Way to go, Jack!

The vaunted UPS-Train (21E), up Allegheny Mountain on Track Three. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)

—My brother and I are over the eastern tunnel mouths atop Allegheny Mountain, and the train is 21E, the “UPS-train” according to my Altoona railfan friend.
It wasn’t easy getting here. I’d been here before with that Altoona railfan, and my brother and I found what looked like the trail to this location.
It was difficult, and I fell once. I hafta be very conscious of footing, lest some root or something trip me.
I wasn't sure it was 21E, but my brother identifies and records every train he photographs. Plus it has the right number of locomotives: three instead of just two.
21E starts at Rutherford Yard east of Harrisburg, collecting trailers (mainly UPS) for delivery to the West Coast. Norfolk Southern operates it to the Chicago area; after that it’s Burlington-Northern Santa Fe (BNSF).
21E has to run on time, or the railroads to get penalized. Those double stacks had me wondering. Usually 21E is just trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC).
My brother also disputes the importance of 21E; that 21J is comparable. I go with my Altoona railfan friend, who hangs out with Altoona trainmen.
I really don’t care, but “Hup-hup! 21E is climbing the mountain; we could beat it to MO!”
The train is on Track Three, normally westbound up The Hill. Track Two is adjacent, signaled both ways.
Both Two and Three go through Allegheny Tunnel, the original Pennsy tunnel. That tunnel was enlarged by Conrail in 1995, expanded to two tracks instead of just one, which it had been for years. The original tunnel also wouldn’t clear double-stacks.
Pennsy added another tunnel in 1904. But it was abandoned with enlargement of Allegheny.
That’s Track One top-right on a bridge over what once was a track to New Portage railroad, quickly acquired by Pennsy long ago since it gave them another mountaintop tunnel.
Track One was eastbound-only when this picture was taken, but now it’s signaled both ways. New Portage’s tunnel is higher than Pennsy’s, so a ramp was built up to it. It’s 2.28% (originally 2.36). Pennsy’s climb up Allegheny Mountain is 1.75–1.80%. —That ramp is called “The Slide.”
New Portage Railroad was built by the state to get its combination canal/portage railroad system off its original portage railroad, which had to use inclined-planes over the mountain.
New Portage Railroad was quickly abandoned and sold to Pennsy for peanuts.
The canal is gone, but the tunnel still exists. Pennsy had two tracks in it, but now it’s only one. That tunnel was also enlarged.
New Portage Railroad is also gone — partly obliterated by a new highway alignment.
New Portage gave Pennsy a way to get slow ocean-bound coal-drags over the mountain bypassing Altoona.
I probably took the same picture, but my brother’s worked. 21E is nearly atop the grade. It will be once through that tunnel.
12 miles up the Eastern slope of Allegheny Mountain. Heavier trains often require helper locomotives, but 21E gets by without help. It’s a climb of 1,016 feet.
Long ago Allegheny Mountain was the barrier to trade with the Midwest. The railroad was originally the Pennsylvania Railroad, founded in 1846, but Pennsy is now defunct.
Pennsy conquered Allegheny Mountain, and Horseshoe Curve was how they did it. The Curve is part of the grade, and was an immense project for the late 1840s.

• Not too long ago, train engineers reported signal aspects on Norfolk Southern’s railroad-radio. My Altoona railfan friend, and later my brother and I, would monitor that railroad-radio with our scanners. We knew where the signals were, so that’s how my Altoona railfan friend, and later my brother and I, knew were trains were. We’d hear a signal-report, and off we’d go trying to beat the train to a prime photo location. With Positive-Train-Control, and in-the-cab-signaling, we no longer hear signal reports. We have to wait trackside for a train, and fortunately they’re frequent on this line. The train engineer called out the signal-aspect, location, and train number, which is how my Altoona railfan friend knew it was 21E — and also how my brother knew.
• “MO” are the telegraph call-letters of an old signal tower near Cresson (west slope of the mountain). All it is now is an interlocking (crossovers) = a “control-point.” —The signal-tower is gone.
• A 1.8% grade is 1.8 feet up for every 100 feet forward. Not too bad, but challenging. Get over 2.5% and trouble starts. 4% is near impossible. Highways go above 8%; interstates go no steeper then 7%. Get too steep and locomotive driving wheels won’t hold the rail.