Oscar

63Z eastbound through Lilly PA. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

—63Z is the empty trash train returning to the east-coast megalopolis for another load.
Norfolk Southern crewmen call it “Oscar,” after Sesame Street’s “Oscar,” who lives in a trashcan.
The train is going through Lilly (PA) on Norfolk Southern’s Pittsburgh line to Harrisburg. It’s climbing the west-slope of Allegheny Mountain, a fairly easy climb.
The railroad was originally the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The trash-train stinks = rotting garbage.
Often the railroad will add helper-engines to eastbounds to maximize train-weight. They get added to the front and/or rear of the train. (Helper-engines also get added to westbounds.)
Helper-locomotives have to be disconnected, which can be done on-the-fly with “Helper-Link.”
Adding helpers also takes time. The train has to be stopped to add the helpers.
Even though helpers were needed to get over Allegheny Mountain, the Pennsylvania Railroad became extremely successful. Many midwestern railroads were merged into Pennsy to feed the railroad in Pittsburgh.

“How about that overpass in Lilly?” my brother asked.
“Not very photogenic,” I said, having tried it years ago with my Altoona railfan friend Phil Faudi.
My opinion counts for nothing with my brother driving. We go where he wants to go, and I tag along.
“Five-tracks again? Brickyard again? Post-office bridge again? Can I ever get you to try any of my locations?”
“Where to, Robert-John? How about Jackson Street bridge next to Tunnel Inn?”
“The tunnels never work.”
So, under the overpass in Lilly.
I don’t want that bridge in my photo, so out with my cannon (telephoto) and tripod.
63Z looks like it will hit me, but it’s about 200 yards away. (Friends worry I’m too close to the railroad.)
Just shaddup-and-shoot. You never know if it will look good, and this looks pretty good.

• Years ago the first person I chased trains with was my Altoona railfan friend Phil Faudi. (We more or less lost contact.)
• The Pennsylvania Railroad had tunnels atop Allegheny Mountain.
• “Robert-John” is of course me, Bob Hughes (Robert John Hughes).
• My telephoto-lens looks like a log; I call it “the cannon.”