train 61N, an eastbound empty “slabber,” on Track One at Cassandra Railroad Overlook. “Slabbers” transfer heavy steel slabs to a distant rolling-mill. There the slabs get rolled into steel sheet, usually for auto-body parts or appliances.
The train is all open gondola cars loaded westbound with two thick steel slabs per car. 61N is returning empty for another load. Loaded a slabber can be heavy enough to need helpers over Allegheny Mountain.
Slabbers run extra, and don’t work at track-level. A train of all gondolas is not as photogenic as regular boxcars or a stacker. If I’m at track-level and hear an approaching slabber on my scanner: “Aw Man!”
I’ve noticed a slabber becomes photogenic if I’m above the train. I did one in Altoona from a pedestrian overpass, but my brother’s pic is fabulous. Cassandra Railroad Overlook is an old bridge over the old Pennsy main near Cassandra.
A Union Pacific locomotive is in the lashup. It could be run-through, but my guess is it’s a Union Pacific cast-off purchased and overhauled by Norfolk Southern, then returned to service before repaint.
North of Altoona are Pennsy’s old Juniata Shops, a gigantic facility to repair locomotives. It used to be steamers, but now it’s diesel. It also used to construct locomotives.
My guess is Juniata Shops are partly why Norfolk Southern wanted to buy the old Pennsy segment of Conrail. I went through Juniata Shops back in 1999 when Norfolk Southern took over. Most memorable was a gigantic EMD V16 hanging from an overhead crane.
Hundreds of Union Pacific castoffs await rebuilding in Juniata Shops. I think Union Pacific 5204 is an SD70M (not positive), not young, but not old.
I also doubt Union Pacific has a Juniata Shops. So auction the marginals, then let Juniata Shops rebuild ‘em. Railroads even subcontract to Juniata Shops. Juniata has even built new engines for manufacturers.