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| From the park, I got a picture of The Tunnel Inn, showing the nice deck that is located on the rear of the building. |
A westbound intermodal with the lead unit still in primer paint comes out of Allegheny tunnel on track 3. |
Viewed from the observation deck at The Tunnel Inn, an eastbound intermodal comes under the Jackson Street bridge on track 2 as it heads into Allegheny Tunnel. |
Arriving at the Curve, I could see from the parking lot that the trees and brush on the north side had been cleared to give a more open view of the tracks. Here, an eastbound intermodal is heading around the Curve on track 2. |
The funicular was being inspected, and while climbing the steps, a westbound intermodal came uphill on track 3. |
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| A couple views of the valley inside the Curve. |
As an eastbound freight comes downhill on track 2, it meets a westbound intermodal on track 3 in the middle of the Curve. |
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| A westbound freight comes around the Curve on track 3. |
An eastbound train of autoracks comes downhill on track 1. As it was passing, I could make out an eastbound intermodal pacing it on track 2. I then saw exhaust as a westbound empty hopper train came around on track 3, making a 3-train meet! The autorack train cleared in time to catch the headend of the hopper train. |
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| A westbound freight comes uphill around the Curve on track 3. |
From Tunnel Hill, an eastbound freight exits New Portage Tunnel on track 1 on the "Slide" and is followed by another eastbound freight exiting Allegheny Tunnel on track 2. Just above the tree on the right side of the pictures, you can see the trains as they head towards the Curve and Altoona in the distance. |
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| Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch any trains on track 1 coming past AR Tower. The South Main Street bridge was being replaced, and with no really good place to park, I didn't hang around there for too long. This is looking west through the construction at AR Tower. |
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| On the morning of the second day of my trip, I headed down to Altoona to do some railfanning at the Amtrak station. Here, a westbound freight leaves the Altoona yards and under the pedestrian bridge with a pair of helpers on the rear of the train. |
A westbound freight leaves the yards to head down the Hollidaysburg branch. |
As the freight leaving the yard approached, an eastbound train of autoracks rolled into town. |
A westbound empty hopper train rolls through Altoona and approaches the station. |
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| A freight pulls out to prepare to depart Altoona and stopped to wait to head west. |
Amtrak's eastbound Pennsylvanian rolls into the station at Altoona. The locomotive stopped under the bridge. I made the mistake of looking over the railing and directly into the exhaust stack. |
As the Pennsylvanian was stopped at the station, and eastbound freight came into town and headed into the yards. |
As the eastbound freight rolled past the stopped westbound, the Pennsylvanian departed for the rest of its trip to New York City. |
As the rear of the eastbound freight passed, a westbound intermodal came by on the mainline. |
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| Two helpers drift eastbound into town as the intermodal continues to pass. |
Two helpers bring up the rear of the westbound intermodal. |
Pennsylvania dining car |
Boxcar painted for the Curve's 150th anniversary |
Pennsylvania sleeping car |
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| Pennsylvania observation car |
My favorite of the displays was the Pennsy GG1 #4913. This was the first time I'd seen a GG1 since they didn't have it at the museum during my 2003 trip. It was quite impressive to see one up close. |
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| I then headed east to the bridge on North 8th Street and got to see the east end of the Altoona yards. The first two pictures are looking west from the bridge looking at the mainline and main yard and then the storage yard where a lot of old cars were stored. The third picture is lookin east from the bridge with the mainline on the left. The last two are looking west towards the locomotive shops, which was quite impressive to drive past on the way to and from the bridge. |
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| After lunch, I headed to the 17th Street bridge in time to catch the eastbound Three Rivers while it was stopped at the station as a pair of helpers head eastbound into Altoona. It was really sad to see that this was the train that Amtrak replaced the Broadway Limited with. |
I then took a couple photos of Alto, including a view of the tower from across 10th Street. |
Another pair of helpers comes eastbound past Alto and into Altoona. |
The westbound Pennsylvanian departs Altoona and heads past Alto. |
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| I then went to find Slope interlocking just west of Alto. I parked in a lot at 25th Street and 11th Avenue and got this nice view of the city of Altoona. |
Looking east from the 24 1/2 Street bridge at Slope interlocking. Years ago, there used to be another tower located here. |
Looking west from the bridge. You can see the grade steepen as the tracks head west. The "brickyard" is just around the curve to the left. |
Another view of Slope, looking eastward towards Altoona. The silver shed is the equipment controling the switches and signals and what replaced the tower that used to be here. |
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| I then went to the "brickyard" and the Porter Road crossing where I caught a westbound intermodal heading uphill on track 3. |
Looking east from the crossing on what used to be track 2. |
Looking west from the crossing. |
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| Several pictures taken on the drive from Altoona up to the Curve. |
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| A couple more pictures taken on the drive from Altoona up to the Curve. |
A westbound intermodal comes uphill and around the Curve on track 3. |
Looking at the south side of the valley inside the Curve. The tracks are at the top right of the photo. |
Looking at the north side of the valley. You can see the tracks and signal bridge on the left. |
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| An eastbound intermodal comes downhill on track 2. |
A pair of helpers drifts downhill on track 1 on their way back to Altoona. |
A westbound intermodal comes uphill on track 3 with three Dash 9's pulling the train. |
An eastbound intermodal comes around the Curve on track 2. |
Another eastbound intermodal comes downhill around the Curve on track 2. |
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| I then headed up to Tunnel Hill. After parking the Jeep, I took this picture of it with the mountains in the background. Looks almost like a Jeep ad, doesn't it? |
A westbound freight climbs uphill on track 2 as it approaches Allegheny Tunnel. |
A westbound intermodal follows the freight up track 2 as a maintenance crew drives along track 1 towards the New Portage Tunnel. The crew was seen earlier fixing sun kinks in the rails at the Curve. |
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| After dinner, I went down to track level along Railroad Street and caught a westbound freight coming out of Allegheny Tunnel on track 3 with a pair of helpers on the rear. |
Another westbound freight exits Allegheny Tunnel on track 3. The boxes next to track 2 (and on the other side of track 3 out of the picture) are flange lubricators, used to reduce the wear on the train wheels and rails on curves. |
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| The following morning, I went back to Tunnel Hill and caught an eastbound train of autoracks heading downhill on track 2. |
The eastbound Pennsylvanian heads east out of Allegheny Tunnel on track 2. |
I then headed back down to the Curve for the day. A westbound freight comes uphill around the Curve on track 3. |
An eastbound loaded coal train comes downhill around the Curve on track 1 with two pairs of helpers on the rear for dynamic braking. |
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| Looking east across the valley. |
A pair of helpers comes westbound under the signal bridge approching the Curve. |
I went down to the refreshment stand for lunch, getting this photo of the tunnel under the tracks for Kittaning Run. |
After lunch, the westbound Pennsylvanian came uphill on track 3. |
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| Not long afterwards, the sounds of another westbound filled the valley. I could hear the train approaching the Curve when the engineer began blowing the horn like he was approaching a grade crossing. I had a gut feeling there was something special coming, and, sure enough, there was a four-car office car special coming around the Curve on track 3. |
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| An eastbound freight came downhill around the Curve on track 1 as a westbound intermodal headed uphill on track 3. The eastbound freight had a pair of helpers on the rear for dynamic braking. |
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| An eastbound intermodal heads around the Curve on track 1 and is met by a westbound intermodal on track 3. |
Looking down from the overlook at the funicular in operation. |
A heavy thunderstorm came through, and most people, except me, took off to head down to the museum. I stuck around and caught a pair of helpers running light westbound on track 3. |
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| As the rain let up, an eastbound intermodal came downhill on track 1. |
The skies then cleared, and a westbound freight came uphill on track 3 with a pair of helpers on the rear. Around mid-train, I took another photo of the valley from the overlook. |
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| A westbound freight came uphill on track 3 around the Curve. |
Shortly after the locomotives of the westbound went past, a westbound intermodal came uphill, slowly overtaking it, on track 2. |
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| As the westbound freight cleared and the westbound intermodal was still going around the Curve, an eastbound freight came downhill on track 1, making a three-train meet on the south side of the Curve. |
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| The next morning was a little overcast and much cooler than the previous day when I headed down to the Curve. Looking east across the valley. |
The eastbound Pennsylvanian came downhill around the Curve on track 2. |
Shortly afterwards, an eastbound loaded coal train came downhill on track 1 with a pair of helpers leading the train and two pairs of helpers on the rear for dynamic braking. |
I then headed west to the State Route 53 bridge where two coal trains were waiting to head east past AR Tower and through the New Portage Tunnel. This is looking west from the bridge. |
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| Looking east from the bridge as the two trains wait to head east. |
At Cresson, a pair of helpers sat in the helper engine terminal. |
A westbound intermodal came past with a pair of helpers on the rear. |
An eastbound intermodal then came through Cresson with its lead unit still wearing primer paint. |
| After eating lunch at the Station Inn, I then headed to the Allegheny Portage Railroad historic site just south of Gallitzin. It is one of the preserved locations of the Allegheny Portage Railroad that connected the canals in Johnstown and Hollidaysburg to allow the canal traffic to travel over the mountains. Canal boats were loaded onto train cars and hoisted up and down the inclines ("planes") by rope/cable and across the more level stretches by steam locomotives. It was closed down when the Pennsylvania Railroad built its route through Altoona and around Horseshoe Curve. |
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| I first went to the visitors' center at the park where there were several displays as well as a film on the making of the Allegheny Portage Railroad. |
This is an old steam locomotive that was on display inside the visitors' center. |
I then went down to the recreated section of the railroad. This is looking westward on the original route. The authentic-looking track isn't the original but looks very authentic. |
Looking eastward at the replica of engine house #6, sitting at the top of what was plane #6. This was where the cars were hoisted up and down the planes from. The track here on the level section is either iron or steel bolted to stone sleepers instead of wooden ties. |
This is the Lemon House, a tavern that was a popular stop for travelers on the route. |
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| Looking east from inside engine house #6 at the top of the plane. |
Looking down the hill at what used to be plane #6. Note that here the rails are wooden with iron or steel strips on top on wooden ties. |
A view of the Lemon House from the side facing the old US 22. |
I then decided to take what I thought would be a short hike down the trail to view the skew arch bridge down at the bottom of the hill. |
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| It turned out to be a very long walk to the bottom of the hill, as you can tell by these two photos looking back up at the engine house with my camera zoomed as far as it would go and then with no zoom. |
Between the two sides of the old US 22 is the skew arch bridge. The tracks of the Allegheny Portage Railroad passed under it. According to the plaques on the bridge, it is the only bridge of its kind left in the United States. There is no mortar holding the it together, just the weight of the stones. |
The south side of the bridge. |
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| Looking through the bridge towards the engine house at the top of the hill. |
Looking across the north side of the old US 22 towards the engine house. |
I then hiked back up the trail to the engine house and visitors' center. Needless to say, going down was much easier. |
