Pictures and Video's from Pennsylvania

[SD40 Snoot Nose]

Ladies and Gent's

For those that may be interested I have posted some pictures and video from my recent trip to Pennsylvania (see below) on the internet. The pictures are on my Fotopic site and the video's are on YouTube.

I stopped 4 nights at the Station Inn at Cresson which is a Railfan Inn that is opposite the main line. Big heavy freight trains and helpers pass this location day and night. If you are a light sleeper, this is not the place for you. The Inn caters for railfans and has books, video's and maps you can borrow. The owner gives you a visitors pack which shows all the best places to see trains, where to eat etc.

The staff are really friendly and will always help you. People come from all over the world to this place. Each room has its own comments book. I can totally recommend it. This Inn does not have TV as the owner Tom knows people are here to see trains. The rooms are clean and comfortable. People sit on the veranda with beer watching trains go by.

The next three nights I stopped at the Tunnel Inn at Gallitzin, about 3 miles from Cresson. This Inn is right over one of the double portals of the tunnels. This Inn has a deck overlooking the two lines into the tunnel and again you are very close to the line. This hotel is very clean and modern, though small. This Inn does have TV and air conditioning. Again you can sit with a beer watching the trains. However this location misses one of the running lines. The track in Gallitzin splits and track 1 goes through a separate portal on the other side of town. This track is known as the slide as its very steep and the trains go into full dynamic (downhill) braking for this location as do they for the other portals. So staying here you can miss a 3rd of the traffic. However only a short distance all 3 lines can be viewed.

The last night I stopped in Enola where there is a big yard and depot. I then drove to Philadelphia to catch my flight home.

The main railroad in this area is Norfolk Southern who use a mixture of both old and new loco's. There are still some loco's in Conrail colours ( a railroad NS took over). Trains can have up to 10 loco's on. Helper units run up and down the lines to help trains get over the mountains. Helpers can be put on the front or rear of the train. Trains climbing up to Cresson can be heard for miles struggling to get up the hills. Foreign Power (other railroad loco's) can be seen from time to time.

I visited another railroad at Cumberland in Maryland to see the CSX loco works and yard there.

Back in Pennsylvania locations recommended to go to are:

Carney's Crossing. This is a level crossing (grade crossing) and trains blast their horns for the crossing.

Cassandra Iron Bridge Overlook. An old iron bridge where there is a good view of the lines to view. There are benches and a shop near by.

Cresson, besides the Inn there is an observation platform here.

Gallitzin as mentioned above for the tunnels

Route 53 highway bridge, a good view of all the lines.

Horseshoe Curve, this is world famous and trains wrap themselves around you as they battle the curve. The train drop/climbs 120 feets on this curve. There is a park here with shops. This can get a bit packed at times.

All the above locations are on one side or other of the mountains, so trains climbing can certainly battle the hill. Trains dropping down the hill are usually using dynamic brakes. Trains both up and down may have helpers to assist get up or down hill.

I also visited the Juniata loco works in Altoona. Both this and the CSX loco works have working turntables.

Please see below for links. Some of the videos on YouTube have the option of being seen in Hi-Def, Hi-Quality or standard quality.

Turn your speakers up for the trains climbing the hills. The video at Cresson (part2) has the local fire alarm siren going off. This went off twice and it is used to call local volunteer firefighters to the station when they are required to attend a fire. The first three videos are short, one trains. The others have more trains.

Videos first:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkKaA_ZeyUg
Cassandra Bridge (hi-def option) a long stack train working hard up the hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p3zvOUCjZk
Carney's Crossing (hi-def option)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSkdEfEhbHA
Autorack (cars) train at Cresson (hi-def option)

The next videos have the option of high quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFsG-yXQyeU
Trains around Cresson. This was 6am as I couldn't sleep due to jet lag etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfa-jymBhRI
The Horseshoe Curve

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxSwN-bjIZo
Above the Gallitzin Tunnels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XU3ZT5yM7w
Juniata and CSX Loco works in Altoona and Cumberland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1I9R7_faHQ
Carney's Crossing part 2, lots of horn blowing,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0qKsQzSDkM
Cassandra Overlook part 2, lots of trains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0qKsQzSDkM
A closer look at Gallitzin Tunnels (part2) more trains

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGhwj2kaC7U
Station Inn (part2) with sirens etc.

Here is the Fotopic link, lots to see. There is over 260 pictures here so you may if interested just select those that interest you.
http://rorylushman.fotopic.net/c1701014.html

Enjoy

Rory

[Union Pacific]

Very impressive.

[Shredder]

excellent stuff, we were out there few years ago for a few month, staying mainly in the East, Montreal, Ottowa and Messina New York State, managed the yards at Montreal, mainly CN SDs with a few slugs, did about three trips around the depot at Messina Conrail, SDs and managed a few shot of the Genisis cross borders, Canada-New Yorks, hell of a country