This past weekend (Aug 2023), I had a family-related event that happened near Altoona, PA (that only happens there once in a blue moon). Due to some scheduling conflicts, I was unable to take the train there, and this was the first time I've ever been to Altoona (instead of just passing through the outskirts by car). I always take the Pennsylvanian from PGH to HGD every few months or so just for the fun of riding the train near me and always pass through the Altoona station.
I got the chance early Sunday morning to do some railfanning (just for a short while though), so I went to the station because I wanted to see #42 pass through. The platform attendant (who I unfortunately did not get the name of, because I would submit a great report to Amtrak) was super nice and let me railfan from the platform. He started to approach me, and I immediately thought to myself "time to get pack up my tripod and get out of here," but he walked right past me to give some paperwork to the engineer in the P42.
As passengers were deboarding, some of them were cheering towards the P42. While I was packing my tripod up after the train had left, the platform attendant explained to me that it was the engineer's last day driving with Amtrak.
I bet you are wondering "You're a railfan and in Altoona for the first time, did you go to the Horseshoe Curve?" While I still had some time, I drove to the Horseshoe Curve. I'm not that much into freight rail (I'm a die-hard passenger railfan), but I thought it would be great to see first hand as I sometimes watch the railcam there to see the Pennsylvanian pass through on it (along with the railcam in Cresson).
As I got to the top of the HSC, I learned that there was an outage affecting rail operations near the curve (from the scanner on the loud speaker). I still went up there though just to see it. Since I'm not into freight, I wasn't that upset that I didn't see anything, but it still was really cool being up there. I was more excited to see Amtrak stop at the station.
I got the chance early Sunday morning to do some railfanning (just for a short while though), so I went to the station because I wanted to see #42 pass through. The platform attendant (who I unfortunately did not get the name of, because I would submit a great report to Amtrak) was super nice and let me railfan from the platform. He started to approach me, and I immediately thought to myself "time to get pack up my tripod and get out of here," but he walked right past me to give some paperwork to the engineer in the P42.
As passengers were deboarding, some of them were cheering towards the P42. While I was packing my tripod up after the train had left, the platform attendant explained to me that it was the engineer's last day driving with Amtrak.
I bet you are wondering "You're a railfan and in Altoona for the first time, did you go to the Horseshoe Curve?" While I still had some time, I drove to the Horseshoe Curve. I'm not that much into freight rail (I'm a die-hard passenger railfan), but I thought it would be great to see first hand as I sometimes watch the railcam there to see the Pennsylvanian pass through on it (along with the railcam in Cresson).
As I got to the top of the HSC, I learned that there was an outage affecting rail operations near the curve (from the scanner on the loud speaker). I still went up there though just to see it. Since I'm not into freight, I wasn't that upset that I didn't see anything, but it still was really cool being up there. I was more excited to see Amtrak stop at the station.
