Priorities man!

Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian blasts toward Plummers Crossing after leaving Tyrone. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

—“04T, east on Two, 244.5; CLEAR!”
“Holy mackerel!” I said to myself.
“He’s not in Altoony yet. He still has to stop there and then Tyrone. I might be able to beat him someplace.”
04T is Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian.
It was about 9:20 AM. I had gone to Altoona myself, hoping to get snow pictures. January, February, and December in my train-calendar should be snow.
I already bought breakfast at a nearby Mickey-D’s, and I returned to my motel room to eat it. 04T makes its Altoona Station-stop at 9:49 AM.
Back then train-engineers were still calling out signal-aspects on railroad-radio, and I was monitoring with my scanner.
244.5 is up Allegheny Mountain, so 04T was coming down.
A signal is at 244.5, 244.5 miles west of Philadelphia. (It may be something other than 244.5.)
WHAM-SLAM! I wolf my McMuffin, then everything in the car! Camera, tripod, lenses in bag. I might be able to beat that sucker!
He’s still gotta stop at Altoona station, then again up at Tyrone.
Hammer down, pedal-to-the-metal! My motor-lodge is in Hollidaysburg, south of Altoona.
Up Plank Road, then on the I-99 expressway, scanner at my side.
By the time I got on I-99, he was making his Altoona station-stop. So I charged north on I-99 past Altoona.
70-75 MPH on I-99, no traffic. Tyrone is about 15 miles north (railroad-east) of Altoony.
Maybe I’ll go to Plummers, which is just east of Tyrone.
“04T, east on Two, 227; CLEAR!”
“I’m even with him!” I shout. “That’s Fostoria.”
Fostoria is outta sight to the west, but I-99 parallels the railroad.
He’s probably doing track-speed; 65-70 MPH.
“04T, east on Two, 225; CLEAR!”
“I’m still even with him!” “That’s McFarlands.”
I charge off I-99 at the Tyrone exit, then east on 453 toward Plummers.
“04T, east on Two, pulling into Tyrone for his station-stop.”
“Toot!” His single horn-toot that he stopped.
His Tyrone station-stop is 2-3 minutes, so I parked my car and jumped around back.
“Toot-toot!” “04T, east on Two, leaving Tyrone.”
Camera on, and I lean against the back of my car.
I hear him throttling up, then suddenly there he is!
Ker-chunk!
I got that sucker!
This is what it’s all about, readers. A wild-ass chase to snag train photos.
It was 5° out: bitter cold. But no time for gloves or hat.