18-10-01 PHOTOS: West Slope

The second day of my Fall 2018 PRR Main Line trip started at Altoona and would cover the West Slope between there and South Fork with stops at The Brickyard, Horseshoe Curve, Gallitzin, Cresson, Cassandra, Portage and Summerhill. All of these places are well known railfan hot spots and rail enthusiasm is even a local tourism industry with multiple beds and breakfasts and even a stretch of PA Route 53 signed as a railfan byway. At each of these locations I documented the endangered PRR style position light signals, but due to traffic levels on the main line I also caught a healthy mix of NS freight including four(!) "specialty" units and two rare instances of foreign power.

You can view all the 1300 or so photos here or here.

The day started at the railfan bridge over what used to be CP-SLOPE. The fog was pretty thick, which would limit infrastructure photos, but since this area had been re-signaled in 2012 there wasn't too much I personally was interested in. While most railfanning involves a lot of futile waiting or chasing down trains with the help of a scanner, the old PRR Main Line has sufficient traffic that even a brief stopover makes catching something likely. In this case an eastbound intermodal train rolled out of the fog led by NS C44-9W #9841 and UP SD70M #4500.

ALTO tower was still standing in downtown Altoona. Although owned by the nearby Railroader's Museum, the wooden structure is unoccupied at at a high risk for arson. 

From Altoona my friend and I drove about a mile up the line to a location known as Brickyard as it was at the site of an historic brickyard. Although the former PRR Position Light signal bridge was replaced by an NS style cantilever in 2012, it is still a popular location due to a grade crossing and a defect detector. We were just in time to catch an eastbound merchandise train descending the East Slope on track #1 and in an amazing feat of good luck, the NS SD70ACe "Barcode" unit #1111 was first under the signal, followed by a significantly less interesting Tier IV ES44AC #3612.

On the rear of the long train were two SD40E (former SD50) helper packs, with two units each, NS #6324, #6329, #6302 and #6327.

The fog lifted on the uphill drive west to the famed Horseshoe Curve where I grabbed this obligatory photo of PRR GP9 #7048 that is on display at the park there. 

Although Pittsburgh Line traffic does come in waves, I was not to be disappointed as a westbound doublestack train soon appeared headed by NS Wabash SD70Ace heritage unit #1070 with mechanically heritage C40-8W #8350 running behind.

Assisting from behind was a sibling pair of SD40E helpers #6331 and #6330.

About 5 minutes later an eastbound oil train descended the grade on track #1 with Central of Georgia heritage unit ES44AC #8101 followed by sister NS ES44AC #8106.

16-07-01 PHOTOS: TRAFF

CP-TRAFF in Trafford, PA is located at the east end of the former PRR Pitcarin Yard, just outside of Pittsburgh on the old Main Line. Today the yard has been mostly gutted and now stands as Norfolk Southern's Pittsburgh area intermodal terminal. However what Conrail designated as the Pittsburgh Line, still runs through it all carrying 40-60 trains per day. While CP-TRAFF lost the last of its high position light signals in the late 1990's, it still features a lot of heritage elements as well as a great place to catch more dynamic rail action. Included in this set are a number of photos taken in downtown Pittsburgh where the other members of my party had decided to stop for the day. You can view the full set of photos here.

The interlocking logic dates from the Penn Central era of the early 1970's and was installed as part of a general West End CTC project stretching from Johnstown to Pittsburgh. The all relay plant has held up well over the years, even if it requires a bit more physical space than modern installations.

Another throwback would be the compressor hut supplying air to the pneumatic point machines. Popular in the days before reliable mains power was available in rural areas and household voltage buried wires could be reliably insulated, air operated interlocking plants are facing extinction both in North America and abroad due to the increased maintenance requirements. 

Conrail blue is still flies proudly next to the 4W mast signal, displaying an Approach indication for an upcoming westbound movement on track 2.

In due time a doublestack intermodal train shows up with NS SD70ACe #1075 in the lead, SD70ACe #1001 behind and ES44AC #8136 in the number 3 position. I'm sure 1001 makes some sort of emoticon, but so far it has not gained the same notoriety as NS "barcode" unit #1111.

As the doublestack train braked to a halt for the Stop signal at CP-WING, a helper pack consisting of SD40E's #6312 and #6308 drifted past as an eastbound manifest train roared by on track #1.