Getting Them Just in Time

Workers have been making steady progress in removing the former Pennsylvania Railroad position light signals from the Norfolk Southern mainline between Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh.

Given that, Ed Ribinskas set out on May 17 for a trip to Altoona to get the venerable signals while they are still standing.

On Saturday he visited Summerhill and Cresson. He was just in time to get the signals and signal bridge just east of where Pennsylvania Route 53 crosses over the NS tracks between Cresson and Gallitzin.

Last weekend that signal bridge was taken down. It shown below with an intermodal train passing beneath it.

The trip also gave Ed the opportunity to get Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian coming back the position light signals and signal bridge at Summerhill (top photo).

This image had eluded him in a trip to Summerhill last year when he arrived just in time to see the train passing beneath him.

This time he was there in plenty of time. But if you look in the distance in that photo you’ll see an oncoming NS freight.

The timing worked this time but it might have been worse. That train is shown passing the signal bridge in the bottom photo below.

Also shown are signals at Portage and Summerhill.

No Injuries in NS Derailment in Pennsylvania

No injuries occurred when five cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morning.

The cars landed in Stone Creek, a tributary of the Juniata River.

NS said that two of the cars were carrying hauling peas while the other three derailed cars carried dried potatoes, pulpboard, and plastic pellets.

The train was en route from Altoona to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and had 75 loaded and 10 empty cars.

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation.

Some Quality Time on Horseshoe Curve

 

In this second installment of the trip that Akron Railroad Club member Ed Ribinskas took to Pennsylvania last month, we join him at Horseshoe Curve on the Pittsburgh Line of Norfolk Southern.

Ed was there along with his brother in law Karl and his son Owen. They made a day trip to the curve and the Everett Railroad.

While on the curve, Ed photographed Amtrak westbound train No. 43, the Pennsylvanian. It had its standard Amfleet consist pulled by a single P42DC locomotive.

No. 43 passed on the curve an NS manifest freight had had the Savannah & Atlanta heritage unit (No. 1065) in the motive power consist.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Pair of Pennsy Keystones

It’s one Pennsylvania Railroad keystone rolling over the top of another Pennsy keystone in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. NS No. 8102 is leading westbound stack train 21Q, which is passing an eastbound stack train on the Fort Wayne Line.

Last Saturday my friend Adam Barr and I headed for Pittsburgh for a morning of railfanning Norfolk Southern in the steel city.

We had been in town about a half-hour when an an online report popped up that the Pennsylvania Railroad heritage unit was headed west past Manor, Pennsylvania, with a load of sea cans. That turned out to be stack train 21Q.

Manor is east of the Pittsburgh where the Pennsylvania Turnpike crosses over the NS Pittsburgh line between Pittsburgh and Altoona, Pennsylvania.

We headed for California Avenue with the idea of getting an image of the locomotive paying tribute to the PRR on a structure that was built by the PRR, the Ohio Connecting Bridge that today carries the NS Mon Line.

When I think of railroads in Pittsburgh, structures such as this come to mind. I also think of the former Pennsylvania Railroad.

We were able to get ahead of the train and catch it at CP Leets in Leetsdale. Although I had my scanner on, we didn’t get any warning of the train approaching because I didn’t pick it up calling any signals.

Our “heads up” was another railfan bolting from his car and running toward the bridge over the tracks that carries a road leading into an industrial park. I was barely able to get the shot I wanted of the Pennsy heritage unit passing former Pennsy position light signals.

We weren’t sure if we could beat the 21Q to East Conway because it was moving along at a good clip. But it turned out the stacker would have a long wait there because of traffic working in Conway Yard that needed to come out to East Conway for head room as well as the need for the 21Q to change crews.

Our last photo op of the 21Q was planned for the bridge over the Beaver River in Beaver Falls. But things did not go according to plan because Adam, who was driving, could not find a parking spot in a timely manner.

He dropped me off at the east end of the sidewalk of the bridge and I walked as fast as I could toward the river. I wouldn’t make it.

The 21Q had already called the signal at the Brighton and I could see its headlight illuminating the sides of the containers of an eastbound stack train that was slowly making its way toward Conway.

I noticed the Fort Wayne Line bridge had an old, but faded Pennsylvania Railroad keystone and decided to make that the focal point of my last photograph of NS 8102, thus ending my chase of the 21Q with an image of a pair of Pennsy keystones.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Coming at you on the OC bridge.

When I think of Pittsburgh I think of massive bridges and the Pennsylvania Railroad. This is as close as I can come to recreating the golden age of the PRR in the steel city.

For the second time in 2016, I caught the Pennsylvania Railroad heritage locomotive passing by former PRR position light signals.

With a new crew on board, the 21Q gets underway at East Conway.

A roster-type shot at East Conway of NS 8102.

Spending Some Time on the NS Pittsburgh Line.

I like to think it is going to be a successful day when a train arrives shortly after I arrive at a photo location. An eastbound NS manifest is about to pass the Amtrak station platform in Tyrone, Pennsylvania.

We chose Tyrone over Altoona to railfan the Pittsburgh Line of Norfolk Southern during a trip to Pennsylvania last month. Altoona has Alto Tower but Tyrone has a sweeping S curve.

What I didn’t expect was that another feature at Tyrone would loom large in my being thankful that we chose there to make some photographs of NS trains.

We would later learn that we had just missed a westbound intermodal train with the Norfolk & Western heritage locomotive on the point.

We had to leave before an eastbound came past with the Interstate heritage unit in the motive power consist. But it was trailing so missing that was no big deal.

The wait was short for our first NS train, an manifest freight that came through on Track No. 2.

Having lived in Pennsylvania for a couple years back in the early 1990s, I was accustomed to the shreiking and groaning that trains make as they round the tight curves of the former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

In the two or so hours that we were in Tyrone we also caught a westbound coal train, another westbound manifest freight and a crude oil train.

Now about that “other” attraction in Tyrone. Immediately west of the station a road crosses the tracks and then begins to ascend the hill on the other side, briefly running parallel to the tracks.

I was intrigued by that road and managed to work it into a few images. I liked how it created movement in the photos and gave a sense of mystery as to where the road went.

It was not a heavily-traveled road. At least it wasn’t during our time in Tyrone.

We had a steam train to chase we we bid farewell to Tyrone. I hope to get back there again some day.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

A trace of fog still hovers of the mountains surrounding Tyrone, Pennsylvania, as the last car of an eastbound NS manifest freight is about to pass beneath Interstate 99.

Look to the left of the nose of NS locomotive 9583. There is that road snaking its way up the hill and out of sight.

Our last train of the day was an eastbound tanker train.