18-10-05 PHOTOS: CONPIT and TROBE

October was a busy month with back-to-back trips to Western Pennsylvania. The first covered the PRR Main Line between Altoona and Conpit Junction and the second had me swinging by the well known railfan locations at Latrobe and Derry, PA. In my previous post I covered the West Slope portion of the trip between Gallitzin and South Fork, moving the Conpit Junction photos to this post with the Latrobe and Derry photos taken a week later as they present a more logical grouping. CP-CONPIT is the westernmost end of the three track segment of the PRR Main Line that starts at Tyrone, PA, about 10 miles east of Altoona. At CP-CONPIT the Pittsburgh and Conemaugh Lines and diverge and take different routes to Pittsburgh, with the Conemaugh Line being the longer yet lower grade option as it follows the Conemaugh River to the Allegheny River at Kiski. Meanwhile the Pittsburgh Line continues directly to Pittsburgh overland via the cities of Latrobe and Greensburg. CP-CONPIT takes the form of a full 3-track crossover, but sees more than a typical crossover's share of shuffling as different types of trains take different routes.

CP-TROBE is located at the site of the old KR tower that controlled a crossover and the side platform Latrobe passenger station. A history of the tower can be found here, but the interlocking was initially completely removed by Conrail in favor of DR interlocking at Derry, before being restored as part of the late 70's CTC project. Latrobe itself is the home of Arnold Palmer, Mister Rodgers and Rolling Rock Beer. Derry, PA is a well known Railfan location due to a small railroad museum and a position light signal bridge that used to be the westbound home signal for DR interlocking.

You can find the set of Conpit photos of the bottom of this gallery (mirror) and the Latrobe/Derry photos here (mirror).

We kick off with the same two GE engines I had caught earlier in the afternoon at Summerhill, a brand new NS ET44AC #3671 and a decrepit CSX C40-8W #7826. They are powering a westbound manifest train over the long crossover from Pittsburgh Line #3 track to Pittsburgh Line #2 track as that train is being routed directly to Pittsburgh.

The Conemaugh Line between CP-CONPIT ahd CP-KISKI was the site of the PRR's experiment of a cab signal system without wayside signals and as a result it features Rule 280a "Clear to Next Interlocking" lamps on all westward signals to accomidate cab signal failures. Here we see the original PRR vintage 8W signal displaying a Clear indication for a westbound train. 

The westbound train in question was a doublestack intermodal led by NS C44-9W #9242 and C40-8W #8366.

This was soon followed by an eastbound with a 5-engine lashup on the front that consisted of NS C44-9W #9227, Flordia East Coast SD70M-2 #106, NS C44-10W #7526, NS GP38-2 #5662 amd NS SD40-2 #3462.

Following that was an eastbound doublestack intermodel led by a pair of NS SD70ACe's #1092 and #1084 running elephant style.

Next up westbound we have a single NS C44-10W, #7640, pulling an empty string of autoracks pass the eastbound Penn Central era Conemaugh Line signal bridge. 

I was a bit out of position when a eastbound train of empty municipal waste containers rolled by with a trio of DC powered engines including NS C44-9W's #9794 and #9789 along with NS SD60E #7082.

Leaving CP-CONPIT I managed to catch another SD60E lashup with #6984 leading NS C44-10W #7685 and ES44AC #8010.

Moving on to CP-TROBE a week later, the first train up there was an eastbound doublestack intermodal with NS C44-9W #9527 and a VERY rare CN C40-8M with a cowl body for use in harsh Canadian winters. Note CN #2414 still has the class lights used by canadian railways decades after such novelties were dumped south of the border.

This train had the NS #6311 / #6309 SD40E helper pair pushing on the rear.

I was again caught out of position by an also rare standard cab NS SD60, #6706.

The Latrobe passenger station is still a stop on Amtrak's Pennsylvanian Service, however only the north platform is still active. Back in the PRR era, a pair of crossovers east of the station allowed passenger trains on the center tracks to stop at the side platforms. 

The remains of KR tower can still be seen next to CP-TROBE. 

Here we see another CSX C40-8W, #7892, sandwiched between NS C44-9W #9877 and NS AC44C6M rebuild #4031.

Moving on to Derry we find NS AC44C6M #4133 heading east with a train of coal hoppers with the MP 307 automatic signal bridge in the background. The AC44C6M's are former NS C40-9's and C44-9W's rebuilt with new cabs and AC traction. 

NS C44-9W #9408 with an empty MoW train also heading east at Derry.

Here we see NS C44-9W #9651 leading a westbound train of coal hoppers under the vintage PRR signal bridge at Derry. This used to be the westbound home signal for DR interlocking, but the crossover was ripped out in favor of an interlocking at Latrobe during the late 70's CTC project. 

The small railroad museum at Derry consisting of a PRR and Conrail caboose. I think there is some sort of webcam based here.

Later that weekend I tried to stop by the Penn Central vintage Milepost 53 automatic signal on the Conemaugh Line in Harrison Township, but found it had already been removed in favor of an expansion of the Rule 562 cab signal system westward from Kiski to Etaa.

That happened to be nearby the Large Scale Systems Museum located in in New Kensington, PA, which is the East Coast's premier institution devoted to the preservation of mainframe computers. 

In 2015 I had arranged for the donation of an IBM 4131 system and I was able to check it out in its new home. If you happen to be in the area I would encourage a visit and if you live in the area the place is always looking for good volunteers. 

That's all the photos in this set. Next time I head west to Flagstaff, Arizona.