I’m back where the Norfolk Southern trains roll through the mountains along the Pittsburgh Line. Today was our first full day of rail-fanning in Altoona, Pennsylvania. My dad, and I made our way west of Altoona to milepost 268.1 “Mineral Point” We parked the truck and walked about two miles up the abandon Allegheny Portage Railroad right of way to the oldest railroad tunnel in the USA. The Staple Bend Tunnel was built in 1833 and it’s 901 feet long. I highly recommend checking out this tunnel. Be sure to bring your walking shoes and water for those hot days.
Eastbound 24W
Later on, we made our way to milepost 251.0 “Cresson” in hopes to catch our first Norfolk Southern heritage unit “Nickel Plate Road #8100. We were all set up camp chairs in the shade and then a train moving on the track closest to us stopped and was blocking our view of the eastbound heritage unit. So we made our way through the passage under the tracks, to the Station Inn side of the tracks. This would be my fifth Norfolk Southern Heritage locomotive and I didn’t want to miss it. Once there we heard the scanner’s audio crack with the automated voice from the detector at Milepost 253.1 “Track 3”. We got it! I was a little worried about the lighting and was not sure if I got a great shot, so I thought we could chase it down into downtown Altoona. We rolled into downtown and got set up on the footbridge near the Amtrak train station milepost 236.1. We were almost positive we had missed it. We watched an eastbound train pass and shortly after there it was 24W making its way eastbound.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in downtown Altoona photographing trains. I am looking forward to seeing what trains tomorrow brings!
