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It was finally the day I had waited for...RailFest '97. I had been unable to attend the previous two years due to scheduling conflicts that were impossible to avert. It was finally my day!

For me, the journey began at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 4. I was joined by Bill Lewis (president, Northern Central Chapter, PRRT&HS), Neil Campbell, Bob Gallup, and Richard Briggs (had a Traction model in the NMRA contest in Milwaukee; see p. 89 of the October 1997 issue of Model Railroader).

Anyway, we departed Etters, Pa. (between Harrisburg and York) and headed for Altoona via the former right-of-way of the South Penn Railroad (the Pennsylvania Turnpike; I-76). Needless to say, we were all excited and talked Pennsy the whole way out.

We arrived at Cresson at 7 a.m., hit McD's for breakfast and bought some spare film. It was just after dawn and we were trackside! We hung around long enough to see three trains and a snapper (helper) move. Two of the three trains were gondolas. It is coal drags that are usually seen in these parts!

Although the flyover in Cresson has been gone for a few years, Conrail cut the hill back a bit. One can get a great view of MO tower from the parking area across from the diesel service facility. As we left, we drove up over where the flyover yard was located. All but three or four tracks have been removed.

We headed up Route 53 and stopped at the overpass. No action, so we proceeded to the Jackson Street overpass in Gallitzin. A westbound mixed freight passed underneath.

We progressed up Route 53 and hung a right onto a road which winds down through the Glen White Run valley -- former lumbering and coal branch that connected with the PRR on The Curve -- and becomes 40th Street in Altoona. The roadbed of the branch was still visible, though we couldn't find the coke ovens that were still there just two years ago. The roadway had just been resurfaced and it was a smooth drive. We continued downward and under The Curve.

Next stop was SLOPE. We hung out here for a few minutes as an eastbound consist of empty coal hoppers passed underneath. This was an oddity...empty hoppers going east? A snapper consist came down the mountain behind her.

We then headed for the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum, where I greeted "PRR-Talk"ers and passed out name tags. My group had previously seen the contents within the existing building, so we made a quick visit to the gift shop and headed out into the yard.

A temporary display on the yard was this PRR fire engine.

We then visited the newly renovated Master Mechanics Building. It will be the new location of the museum when it opens there on Saturday, April 25, 1998. It was open for a preview this weekend. The gate to the new site is a four track signal bridge with a great Keystone and wrought iron sign above it.

Alongside the building is restored X-29 boxcar #2136. Neil Campbell pointed out that it must have been assigned to passenger service as it had an additional grab iron in the center of its end panel. Good catch, Neil!

Since air conditioning had to be added to the old building, the museum did it in a rather ingenious way...they put the compressor inside a reefer parked outside. What a great way to keep unsightly hardware off the old building!

Entering the main doors, we truly left a pool of drool on the floor....Looking us head on was the front of a K-4! They had created molds from an existing K-4 and reproduced her front end in full scale. Though only about ten feet deep, it was displayed coming "through" a wall right at you, with a similar treatment of an interlocking tower along side. I was so caught up in the presentation of the scene that I didn't take a photo!!!

The balance of the first floor was a gift shop to the left (not yet open) and a theater to the right. The new film Altoona At Work was not yet ready, so we viewed the 1946 PR film, Clear Track Ahead. The second and fourth floors were closed. Several club layouts were running on the third.

We then headed to the "pedestrian bridge", where we hung out for a few minutes. We then hiked up the west side of the mains where a RPO class BM70m had been placed on display in a public park. The outside has a nice paint job, though the inside has been stripped clean.

From there we walked across the 17th St. bridge. The main was getting pretty busy. Looking east, there were no less than three helper sets on the tracks. The 11:40 excursion train was in the station and preparing to head west. The eastbound Three Rivers (legacy of the Broadway Limited) was holding just west of our location, waiting for the excursion to clear. When it did come in, it had 8-9 mail cars, a baggage car, five-six coaches, and a few roadrailers on the back end. That's ALTO tower in the westbound view.

Next it was off the McDonald's for lunch, where we got food to go and hiked behind the Station Mall and joined another hundred railfans who were eating lunch and watching trains! We were right across from the station and watched the 11:40 excursion return.

I left my group and returned to the station for the 1:30 excursion. Quite to the surprise of everyone, the excursion train was all MARC equipment! More than one person expressed delight that it was actually a matched set of equipment!

I was told that all but two of the coaches were ex-Pennsy. The "Downingtown Inn" was marked on the outside as such. The "PRR-Talk" contingent was seated together in the "New Castle Inn". In the photo above, you are looking at an X-29 boxcar in front of the Master Mechanics Building, from within the "New Castle Inn" located at the Altoona station!

Leaving the station, our train quickly passed ALTO tower, still standing but barely. We proceeded west, past SLOPE, the Brickyard, and other locations I had read about. I was amazed by the number (in the hundreds) of railfans along the way taking photos and videos. I was sitting on the right side on the way up (by choice) so there wasn't a great view of The Curve from my vantage point. I was hoping to see some remnants of the Kittaning Point area and branch line, but all that's visible anymore is the water tank burried into the hillside.

As we passed MG tower, there was a family that had hiked there with their young children for a picnic lunch. Now that's commitment!

We passed "Benny" (Bennington Curve), the site of the 1946 wreck of The Red Arrow. I believe that half the passengers on the train learned - myself included - that the wreck was on the mountain side of the tracks (at a fill) rather than on the valley side.

I snapped this photo of the no-longer-used Gallitzin Tunnel as we entered the Allegheny Tunnel.

Back in daylight on the western side of the "eastern continental divide", we passed under the Jackson Street Bridge as railfans watched us from the N5 cabin in the park.

We switched tracks and took the old loopback to head back east. Here's a shot of UN Tower.

Here we are rounding Bennington Curve ("Benny") on the way down. We met The Pennsylvanian heading west at MG. Too bad, if we had been ahead another two minutes we would have met at The Curve!

Here are three progressive shots of our train rounding The Curve.

Coming out of The Curve, I snapped this photo of our head end passing under the signal bridge at Kittaning Point. Just think...his may be one of the last photos taken of the position light signals at this location.

An art gallery across from the station in Altoona has a great mural of K4 #1361.

A view of the excursion train's power, MARC #66, with the Master Mechanics Building in the background.

After returning to the station and being picked up by the balance of my contigent, we headed north to the Conrail locomotive shops. As we began the tour, we pored over Conrail SD-50 #6725, Norfolk Southern D9-40CW #9060, and Conrail SD-80MAC #4129. That's the high-tech cab of the latter shown above. Also on display was Conrail #ME5403 Fairmont Mark IV Production Tamper and Conrail #SL4003 Little Giant Crance with Snow Jet Modification.

In the General Office Building we viewed the oft-photographed HO scale layout of the shops.

We then went through the main shops. The sheer size of everything was overwhelming. We then passed through the Machine Shop. Being a Pennsy fan with no real attachment or interest in Conrail, I didn't take any photos inside.

Looking out the backside of the shops (the mainline side), they had Everett Railroad GP8 #5428 and a Nittany & Bald Eagle GP-8 #1602 on display. We then passed a pair of freshly painted Amtrak Genesis units (#117 and #116) just outside the Paint Shop. There was also NJ Transit #4116.

We proceeded into the Paint Shop, where another Genesis unit (#118) was in the paint "booth". Another (#120) was totally bare and being masked prior to painting. Yet another unit had been painted and was having reflective decal striping applied. Its road number, #119, was yet to be applied. We found out that of 126 Genesis units that Amtrak had purchased, the Conrail shops were contracted to paint 120 of them.

We continued our tour, which took us into some new Amtrak equipment. First was Amtrak #33026 Superliner II Sightseer Lounge. Boy, the thought of being in one of these traversing the Mountain Division! Next was Amtrak #39044 Transition Sleeper, followed by Amtrak #21044 which showcased work of the Great American Station Foundation. Next up was part of the Conrail Business Train, consisting of Conrail #55 Business Car, Conrail #27 Coach Car, and Conrail #4022 Locomotive (an E8, I believe).

We left the shops and headed northward to the 8th Street Bridge. The main line had gotten surprisingly quiet, and we saw only one helper movement while we were there. However, we did spot this X-5? boxcar still wearing the Keystone!

Heading south and back towards town, a nicely repainted class B60 baggage car sits behind a fence.

Harry Fitch gets credit for this find...We've often discussed on the "PRR-Talk" list that the tender Bowser ships with its K4 is incorrect. Many have suggested using the Bachmann tender. Well guess what? Harry spotted this photo of K4 #1361 at Sunbury, Pa., with a tender that looks exactly like my Bowser K4 tender. So don't say "never was"; it was -- at least at one moment in time preserved on film!

We spent another hour behind the Station Mall watching the main. Again, not much action. It was then off to Hoss's to join the balance of the "PRR-Talk" group for dinner. We were seated in their meeting room which bears a railroad motif. (Surprised?)

After dinner it was back on the road. We elected to take Route 22 home. We passed the old junk yards at Holidaysburg shortly after dark. We did manage to spot a Pennsy gondola and an old passenger car of some sort. Too dark to tell.

When we came alongside the main just east of Huntingdon, we were surprised again at the lack of activity. We stopped at Lewistown to see how the PRRT&HS had been doing on restoration efforts. The waiting room looked great. Outside work is lagging behind. It was about 10 p.m., and a westbound mixed freight barrelled through at a surprising speed -- given the sharpness of the curve into the station.

From there it was homeward bound. Nothing until Enola, which was also quiet. Until next year...

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Last modified: November 23 2007.

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