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Juniata Locomotive Shop(s)

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Juniata Locomotive Shop(s)
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 8:11 PM

On a recent trip to Altoona, where I was born and reared, I noticed that the Juniata Locomotive Shop(s) appear to be busy.  Numerous locomotives in various state of disrepair appeared to be waiting their turn for a sprucing up, so to speak.

Moreover, there are several You Tube videos that show the work being done in the shops. It appears that Norfolk Southern overhauls a significant number of its locomotives in the Juniata shop(s).

At what other sites does the Norfolk Southern perform heavy maintenance and overhaul on its locomotives?

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Posted by oltmannd on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 8:29 PM

A little bit at Roanoke, but Juniata is the 800# gorilla.  The 1958 redesign of the shop that was finally executed in late '70s, early '80s by Conrail gives the shop the capacity to handle a fleet of 5000 locomotives.  That all NS has plus a good bit of contract work.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Friday, November 7, 2014 12:48 AM
I was under the impression that Juniata handles all EMD rebuilds and Roanoke handles all GEs and right now GE rebuilds are picking up steam with the Dash8 conversions and potential dash-9 to AC conversions. Is that not the case?
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Posted by oltmannd on Monday, November 10, 2014 9:55 AM

YoHo1975
I was under the impression that Juniata handles all EMD rebuilds and Roanoke handles all GEs and right now GE rebuilds are picking up steam with the Dash8 conversions and potential dash-9 to AC conversions. Is that not the case?
 

Could be.  I'll have to check.  

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Monday, November 10, 2014 2:02 PM

YoHo1975
I was under the impression that Juniata handles all EMD rebuilds and Roanoke handles all GEs and right now GE rebuilds are picking up steam with the Dash8 conversions and potential dash-9 to AC conversions. Is that not the case?

 

What about Chatanooga  ?

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Posted by oltmannd on Monday, November 10, 2014 2:06 PM

blue streak 1

 

 
YoHo1975
I was under the impression that Juniata handles all EMD rebuilds and Roanoke handles all GEs and right now GE rebuilds are picking up steam with the Dash8 conversions and potential dash-9 to AC conversions. Is that not the case?

 

 

 

What about Chatanooga  ?

 

It's a large running repair shop - generally.  They do have a paint booth, though.  It's not a backshop where you do rebuilding of components as well as replacement.  

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Thursday, November 13, 2014 7:41 PM

I looked on Wikipedia, but only got so far. Juniata is a river, a county, and also a community adjoining Altoona? The name is said to be of Seneca Nation derivation, but how do people say it?

 

Thanks,

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, November 13, 2014 8:10 PM

I've always said June-e-AHH-ta.  Some references say June-e-AT-a, but I rank this down there with people who say ColoRADo rather than ColoRAHdo.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, November 14, 2014 6:42 PM

Chatanooga

It's a large running repair shop - generally.  They do have a paint booth, though.  It's not a backshop where you do rebuilding of components as well as replacement.  

  When was it downgraded from being SOU RR's overhaul facility.  Sometime after the NS combination ?
 
 
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Posted by YoHo1975 on Saturday, November 15, 2014 11:18 PM

Overmod

I've always said June-e-AHH-ta.  Some references say June-e-AT-a, but I rank this down there with people who say ColoRADo rather than ColoRAHdo.

 

 

Oh thank goodness someone finally gave a pronounciation.

Being from Chicago, I can pronounce Polish names without issue, but I had no idea, and then 14 years on the west coast and that right there looks like spanish and so in my head I pronounce it Wah-nee-atah. Of course, Wah would be Jua.. so I should know, but...

 

In fact, I'm so indoctrinated that just saying June-e-AHH-ta out loud makes me think of the "Gringos" who pronounce La Jolla wrong. (La Hoy-a for those that don't know)

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Posted by Buslist on Sunday, November 16, 2014 9:45 AM

Overmod

I've always said June-e-AHH-ta.  Some references say June-e-AT-a, but I rank this down there with people who say ColoRADo rather than ColoRAHdo.

 

 

having lived for a while in Central PA ( State College ) I've heard it both ways there, but of course in reference to the river not the shops.

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Posted by gap920 on Monday, November 17, 2014 5:00 PM

Paul Milenkovic

I looked on Wikipedia, but only got so far. Juniata is a river, a county, and also a community adjoining Altoona? The name is said to be of Seneca Nation derivation, but how do people say it?

 

Thanks,

 

Paul Milenkovic

I looked on Wikipedia, but only got so far. Juniata is a river, a county, and also a community adjoining Altoona? The name is said to be of Seneca Nation derivation, but how do people say it?

 

Thanks,

 

Try Altoona Works on Facebook.  They are a very capable ship that does their own rebuilds and work from other railroads.  https://www.facebook.com/altoonaworks

 

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, November 17, 2014 6:23 PM

gap920
I looked on Wikipedia, but only got so far. Juniata is a river, a county, and also a community adjoining Altoona? The name is said to be of Seneca Nation derivation, but how do people say it?

The plot thickens.

Note to people who don't share my love of etymology and linguistics: probably the best 'answer' to this question is how the people who live there say it, and that's been answered.

"Juniata" is a Romanization of a Seneca word, and probably not one that faithfully renders how the original Seneca sounded.  (Compare what happened when Irish Gaelic names were done into English!)

I don't have the original word available to me.  It may be in Gallatin's A Vocabulary of Seneca (ISBN 978-1889758961) or Chafe's Handbook of the Seneca Language (978-1897367131).  From what little I've been able to glean from the Web, for example here, the correct Seneca pronunciation of the end may be with the first A like the 'u' in 'cut', and the second A like the 'e' in 'ye'... neither of which are likely to result in anything but pitying stares from local residents who hear the name pronounced that way.

I encourage anyone with more time than discretion to take up the study and get a better handle on this.  I have an e-mail request in to UCSB linguistics (and through them, perhaps, to Professor Chafe) and will relay anything I find out.

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 17, 2014 10:32 PM

Paul Milenkovic

I looked on Wikipedia, but only got so far. Juniata is a river, a county, and also a community adjoining Altoona? The name is said to be of Seneca Nation derivation, but how do people say it?

Thanks, 

As noted above, I was reared in Altoona.  The locals pronounce Juniata differently and don't pay it much attention.

Juniata is an integral part of Altoona.  It was a separate community at one time, but it was incorporated into Altoona in the late 19th century.  

I grew up in Eldorado.  It was solid middle class.  Many of our neighbors were engineers, firemen, and conductors on the PRR.  Or they were highly skilled craftsmen who worked in the shops, i.e. machinists, boiler makers, pipe fitters, etc.

Most of the wealthy people in Altoona, when I was growing up, lived in Columbia Park, Mansion Park, and Llyswen.  

Growing up in Altoona we thought of the trains as running east or west. Actually, the mainline runs through Altoona more on a northeast / southwest heading. 

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Posted by cefinkjr on Monday, November 17, 2014 11:40 PM

YoHo1975
... GE rebuilds are picking up steam ...

Wishful thinking or Freudian slip? Huh?

Chuck
Allen, TX

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Posted by VGN Jess on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 2:04 AM

That was my understanding as well (EMD-Altoona / GE-Roanoke), though I can't remember where I read that.

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 2:23 PM

Bad news on a definitive answer, but of considerable interest to some following the etymological discussion:

"Dear Mr. Ellsworth,

Your question regarding the name Juniata was passed on to me. I'm afraid I don't have much to offer. The only thing I've found that's the least relevant is in William Beauchamp's work, Aboriginal Place Names of New York (1907), where he says "Tschochniade was the Iroquois name for Juniata river in 1752." It makes me think of Seneca Jo'nya:të:h, which refers to a mythical apparition, literally "dry hand". But that doesn't make much sense. Maybe Johnya:de' ("h" like German "ch") comes closer to Beauchamp's spelling, something like "the hand is there", but where did that come from? I'm afraid I have to strike out. "Standing stone" is the origin of "Oneida", and "blue water" is curious indeed. Sorry I can't do better.

Best wishes,
Wallace Chafe"

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Posted by Juniatha on Saturday, November 22, 2014 3:14 PM

Without going into details , yes , the name *is* of ancient Indian origin , my variation of it with an 'h' - not a 'th' - mind it , is actually spelled [Junia:t:a] with pronunciation on the preceding 'a' and a soft 't' - although I guess many would wonder and complain "why , she's not soft at all" .

=J=

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, November 22, 2014 6:20 PM

I wish it was "Juniatha's Shops", I can imagine all the good stuff that would come out of there!

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, November 28, 2014 7:56 AM

Firelock76

I wish it was "Juniatha's Shops", I can imagine all the good stuff that would come out of there!

In all fairness, there is already a lot of good stuff that's coming out of there (SD60E's, GP59E's, road slugs of all sorts, etc.).

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Firelock76 on Friday, November 28, 2014 4:22 PM

CSSHEGEWISCH

 

 
Firelock76

I wish it was "Juniatha's Shops", I can imagine all the good stuff that would come out of there!

 

 

In all fairness, there is already a lot of good stuff that's coming out of there (SD60E's, GP59E's, road slugs of all sorts, etc.).

 

I KNOW there's some stuff coming out of Juniata Shops, but dammit, it's all DIESELS!  I'm lookin' for reconstituted and improved stuff like S-1's, T-1's, S-2's, new-and improved K-4's, get the picture?

What, you folks think I wasn't going to be lookin' in on Black Friday?  

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Posted by carnej1 on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 11:31 AM

Firelock76

 

 
CSSHEGEWISCH

 

 
Firelock76

I wish it was "Juniatha's Shops", I can imagine all the good stuff that would come out of there!

 

 

In all fairness, there is already a lot of good stuff that's coming out of there (SD60E's, GP59E's, road slugs of all sorts, etc.).

 

 

 

I KNOW there's some stuff coming out of Juniata Shops, but dammit, it's all DIESELS!  I'm lookin' for reconstituted and improved stuff like S-1's, T-1's, S-2's, new-and improved K-4's, get the picture?

What, you folks think I wasn't going to be lookin' in on Black Friday?  

 

Throw in the proposed V-1 "Triplex"Steam turbine and you'd really be cooking (with coal)..

http://books.google.com/books?id=Pt8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=PRR+steam+turbine+triplex&source=bl&ots=bM56R367ON&sig=8uAgGL-jBeTxnvO0eIJ1NYVQluA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Xvd9VI7hA4fZsATruICQAw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=PRR%20steam%20turbine%20triplex&f=false

 

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