Altoona, Pennsylvania to Binghamton, New York    326 Miles (1801 Miles Total)     Cloudy - 76F

PRR - Standard Railroad of the World

Altoona is synonymous in railroad cirlces as the home of the famed Middle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, now operated by Norfolk Southern. The mainline west of Altoona holds the title of busiest mountain railroad in the world. Originally constructed with two tracks in 1854, by 1900 the line was expanded to four tracks wide and handled 186 trains per day. Although one track was removed in the 1980s, the triple-track main still handles over 60 trains per day. The strategic importance to of the line to the nation's freight transportation system is best illustrated by the fact that during WWII, antiaircraft batteries were positioned along the line and a captured German U-boat contained documents identifying the line as a traget for german sabotage. The busy line also features a number of notable engineering features which allow 10,000 ton trains to slowly climb their way over the Alleghenies. Among these are the tunnels at the summit of the route in Gallitzin and the celebrated Horseshoe Curve where trains make a U-turn while cinging to the sides of mountain valleys. On this day, track maintenance kept the mountain railroad quiet for most of the morning, but I did catch an Eastbound Amtrak train heading into the Gallitzin tunnels on my tour of some of the classic points for watching trains along the line.

Slope Interlocking near downtown Altoona. Slope is the start of triple track and the mountain grade to Horseshoe Curve.

The scale model of Horseshoe Curve shows how the track was looped around the end of the valley to increase the length of run and keep the gradient to a reasonable rate... a railway engineering masterpiece.

Inside the curve at the vistitors center.

Amtrak at the Gallitzin Tunnels.

The view from PA Route 53 at Cresson. The line here is five tracks wide.

The view from the bridge in Cassandra, about 20 miles west of Altoona, by this point the railroad has surmounted the eastern continental divide and it's primarily downhill to Pittsburgh and Chicago beyond.

After spending the morning along the ex-PRR near Altoona under cloudy and rainy skies, I headed north on US220 to State College.

State College is home to Penn State University, and more importantly, the Penn State Creamery, known as being the best ice cream place on any college campus anywhere. Quite a boast but they definately back it up. It must be that all their ice cream is made from milk produced from the PSU experimental dairy herd. The Creamery also offers unique flavours like Peachy Pateron (named after the legendary football coach, who is still the head coach at PSU despite there being a monument to him on campus already) and Nittany Lion Crunch which, appropriately, is white and dark blue.

From State College I headed north on US 220 and the backroads of northern pennsylvania. Lots of hills and winding curves to put Quark through her paces. Crossing the state line into New York, strangely, marked only with a small green sign reading "state boundry" I stopped for the night in Binghamton.

I was here... a while ago.

White 1998 TDI NB Quark and I happened across at the Pizza Hut down the street from the hotel in Binghamton.

 Bug Splat of the Day (presented by Armor-All Glass Cleaner)

Tomorrow: back to Canada

posted July 7, 2003 by Tyler Made with Mac