Altoona PA 07.22.12: And Then There Was One скачать в хорошем качестве

Altoona PA 07.22.12: And Then There Was One

Having parted ways with OhioRails & Friend at the Juniata Shops, the reality of my trip nearing its end began to sink in. I still had a little over 24 hours to work with though, and the likelihood that I would be spending it under rain-free skies was an encouraging thought. Excited by the prospect of a well-lit evening's worth of traffic, I set off on my own route to the legendary Porta Road crossing on the outskirts of Altoona - better known by its nickname, 'The Brickyard' - and was greeted with deafening silence, save for an eastbound coal drag idling just beyond the signals in the distance. Well, that and a lot of scanner chatter about traffic backing up and police and emergency crews and - wait, what? Remember the morning's trek up the outside of Horseshoe Curve? It seems that within an hour or two of our departure there had been a slight mishap on the outside of the east leg of the Curve, involving an ATV, its rider, a heavily-wooded hillside, and an object lesson in physics. End result - somebody on the mountain was badly hurt and emergency crews were evacuating said individual by means of the NS access road between the tracks. Another end result - NS traffic was backed up out the wazoo on both sides of the incident, as nothing was going to move until the 'all-clear' was given. No doubt this meant a flood of action later on, so in the meantime I found myself and the tripod a nice little spot and hunkered down for a long wait. While waiting, I learned from a few other folks gathered there that the backup was exacerbating ongoing problems in sorting traffic flow through the interlocking reorganization that was occurring in the wake of Alto Tower's closure, and this was likely the reason why the eastbound sat waiting despite being clear of the mishap on the Curve. Whatever the case, an hour after my arrival the lights came on and a cloud of exhaust rose into the air as the crew began the tricky task of starting the heavy train rolling down the grade while maintaining control. As the head end rolled through the crossing, I realized the locomotive numbers looked awfully familiar - it was Y90 again, the same coal drag seen earlier from the Route 53 bridge in Cresson (see 'A Well-Oiled Machine'). Former Conrail units C40-8W 8422 (ex-CR 6235) and SD60I 6725 (ex-CR 5590) worked together with NS-native C40-9 'Top Hat' 8811 to maintain order as they led the coal loads into Altoona. After several minutes enduring the sound of squealing brakeshoes, SD40Es 6309, 6307, 6323, and 6320 crept into view, doing their part to keep the speed in check. There was no word yet on any westbounds being cleared to move, but the double green on tracks 2 and 3 was still a pleasant sight nonetheless. #train #trainspotting #railfanning #railroad #pennsylvania #travel