“Pennsypacker”

Pennsy “J” #6439 upgrade rounds the mighty Curve. (Photo by Bert Pennypacker©.)

(I wanted to do this last month, but ran outta time.)

—BEHOLD, the greatest train photograph Bert Pennypacker ever took.
The December 2019 entry of my Audio-Visual Designs black-and-white All-Pennsy Calendar is a Pennsy “J” (2-10-4) rounding Horseshoe Curve.
Pennypacker, like my mother, was a motor-drive. He photographed everything he could.
My Al Staufer Pennsy Power books, which I will never part with, have many of Pennypacker’s photographs.
The books detail every Pennsy locomotive. Most of the diesel photographs are Pennypacker. He seemed obsessed with photographing everything, especially from his time after WWII when Pennsy began dieselizing.
Most of his photographs, like my mother, are pedestrian; which leads me to think this photo might be a potshot. That is, the light just happened to be right for this time/location. Perhaps Pennypacker was aware, but so many of his photographs are poorly lit.
My brother and I are overly conscious of lighting, so much we might lose drama.
But Pennypacker was in the right place at the right time.
I was there myself years ago. Getting there now would be challenging. The Curve viewing-area is now completely fenced, and this location, outside the southwest extremity of the Curve itself, can only be accessed by RV-track from a private road.
Pennsy’s “J” is its war-baby. WWII flooded the railroad with traffic, and after investing so much in electrification, Pennsy had tired and antique steam-locomotives.
They needed newer power, but the War Board wouldn’t allow Pennsy to develop new steamers. Diesel production was limited, which is why so many extraordinary steam-locomotives are early ‘40s.
Pennsy had to test two already existing steam-locomotives, Norfolk & Western’s 1200-series “A” (2-6-6-4) articulated, and Chesapeake & Ohio’s T-1 “Texas” 2-10-4.
C&O’s Texas was also Lima SuperPower: a gigantic firebox and boiler, to not run out of steam at speed. Lima’s 2-10-4 is its 2-8-4 “Berkshire” upsized to add a fifth driver-set.
Pennsy, leery of articulation, chose the C&O engine. It’s Pennsy only modern steam-locomotive without its trademark slab-sided Belpaire firebox.
Five driver-sets always bring the problem of balancing heavy side-rod weight. Steel had to be used — aluminum wasn’t strong enough — but those side-rods are long and heavy.
Rotating such weight pounds the rail. At 70 inches the drivers are large enough to permit a lot of counterweight, but counterweights pound the rail too.
The J was a mismatch for Pennsy, powerful but also fast. A lot of Pennsy, especially in PA, was mountainous. That J is a 50-mph locomotive. Locomotives in PA hafta climb heavy grades. That J might be doing 25 mph.
I think the freight speed-limit on the Curve is 30.
Js were used to get trains over Allegheny Mountain in PA, but many gravitated to less mountainous lines west of PA where they could run.

• “Pennsypacker” is not me. That’s the calendar producer. Credit where credit is due.
• “Belpaire” is pronounced “bell-pear.” “Lima” is pronounced as in “lima-bean,” not “lee-muh.” Lima OH not Lima Peru.

Mighty Rockville

Mighty Rockville. (Photo by Dave Augsberger.)

(Another case of not being able to publish last month. Written but no time to key in.)

—The September 2019 entry in my All-Pennsy color calendar is a Pennsy freight coming off the west end of Rockville Bridge over the Susquehanna River.
Leading is an EMD GP-9, trailed by an EMD B-unit version of its F-unit cab-unit freight diesel. (It looks like an F-7.)
The main reason the Pennsylvania Railroad was built was because PA’s Public-Works System was so cumbersome and time-consuming.
Public-Works was an early 19th-century response to the phenomenal success of NY’s Erie Canal, also a state effort.
NY’s Erie Canal was skonking all other east-coast seaports, like Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Baltimore’s response was the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, our nation’s first common-carrier railroad. Opened to get Baltimore to the Ohio River — the midwest.
It could be said the Erie Canal was the main reason New York City became our nation’s premier ocean port. That canal also opened up trade with the midwest.
PA had impediments NY state didn’t have: mainly the Allegheny front, and also the Susquehanna River.
Public Works also wasn’t continuous like the Erie Canal. It took advantage of railroad already built from Philadelphia to the Susquehanna River. Then it canaled west, but had to portage over Allegheny Mountain, which couldn’t be canaled.
Plus the portage railroad over Allegheny Mountain had to use inclined planes. Grading and tunneling at that time were rudimentary.
Freight over Public Works had to be transloaded at least three times.
Small canal packets got loaded onto railroad flatcars for winching up and down the inclined planes.
Capitalists in Philadelphia were so upset with Public Works they founded a private common-carrier railroad = the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The challenge was immense. Philadelphia-to-Pittsburgh faced two natural barriers: Allegheny Mountain and the Susquehanna River. Much of the way could follow the Public Works canal-system, which used various mountain passes.
But Allegheny Mountain had no easy passes. It had been the barrier to east-west trade, which had to be done by packhorse.
John Edgar Thomson was brought back from GA to engineer continuous railroad across PA. (He had done railroads in the Philadelphia area.)
He followed prior experience, locating in valleys where there would be traffic. Then he used helper-locomotives to conquer Allegheny Mountain.
His route is still used. He also took advantage of a valley to loop the railroad, thereby easing the grade over Allegheny Mountain. That’s world-famous Horseshoe Curve.
He then merged railroads from the midwest to feed his railroad at Pittsburgh. Pennsy became immensely successful, becoming a main trading conduit between the east-coast megalopolis and the midwest.
Pennsy no longer exists. Long story: Penn-Central, then Conrail, now Norfolk Southern.
Getting a railroad from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh involved two major obstacles. Most challenging was the Allegheny Front. But there also was the Susquehanna River.
The Susquehanna is wide and shallow. It’s not navigable— which made bridging it fairly easy. A bridge didn’t need to be high enough to clear ships. Approach grading could be minimal.
But the Susquehanna is extremely wide. Rockville is 3,820 feet long, but bridge-piers can be on the river-bottom.
The first bridge was wood, and single-track I think. It quickly became a bottleneck as Pennsy became a trade-conduit.
The second bridge was iron, and double-track. But it too became a bottleneck, as evermore trade flowed over Pennsy.
By the end of the 19th century it became apparent more capacity was needed at that river-crossing.
Behold, Mighty Rockville, wide enough for four tracks (52 feet), and built with stone. 48 continuous 70-foot arches. I’ve seen it myself, and crossed it by train once.
Every time I see it I think “it would take a direct hit from a thermonuclear warhead to take out Mighty Rockville.”
It survived numerous floods and high water. But part of one arch-pillar washed out once,
Rockville opened in 1902, and is still in use. Who knows how many bridges across the Susquehanna came and went during its tenure. An interstate highway bridge is nearby, and in fact they considered building atop Mighty Rockville.
Thankfully they didn’t, but I bet in 100 years Mighty Rockville is still there, but that interstate highway bridge had to be replaced at least once, if not twice.
And Mighty Rockville is no longer four tracks, but it’s still wide enough for four.
And private capital built it, not the gumint (i.e. taxpayers).
Even Mighty Rockville got surpassed, but mainly because yarding in Harrisburg became constrained. Pennsy built up Enola yard across the river from Harrisburg, and it became a destination for freight to and from the midwest.
Freight-lines east of Enola were electrified; so Enola became a locomotive change. (Those railroad-lines are no longer electrified.)

• “Penn-Central” was a merger of Pennsy and arch-rival New York Central Railroad in 1968; although it also included New York, New Haven & Hartford (New Haven), per the gumint. New York Central was the other east-west trading conduit. Penn-Central went bankrupt in 1971.
• “Conrail” was our gumint’s response to the bankruptcy of many northeast railroads, primarily Penn-Central. Conrail was gumint at first, but eventually privatized. It was broken up and sold in 1999 to CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern.
• “Thermonuclear warhead” = H-bomb.

Norfolk Southern Employees’ Photography-Contest calendar

Looks like something my brother and I might do. (Photo by Anthony Randall.)

—BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM! “Rise-and-shine, sunshine!”
It’s my brother-from-Boston, 7:30 a.m. or whatever, pounding my room-door at Wye Motor Lodge south of Altoona (PA).
We are there to chase trains, and he didn’t hafta do that. I been up at least an hour getting dressed, brushing teeth, pills, etc. But I don’t mind. Like me he’s a railfan, and we always have a good time chasing trains.
The February 2018 entry in my Norfolk Southern Employees’ Photography-Contest calendar looks like something my brother and I might take. Except it’s late afternoon, not early morning.
The train is in Missouri headed for interchange in Kansas City. It’s a unit-train of all corn-syrup. Single commodity unit trains can run point-to-point avoiding yarding.
Quite often my brother and I see unit-trains near Altoona. All-coal or all-grain or all crude-oil. Often we see trains of only auto-racks. I suppose they could be called unit-trains too.
But ya gotta have lots of that single commodity to make a unit-train. Five or 10 cars don’t qualify — even 30 or more. One unit coal train may be 130 cars.
Short car consists get yarded to become manifest trains = trains of multiple car-blocks all going to the same destination.
Railroading loves unit-trains. They take out yarding expense, mainly sorting cars. Yarding also takes takes time.
We have to be careful in lighting like this. Shadows might partially obscure locomotive-fronts. This might not be a problem on cloudy days. But if it’s sunny we hafta be east of the tracks — southeast is preferable.
Depends what season it is too. Early morning from northeast becomes possible come summer. Where the light falls determines success of a picture.
“Modeling” plays in too = a train partly in shadow. Often that’s attractive, but an engine-front partly shadowed rarely works.
There are locations that only work a very short time; like into deep rock cuts.
This picture reminds of one I used as the cover for this year’s annual train-calendar. The lighting is similar. My picture was taken in late afternoon; the only time the locomotive-front would be lit.
I discovered this location on-my-own. I’m sure my Altoona railfan friend Phil Faudi, who showed me many of my photo locations, has been there. But he never showed me it.


The cover-shot on my 2018 train calendar. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

“Hey Jack, where we headed?” (I let my brother drive; he’s only 60, but I’m 74.)
“Main Street Bridge in Gallitzin.”
“You are not! Yer headed for Jackson Street Bridge.”
“Negatory Dude. Main Street Bridge next to Tunnel Inn.”
“WRONGO-WRONGO-WRONGO-WRONGO-WRONGO! Tunnel Inn is 702 Jackson Street, manager-boy.”

• Tunnel Inn is a trackside bed-and-breakfast I once used. It’s in Gallitzin atop Allegheny Mountain.

Hippo sighting

Two I1sa’s ready for duty. (Courtesy Joe Suo Collection©.)

—The January 2018 entry of my Audio-Visual Designs black-and-white All-Pennsy Calendar is two I1sa Decapods (2-10-0) in Northumberland, PA.
They are probably preparing to take the famous Mt. Carmel ore-train up to Lehigh Valley Railroad at Mt. Carmel. From there the ore will continue to Bethlehem for its steel mills.
The ore probably came by ship to Pennsy’s Philadelphia docks. It was transloaded for delivery up Pennsy to Northumberland. There it will become the famous Mt. Carmel ore-train.
When first put in service after 1916, the I1s was so big crews called ‘em hippos. They’re not modern, mainly a gigantic 2-8-0 Consolidation with an extra driver-set.
Other railroads had Decapods, but only Western Maryland had Deks as large as the I1s. I1sa is a modification of the original I1s. “S” stands for superheat, although by then most steam-locomotives had superheat. I think all the Pennsy Deks were superheated — the letter “s” later fell out of use.
“A” was a modification of valve-events whereby steam was admitted to 78% of piston-stroke instead of the original 50%. This was probably to better use steam that HUGE boiler could generate — although I’ve heard Deks run out of steam (I have recordings).
The I1sa wasn’t a modern steamer with a high-capacity boiler. Its firebox grate was only about 70 square feet, a standard Pennsy firebox (the K-4s Pacific (4-6-2) is also 70 square feet. The Dek also lacks a combustion-chamber. Modern high-capacity steamers had combustion-chambers and 100 square-foot fire-grates.
Pennsy’s Dek also suffered many of the problems 10-drivered steamers have.
Mainly it’s long heavy drive-rods on small drivers, drivers too small to adequately counterbalance heavy side-rod weight.
The side-rods had to be heavy enough to withstand what a Dek could put out. Making them long enough to power five driver-sets made ‘em heavier yet. A K-4 was only three driver-sets; plus its drivers were much larger, so could accommodate more counterweighting.
A K-4 has 80-inch drivers; a Dek is 62-inches.
Deks rode rough. Minimal counterweighting with heavy side-rods limited a Dek to about 50 mph. And that was if you could stand it. Heavy vibration slammed you up-and-down.
Deks were the first Pennsy engines with stokers. Coal consumption was so extreme even two firemen couldn’t keep up. Deks were also hard to fire.
The Dek’s gigantic boiler/firebox made two other locomotives, the K-5 Pacific, and also the M-1 Mountain (4-8-2).
Only two K-5s were built. That boiler was too much for three driver-sets.
But the M-1 was probably the most successful steamer Pennsy had. The M-1 also had a combustion-chamber.
Pennsy had another 10-drivered steamer, its J-1 2-10-4. The J-1 wasn’t a Pennsy design; the railroad needed new power for WWII, but the War Board wouldn’t allow them to develop their own new freighters. Pennsy had to shop existing power on other railroads.
The J-1 is Chesapeake & Ohio’s T-1 Texas, also a 2-10-4, but slightly restyled. Its boiler/firebox is radial-stay T-1, not Pennsy’s trademark slab-sided Belpaire.
Furthermore the J is modern power. C&O’s T-1 isn’t Lima Locomotive, but it follows’s Lima’s “SuperPower” principles.” Mainly a HUGE boiler/firebox with appliances that enhance steam generation, The T-1s were made by American Locomotive Company.
After the war Pennsy developed even bigger 10-driver power, but they were duplex to reduce side-rod weight — 10 drivers, but four drive-pistons. Two powered six drivers, and the second two powered the four remaining drivers.
The J-1 suffered the same problems as any 10-driver steam-locomotive, mainly a HUGE rod-set to power five wheels per side. But those wheels are larger (69 inches) so could accommodate more counterweighting.


The Mt. Carmel ore-train. (Photo by Don Wood©. —To my mind, this is his best picture.)

An I1 was difficult, yet Pennsy had many, 598 total. They were especially good at mountain railroading. Pennsy’s Mt. Carmel branch is uphill. The extremely heavy Mt. Carmel ore-drag got two Deks pulling, plus two more pushing = four Deks total.
I was told the last steamer used by Pennsy was an I1 dragging coal into Altoona (PA) on November 27, 1957. —But I was also told the last Pennsy steamer was L-1 class 2-8-2 No. 2369 from Renovo on December 2, 1957.
Whatever. Both the I1 and L1 are early 20th century — fitting for Pennsy steam-usage ending with a whimper.
The last steamer on my beloved Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL) was 5351, a K-4 Pacific, on November 2, 1957.
A ex-Pennsy 0-6-0 switcher remained in service on Union Transportation Company in New Jersey until July 17, 1959.
The Deks pictured use the gigantic “Coast-to-coast” tender, probably purloined from a retired Mountain or J. The Deks weren’t first used with a “Coast-to-coast.”