Altoona Museum Dedicates New Exhibit

A new exhibit was recently dedicated at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

The outdoor display has been named the Luther G. Smith Memorial Yard and cost $1.9 million to complete.

It honors Smith (1870-1938), who as a Pennsylvania Railroad engineer started the nonprofit Brotherhood’s Relief & Compensation Fund, the parent organization to the North American Railway Foundation.

Smith in 1912 established an independent voluntary mutual reserve fund to supply income insurance to railroaders who were “held out of service” (suspended) as discipline for a rule violation.

The organization now has 20,000 members across the United States and Canada.

The Smith yard includes a new brick-covered stage area and a display track with PRR’s 32-wheel FD2 depressed-center flat car No. 470245.

These are near the Harry Bennett Roundhouse, where PRR Class K4s 4-6-2 steam engine No. 1361 is undergoing restoration.

Once Upon a Time in Akron

Pennsylvania Railroad SD45 No. 6158 and SD40 No. 6067 are eastbound through Akron in 1967 or 1968. They are passing the Erie Lackawanna passenger station that was still in use at that time. 

Photograph by Robert Farkas

New Views of Orville Tower

Until recently, the former Pennsylvania Railroad tower on display at the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society museum in Orrville had an ex-PRR cabin car blocking the view of the east side of the tower. The caboose is no longer there which opens up these views taken on Sept. 21, 2023. The trio of images shows the tower from the southeast, east and northeast.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

NRHS Chapter Restores Former Pennsy Power Director’s Office in Harrisburg Station

A former Pennsylvania Railroad power director’s office has been made into a museum site by the Harrisburg Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

A report posted on the website of Trains magazine said public visits to the facility are by arrangement.

The office, which began operations in 1937, was located on the second floor of the Harrisburg passenger station. The 60-by-60-foot room governed the flow of 11,000-volt A.C. current across the western end of PRR’s Northeastern electrification network.

A schematic panel that resembles an interlocking tower model board stretches across three walls and provides the location of 19 substations, high-voltage distribution lines, and the location and energized status of all wired tracks.

The Pennsy has similar power director offices in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

A Harrisburg chapter official told Trains the Harrisburg office is the only intact remaining PRR power director’s office.

The PRR’s Philadelphia to Harrisburg line was electrified in 1938. The railroad had envisioned extending electrification to Pittsburgh but dropped that idea due to cost and the use of diesel locomotives on the route.

The Harrisburg power office was once staffed 24 hours a day by two full-time power directors who oversaw 250 mainline route-miles and miles of yard tracks.

Penn Central Alcos in Alliance

It’s July 1972 in Alliance and Penn Central Alco C628 No. 6314 leads sister units 6300 and 6317 across the Fort Wayne Line and down the Bayard Branch. The 6314 was built for the Pennsylvania Railroad in December 1965 so this should be familiar territory. Note the PRR-style signals on the bridge over the tracks.

Photograph by Robert Farkas.  

RDC Trips Resume on Pa. Tourist Railroad

Rail Diesel Car excursions are set to return to a Pennsylvania tourist railroad.

The Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society said excursions will begin Oct. 28 over the Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad after RDC-1 car No. 9167 completed a rebuild at Rail Mechanical Services of Columbia, Pennsylvania.

RDC excursions over the former Pennsylvania Railroad Bald Eagle Branch last ran 18 years ago.

A VIP run has been set for Oct. 27. Public excursions will include seven half-hour trips on Oct. 28 and four 90-minute trips on Oct. 29.

Although scheduled BHRS excursions were suspended in 2005, the group has offered periodic speeder runs. Between 2009 and 2019  seasonal runs were made with leased coaches and NBER motive power.

The Oct. 28 excursions will depart from the former PRR depot in Bellfonte and run to Milesburg. Tickets are $10 per person and must be purchased at the boarding site.

The Oct. 29 trips will run from Bellefonte to Dale Summit near Rockview on the former PRR Bellefonte Branch. Tickets for those trips are $20 per person.

Excursions in November and December are still being worked out.

BHRS owns two RDC-1 cars, both built by Budd in 1953 for the New Haven Railroad.

Altoona Museum Gets ex-PRR Light Towers

A Pennsylvania museum will be the new home of three floodlight towers that once illuminated the railroad exhibit at the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair.

The towers will go to the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

They are among at least four built for the 17-acre railroad grounds, which, in addition to displays of stationary locomotives and cars, featured a 3,000-seat grandstand.

The Pennsylvania Railroad was a key sponsor of the exhibit, which had sponsorships from 27 Eastern railroads.

The light towers were placed throughout the railroad grounds with each tower featuring a decorative three-ring finial of Art Deco design.

After the fair closed, the light towers were dismantled and sent to Altoona where they were used in freight yards.

The towers continued to stand into the Norfolk Southern era until blown down during a wind storm.

It Took a Tumble

It’s most likely 1967 or early 1968 somewhere on the Pennsylvania Railroad between Hudson and Alliance. Tha PRR boxcar might look to be in great condition from this side, but the other side must really be damaged.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Railfan Dream Location in Akron

Mike Ondecker and I were in Akron on a morning in 1967 or 1968. Pennsylvania Railroad switch engine No. 9115 is eastbound on the eastbound Baltimore & Ohio main that is shared with the Pennsy between Arlington Street in Akron and Warwick Tower in Clinton.

Perhaps the crew is going to interchange cars with the B&O at Akron Junction.

On the next track is the westbound B&O Diplomat making a station stop.

Beyond the Diplomat is the Erie Lackawanna passenger station. Notice the man at the open window. What a railfan’s dream location this was.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Altoona Museum Received ex-PRR Baggage Car

A former Pennsylvania Railroad baggage car has been donated to the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

The model B60b baggage car was built in the 1920s. Aside from working for the PRR, it also served Amtrak in maintenance of way service.

Amtrak sold the car in late 2022 to Railway Excursion Management Company, which donated it to the Altoona museum.

The car will be used in a planned exhibit train of PRR passenger cars to accompany K4s No. 1361, which is currently being restored.

A report on the website of Trains magazine said the history of the car is uncertain, but it may have had roster number 9004.

The car is being stored for the time being on the Everett Railroad in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania, until it can be moved to Altoona.