FOUND THE VIDEO ! Cab Ride Around Horseshoe Curve 1900

[BEAUSABRE]

Deleted - Sorry - I forgot to copy the URL!

[BEAUSABRE]

Horseshoe Curve, Pennsylvania, 1900 - YouTube

[Flintlock76]

Amazing!  Thanks!

[BEAUSABRE]

Remember Blackawk Films (HIGHLY Politically Incorrect Logo) Steam Locomotives In Action on the Pennsylvania, 1954 - YouTube

[BaltACD]

BEAUSABRE

Remember Blackawk Films (HIGHLY Politically Incorrect Logo) Steam Locomotives In Action on the Pennsylvania, 1954 - YouTube

Highlights just how slow steam was when maxed out on tonnage on a ascending grade.  On the order of 4 to 5 MPH.  Freight DC diesels have a minimum continuous speed between 9 and 12 MPH depending upon the manufacturer.

[PJS1]

This brings back a lot of good memories.

 

I grew up in Altoona in the 40s and 50s.  We lived about two miles from the Curve.  In the summer, when the house windows were open, and the wind was blowing in the right direction, at night we could hear the steam locomotives headed up the mountain and around the Curve.

 

I use to ride my bicycle from the house up to the Curve on the narrow road that runs along the reservoirs.  It is wonder that I was not killed or hurt.  Sometimes, if I had another nutcase with me, we would go through the narrow tunnel under the Curve and ride up to Gallitzin. 

 

I remember going to the Curve on a Sunday afternoon with my folks.  It was before the fences were put up.  We would walk out to the tracks and place pennies on them to have them flattened. 

 

About 1964, if I remember correctly, I had an opportunity to ride in the cab of an E7 or E8 from Altoona to Pittsburgh.  It was Train #25, the Duquesne.  It left Altoona at 2:02 pm and arrived in Pittsburgh at 4:50 pm.  Going around the curve in the cab of a locomotive gave me a perspective that I would not have gotten otherwise.  It was a great experience. 

 

The opportunity was organized by my father’s sister, who had been the high school girl friend of a guy that subsequently became a VP of the PRR.  She arranged the trip for me; apparently, they had a good relationship.  My dad commented that it would be an experience that I would remember all of my life.  He was right.