Railfanning the Pittsburgh Line June & July 2015: 4 Heritage Units, NS OCS, and much more
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 авг 2015
- In June/July 2015, we set out on a trip out east that we would never forget about. And no surprise there, because it was the Pittsburgh Line, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania all the way to the line's official end in downtown Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Line has been the heart and soul of all four railroads that owned it. It started out as the Pennsylvania Railroad's first subdivision/line ever built, which was meant to take part in connecting Pittsburgh with Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Railroad owned the line until it was merged into Penn Central in 1968. Penn Central then merged into Conrail in 1976, and then Conrail was split by CSX and NS in 1999, with NS getting the Pittsburgh Line and others.
There's a huge number of intermodal trains, along with lots of manifests, tankcar trains, coal trains, and Amtrak's Pennsylvanian. Norfolk Southern uses almost all their locomotive types, with both switcher and mainline locomotives seen. There's also a helper district over the allegheny mountains between Altoona and East Conemaugh.
We spent the first 1 1/2 days traveling from our house in the metro Milwaukee area to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, as well as the Strasburg Railroad, which is included in a bonus clip in the video.
We started on the Pittsburgh Line in the middle of the Rutherford Intermodal Facility. After that, we saw some trains at the famous Rockville Bridge. Then, we checked out Duncannon, west of Millerstown at Sugar Run Road, and then a place south of Mifflin. Then, we met the first railfans of the trip while at the Lewistown Amtrak Station. We then finished the day at Mapleton, and then a point west of Mill Creek.
We started the next day at the Huntingdon Amtrak Station, just one block from the Quality Inn that we stayed at. After that, we headed for a place southeast of Birmingham at Union Furnace Road. Then, we went up to the junction and Amtrak station at Tyrone, where we met another railfan. After Tyrone, we went to Tipton. After that, we went to the start of the helper district in Altoona, where the Railroaders Memorial Museum on the right, and Alto Tower down the line on the left. We met two railfans while there, one who not only wrote his initials in the cab of Pennsylvania Railroad K4 Pacific #1361, but had a Dad test out that same locomotive on rollers in the famous Altoona shops. After Altoona, we went to the world famous Horse Shoe Curve, which included a museum, gift shop, an incline from ground level up to the curve, and a Pennsylvania Railroad GP9. We stayed at the curve until when it closed at 6:00 P.M.
The returned to the curve for 2 hours and 30 minutes the next morning, where we met two more railfans, one in which worked for a G scale model railroading company. We then headed for the famous Gallitzin Tunnels, where a museum and caboose were on display. We met five more railfans, one who lived in Green Bay and had our same funny Wisconsin accent. We left the tunnels early to catch a special train at CP MO, which included another PRR caboose on display. We also met four railfans there, one in which lived in Hagerstown, Maryland, and was a conductor for CSX crews. We then moved to Carneys Crossing in the mid-afternoon, where we just caught a train the moment we got there. Then, we went to the borough of Lilly on the Over Bridge Street overpass, and Railroad Street down below. We then ended our day at the Cassandra Overlook, staying at the railroad motel for the night.
We started the next day off at CP SO, where we met another railfan. We then somehow got into the beautiful Johnstown Amtrak Station, where yet another PRR caboose was on display. Then, I caught a train at the Latrobe Amtrak Station. After that, we set up on a bridge overlooking the Greensburg Amtrak Station. Then, we took a look at the west end of the Pitcairn Intermodal Facility, where double stackers depart onto the Mon Line that reconnects at CP BELL. After Pitcairn, we decided to take a look at CSX's Keystone Subdivision in McKeesport, where the abandoned Baltimore & Ohio roundhouse, coaling tower and shop complex still stands.
We finished off our trip the next day by catching trains at the Pittsburgh Amtrak Station.
This is easily the best railroad trip we've ever done. There wasn't a single planned location where we didn't see a train, there were so many amazing surprises, and the weather was perfect. We hope you enjoy the video! Leave comments, like or dislike!
P.S. - Credits to Andrew Wedge for the thumbnail photo
Awesome !!
nice video Luke and great catch of all the ns engine's on all the train's.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I have been to most of the locations on this video up to Cassandra Pa. Nice work. Keep it up and give us some more great railfan videos.
Nice video dude great catch of the 8114 heritage unit
My guess is that the hot trailers come from New York and Philadelphia en route to Chicago and points west on BNSF and Union Pacific.