The One That Got Away Pt. 2

Sunday dawn rose crisp, pink, and cold. It was definitely the promised change from the day before. The Allegheny Divide lay in the hills ahead of me as I started out of the hotel parking lot with a renewed sense of hope.

My first stop was the Brickyard. Fans of the Altoona area will know the Brickyard grade crossing. It's a great place to sit and watch the trains as they near the bottom of the hill, or as they start their grueling climb westward. The day was still young enough that thick fog lazed through the air. The sun was just peeking over the hills and the autumn trees catching this golden light were starting to radiate their colors. In just a few minutes I saw a couple of trains, but the sun position was all wrong. It was still too low to crest the trees that line the tracks at this location. The trains would not be in full light. I jumped back in the truck and headed upgrade/WB to a spot in the woods where I could park the truck, throw on my 50lbs. of gear, and start hiking.

Pushing uphill through the thick underbrush, it became clear that the decision to wear my long pants was a good one. Pricker bushes all around would have made mincemeat of legs protected only by a pair of cargo shorts. An hour passed before my lenses would capture anything. Then the traffic started. In the space of about twenty minutes 64J (loaded garbage) with pushers, empty coal, a manifest with pushers, and lite pushers went WB up the hill through McGarvey's Curve while 22W (Intermodal), loaded coal, and a manifest train eased downgrade. The brake pads on the manifest were smoking and the pushers on the tail were on full dynamics to hold back the 122-car train.

Scanner chatter alerted to the fact that the WB pushers were headed for MP 245.5 to rescue a train that had stalled for some reason or another on the hill. A white SUV roaring upgrade in the wide space between tracks 1 and 2 was an area trainmaster heading for the same location to lend a hand if needed. I moved myself EB and downgrade just around McGarveys Curve to get a long shot of the Brickyard grade crossing. Filling out the scene was the signal bridge at 238.4. it didn't take long to record another loaded coal train coming down into Altoona, and yet another intermodal starting up the hill and out of town.

The day was turning out to be surprisingly hot and dry. Temps that were supposed to be in the low-70s was becoming closer to the mid-80s as I would later find out. My body was becoming dehydrated quickly and my gallon of water was in my truck about two miles away. I was thirsty with a cracking throat, but there was a spot I wanted to get to before the sun got too high or too badly positioned to get a shot - a neat, tall roI climbed the rock cut overlooking the MP239.7 signal bridge and could hear a train that just passed by 10 minutes ago just blowing its horn for the fans at the Curve park. I hadn't seen this train because I had been away from the tracks pushing through the forest. Now, from my vantage point high above the tracks and signal bridge, I could hear an EB train with its full dynamics passing through the Curve at the same time as the train I missed. Right about then, a horn could be heard blowing for the Brickyard crossing behind the hill I was standing on. Now, this meant that 1.5 miles behind me there was a train approaching me from Altoona and one coming at me from about 2 miles away. Soon, the EB would come by me upgrade spewing its breath out the top of the stacks and if things worked out right, the EB coming through the Curve and this WB would pass right below me through the rock cut. I had the problem of the sun (just getting near noon) sitting right over the tracks that would bring the WB past me up the grade. Again, if I could get just the right position, the smoke coming out of the stacks would look fantastic against the backdrop of the rising sun.

It did work out great. The diesels at the head end of the WB train pulling upgrade out of Altoona slowly came around the bend in the distance. Plumes of backlit exhaust shot skyward from the units struggling with their train. Two pusher SD-40-2s had been tied on to the head end. Following them were an AC4400CW and an SD-60. They thundered below my feet making what looked like a good 10 MPH. They passed under the 239.7 signal bridge and as the power took the next turn out of sight, the head end of the EB came toward the signals. The rocks were rumbling at the heavy freights passing bellow. I turned the camera and caught the head end of the second train arching away into McGarveys Curve as they made the turn toward the Brickyard stretch.

Several minutes while the two crawling trains passed by. Brakeshoes smoking and wheels pinching against the inside of the rails. Soon, the pushers of the WB came into view. Backlighting again made a great show of the exhaust. This was railroading and this was the drama played out over and over on these hills since men first built rails through the Alleghenies.

To be continued...


Michael Hammond
www.282movies.com