Frenzied pursuit of fall-foliage

23Z approaches old "Slope" interlocking

25V almost to the top

21V just past "Benny"

04T, Amtrak's eastbound "Pennsylvanian," descends the Mighty Curve

61I ascends the Curve

Two eastbounds down the east leg of the Curve — 20Q passing 590

25Z assaults The Hill

21V passes Brickyard

39Q, a non-helping SD40E leading, exits Altoona's yard

Manifest 17G exits the yard

65Z, westbound ethanol, threads the notch toward Plummers Crossing

07T, Amtrak's westbound "Pennsylvanian," pulls into Tyrone's tiny station

—My brother was unable to join me chasing trains in Altoona all year.
I do an annual calendar of our train pictures. I give ‘em as Christmas presents.
I needed an October fall-foliage picture; I had everything else. I already was to Altoona three times alone. My brother and I have a good time: snide remarks, putdowns, wisecracks.
We take along our railroad-radio scanners. Every time a train passes a signal, its engineer calls out the signal aspect on railroad-radio — and we hear that.
“20Q, east on Two, 242; CLEAR!” “20Q” is the train-number, “Two” is Track Two, “242” is the milepost signal location, 242 miles from Philadelphia, and “CLEAR!” is the signal aspect, often a green light. The track-block ahead is unoccupied.
We know where 242 is. If we are east of 242, we’ll see the train. Better yet, can we drive to a location farther east to set up and photograph the train?
That’s “chasing trains.”
I was monitoring fall-foliage on two trackside webcams, one at Cresson, and best at Horseshoe Curve.
Weeks ago I scheduled October 24-26, but it still looked pretty green. I rescheduled my motel to November 1-3. My brother could now join me: hooray!
His knowledge of train-operations in Altoona has leaped ahead of me. I also let him drive; he’s only 61, I’m 74. I let him take over, although that might screen out locations I need.
I can do them myself, and he’s become tolerant. We work together; over 200 photographs by me, and slightly more by my brother. He’s prone to shoot stuff I can’t use — too early, for example. My camera has motor-drive (his doesn’t), so I might get one usable out of 15 frames.
I’m sorry I hafta stack the pictures atop this blog. It’s the regime I use since PhotoBucket wanted to rip me off. And since I haven’t been able to set up my own domain yet.
I use BlogSpot’s picture-app. It doesn’t let me insert pictures throughout a blog.
“You mean to tell me as loaded as you are you can’t let PhotoBucket rip you off?” my brother asked.
“Maybe that’s why I’m loaded,” I said.
Fall-foliage was done, except for a few locations. We drove all over late Thursday afternoon searching for color.
The west side of Allegheny Mountain was gone, as were many eastside locations. Only a couple locations still had color, like Horseshoe Curve itself. Horseshoe Curve is the main eastside attraction. It’s uphill from Altoona, and higher eastside elevations often still had color.
The webcams were telling me I might hafta delay another week, which would cut off my brother. Plus that weekend was a Penn State football game. The motel might already be booked solid.
But I wouldn’t hafta do that. One more week and everything would be gone.
Fall-foliage is fleeting. It might be excellent a day or two. To properly shoot it I hafta live in Altoona. It’s five hours away for me, nine for my brother.
“How about farther south?” the motel receptionist asked. (She knows us.)
“We’re here to photograph trains!” I asserted. “Fall-foliage is secondary.”
I have my October calendar-picture; the first one.