Juniata Shops

JUNIATA SHOPS

Juniata Shops, from the air; Juniata, PA (Altoony at top).

My Locomotive magazine has a giant article on the Juniata Shops.
Juniata Shops were originally built by the Pennsylvania Railroad, inherited by Norfolk Southern Railroad, via Conrail and Penn-Central.
Supposedly when Conrail was broken up — half to Norfolk Southern and half to CSX Transportation — NS was going to close Juniata Shops.
But Pennsylvania’s congressmen intervened. They wouldn’t approve the sale unless NS kept the massive Shops open.
(This comment may not be reliable. It was extracted from a letter to the Altoony Mirror Newspaper.)
If they’re anything like the mighty Mezz (and the 282-News), they publish whatever they get — even if it’s flat wrong. Our thought was if someone went to the trouble to write a letter, it should get published.
It was easy to see if a letter got ghosted by some publicity-hack, e.g. some OxyContin®-King wannabee.
And if the letter was really off-the-wall, it could be responded to — or we could even call for a comment from those taken to task.
The reason I go with the comments is they sound plausible.
Years ago keeping the vast ex-New York Central car-shops in East Rochester open was similarly made a requirement for the Penn-Central merger [or was it Conrail?].
But the car-shops closed anyway, and all that’s left is a huge empty shell containing a few small businesses.
It seems plausible that the huge Juniata Shops faced the same fate.
But on the other hand, we were at the mighty Curve once, and listened as old Pennsy retirees badmouthed the takeover of the Pennsy by Norfolk Southern.
“Them guys down in Virginny have no idea how to run a railroad in winter. They’re from the wrong climate.”
Yada-yada-yada-yada; the same sorta talk that seems to accompany any change in ownership.
(So how do I know? A letter-to-the-editor claiming NS had to keep Juniata Shops open, may just be SOUR GRAPES. [The letter was a response to a glowing Mirror report about how much the Juniata Shops contributed favorably to the local economy].
—There also is the fact the railfan press would never report negatory facts.)

Still dressed in Conrail blue, SW1500 #2216 gets a new main generator in the service-bays of the vast Engine & Machine shop.

Despite all that, Juniata Shops has become a smashing success for Norfolk Southern — so successful 95% of Norfolk Southern’s locomotive overhauls are done in Juniata.
It’s a function of the huge investment Pennsy put into Juniata Shops.
The shop location is near Altoona, PA; base of Pennsy’s assault on the Allegheny Mountains.
Pennsy’s original shops were built in Altoona south of Juniata in 1850; and Juniata Shops was built as a supplement.
Altoona became a vast marshaling area; 89 bazilyun yards, etc., and storage-tracks for helpers to help ascend the mountains.
Shops were built in Altoona to help maintain the railroad where they were needed most; making Altoona a railroad-town.
Thousands of craftsmen were employed in the shops, which even built entire locomotives — many, in fact.
Pennsy even had a testing-shed, and facilities for hot-tanking a locomotive. (Other railroads couldn’t afford that.)
Following is a quote from the article: “Unlike so many heavy shops across the nation, Juniata survived the transition from steam to diesel. The Altoona facility held its status as Pennsy’s main locomotive shop for heavy diesel repairs and overhauls, and endured through the tumultuous Penn-Central years. Conrail turned Juniata’s fortunes around, modernizing the facility; building a new paint-shop in 1982 (on the site of the old Boiler-Shop, which had been destroyed by fire a year earlier). ...Expansion of the Engine & Machine shop put 311,000 square feet under roof (about eight acres) —Total under cover at Juniata is 960,000 square feet, approximately 22 acres.”

NS #5668 gets decals and lettering in a paint-shop booth, rebuilt from a tired Norfolk & Western GP38AC into a GP38-2.

The head of Juniata Shops is now apparently somebody from Virginny.
I can just imagine the flap that caused; accusations of favoritism and rewarding the Roanoke Mafia (the guy is ex of Norfolk & Western’s Shaffer's Crossing shops in Roanoke).
I have a video-tape produced about 10 years ago about Horseshoe Curve, and it has a short segment about Juniata Shops.
Juniata Shops was of course Conrail at that time, as was Horseshoe Curve.
They interviewed the head of Juniata Shops, and he was clearly someone from the area — heavy on the Delaware-Valley accent.
(Here I am in the Altoony Friendly’s, and a waitress says “I’ll be your server today.”
“Oh, say that again,” I said. “I haven’t heard anyone talk like that in years.”
I got nailed at the Canandaigua YMCA once.
“From Philadelphia?” a lady asked.
“I thought my accent had just about disappeared,” I said. “That area is 50 years ago.”
“But I hear it,” she said. “You still have it, a little.”
So Norfolk Southern takes over and replaces the local honcho with one of their own.
Typical management.
Running the vast Juniata Shops may have been better suited to a Juniata Shops graduate than an outside replacement.
(“But we have to shake up the status quo.”)
But at least they kept the place open — and now are probably congratulating themselves that they did.
Juniata Shops built its last locomotive in 1946, the ill-fated T1 4-4-4-4 steamers.
But they went back to building new locos in 1994 and 1995.
EMD had closed its La Grange, Ill. plant and didn’t have the capacity to assemble a large order of SD60s for Conrail.
So EMD sent kits to Juniata, and the locos were assembled there.
Juniata Shops has gone beyond that; assembling locos for both EMD and General Electric.
The Shops have even been marketing their services to other railroads. BNSF and Alaska Railroad got locomotives assembled at Juniata Shops.
Line-boring a giant V16 EMD railroad diesel-engine isn’t something everyone has equipment for.
And at Juniata the line-boring machines are laser-guided — state-of-the-art.
Linda and I visited Juniata Shops about eight years ago; in conjunction with Altoona’s “RailFest;” which also included a trip around the mighty Curve.
The rail-trip was a bomb, because it was deepest, darkest October and raining; so bad the coach-windows fogged.
Holding “RailFest” in July (last July) was probably the smartest move the museum-guys ever made. Our trip around the mighty Curve was in bright sunshine.
Everyone should visit Juniata Shops.
By then (back then) the Shops were Norfolk Southern, but just.
We parked in a small parking-lot across from the shops (you can see it in the picture), and strode into the facility.
It was the weekend, but the vast cathedral was still filled with the sounds of air-hammers, air-wrenches, and steel hammering on steel.
Most impressive to me was the huge parts warehouse. Row-upon-row of EMD parts.
A giant V16 diesel prime-mover drifted by hooked to an overhead crane.
Off to one side was a gigantic hall full of railroad-trucks, traction-motors, and giant gears.
A partially assembled two-axle Blomberg-truck was sitting over a pit. Workmen were fixing to remove the wheels. The flanges were worn; so worn they probably couldn’t be lathed — they probably would need to be replaced.
Hard-hatted workmen led us around behind crime-scene tape, and explained things.
Perish-the-thought; I asked questions. I couldn’t help it; must be my liberial-arts education.
(I’m in Steamtown’s locomotive rebuilding shops in Scranton. We are being shown Boston & Maine #3713, a Lima Pacific steam-engine (4-6-2) disassembled and being worked on. They were doing thickness-testing on the boiler-shell.
“Looka-that,” I pointed. “A Giesl Ejector; this is one of the few American steam-locomotives to have one.”[Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.....].)

“Altoony” is Altoona, PA.

The Pennsylvania Railroad is no longer in existence. It merged with New York Central Railroad in 1968 as Penn-Central, and that went bankrupt in about two years. “Pennsy” was once the largest railroad in the world.

The “mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired almost two years ago. Best job I ever had. The “282-News” is a monthly volunteer newsletter I did for my bus-union at Regional Transit Service in Rochester, N.Y., the place I drove transit-bus at for 16&1/2 years; May, 1977-October, 1993. Local 282 of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

“OxyContin®-King” is Rush Limbaugh.

“Roanoke” is in Virginia. It was the headquarters (and shop-location) of Norfolk & Western Railroad. N&W even built locomotives. It was immensely successful because it was moving coal east from mines in Appalachia. It later merged with Southern Railroad, becoming Norfolk Southern.

Horseshoe Curve, (“the mighty Curve”) west of Altoona, Pennsylvania, is by far the BEST railfan spot I have ever been to. Horseshoe Curve is a national historic site. It was a trick used by the Pennsylvania Railroad to get over the Allegheny mountains without steep grades. Horseshoe Curve was opened in 1854, and is still in use.

“The Delaware-Valley accent” goes all the way across southern Pennsylvania from from Pittsburgh clear to south Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a very distinct way of speaking — far different than northern Pennsylvania and north Jersey (New York City). “Delaware Valley” because it seemed to originate in the Delaware River valley; it’s strongest there.

“EMD” is Electromotive Division of General Motors, GM’s manufacturer of railroad diesel-locomotives. Most railroads used EMD when they dieselized; although many now use General-Electric railroad diesel-locomotives.

“BNSF” is Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.

“Linda” is my wife of nearly 40 years.

RE: “The museum-guys.......” equals Altoona Railroaders’ Memorial Museum in Altoony.

“Diesel prime-mover” is the huge diesel-engine in a diesel railroad locomotive.

“Blomberg-truck” is the four-wheeled assembly underneath locomotives. EMD has used the “Blomberg-truck” for years — it a timeless and excellent design. But no one makes four-axle power any more — everything is six-axle. The Blomberg-trucks also contain two electric traction-motors per truck — one for each axle. They get power from a generator powered by the diesel-engine. (Three-axle trucks nowadays have three traction-motors — but years ago it was just two. The center axle was unpowered.)

“Liberial” is how my loudmouthed macho brother-from-Boston noisily insists “liberal” is spelled.