My Trips and Adventures

          I thought that Railcamp would be the last time I went to Pennsylvania for a very long time, but it wasn’t. I would go back there about a month later to chase a famous steam locomotive, The Nickle Plate Berkshire Type number 765.. We went over to a town near Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, on the way there, my camera broke, so I used my Ipad for a camera. I went on this interesting trip with my friends Ronnie Schenpf, Elliot Courtney, and Mark Lacari. We stayed there for three nights. We chased it between Pittsburgh, Conway, and Homewood. We first chased it between Conway and Pittsburgh. And then it went back to Conway for a bit. When it was returning, we stopped at a crossing, since we fell behind. The first thing to come through was a hotshot freight. He was flying, doing at least 70 mph. It was a TOFC or Trailer On Flat Car. It was a long train to being at least 50 cars. After the freight passed, the 765 came through. After that trip, it stopped in Conway for about an hour, after the break, it headed over a massive bridge on its way to Homewood. It made these trips twice a day, for two days. When we tried to chase it from the Pittburgh area, heading back to Conway, we kept hitting red lights, eventually we started blowing through them. On the way back to Conway though we saw a guy with this massive camera sitting on the rear car door. When we got just outside of Conway, we cut the chase off. We turned down a side road, but when we turned, Elliot, who was driving, went over an Island then went back over it again. The whole time we preyed that he drop the camera but he didn’t.

Above: I wish he dropped it. (Photo courtesy of Ronnie Schenpf)

        On the second day, we paced it. It was awesome. We hauled ass, blowing stop lights (again) and going around cars (again). We got some really good shots. Then we headed down to Altoona to go see the Horseshoe curve. When we were  in the Altoona area, we met up with a former railcamper named Tyler. Elliot and Mark went to Rail camp with him a few years back and they keep in contact to this day. We went to a place called Sheetz and it was awesome. I kept getting fries and soda. After we headed down to a crossing in Cresson and sat there for a while and watched some trains. We eventually got word that the Office Car Special (OCS) was coming through so we waited around for that. After we left the crossing, we went to a pedestrian bridge. On the way to the bridge in Cassandra, Tyler showed us a few songs. They were very interesting. These were “The songs that made the trip”. We watched the sun set and we saw a number of trains there. There was a signal bridge up the line a bit so we knew if there was a train coming. Ronnie got some exposure shots and they came out amazing. After the bridge we went over to a field and we hoped to watch some trains there too. We saw a few helper sets go by but no freight trains. After that we were wiped out. So we headed back to Altoona and went back to our hotel after dropping Tyler off at his house.

Above: One of the Exposure shots Ronnie got. (Photo courtesy of Ronnie Schenpf)

Above: (From left to right) Elliot, Tyler, Me, Ronnie at the crossing waiting for something to come through. (Photo courtesy of Elliot Courtney)

        The next day, The steam Locomotive headed down to Altoona, but it would take a few hours for it to get there. So we headed over to the old tower for a few minutes at the western side of the big yard there called “Alto”. It was only recently closed so its still standing. We headed over to see the famous shops there next. The “Juanita Shops” where the Pennsylvania Railroad Rebuild and created many locomotives. Juniata's current owner, Norfolk Southern still carries out this tradition. Though they may not create their own locomotives, they still rebuild Locomotives. They even have contracts with other railroads, like Massachusetts MBTA commuter system. We then headed over to the field we went to the day before and sat there for a few hours. We saw many trains and one was very interesting. The Engineer hung out the window and had a giant American flag and held it up screaming “America! America! America!” Everyone was laughing at that.

Above: Murica!(Photo Courtisy of Ronnie Schenpf)

        Well, the train eventually came,  everyone was excited. Next up, Brickyard. for the brickyard, Westward you have a long straightaway and heading east you enter Altoona. After the brickyard, the train stopped in Altoona because one of the cars was having problems, so we headed over to Huntingdon to have lunch. Once we were finished with lunch, we went to the station and the first train we saw was Amtrak's Pennsylvanian. We started to talk to this one lady who remembers the Pennsylvania Railroad, when it was still around. It turned out that she was the Mayor of Huntingdon! Next up was a long Garbage train. It was so long that we were worried we might get blocked, meaning the train we are waiting for would be on the other side of this train. Then about 15 minutes after, the train we were waiting for came through! After it passed we hauled it out of there and chased it. After a few stops, we ended up falling behind. So we floored it to through two stops. And we caught up. When we caught up, we stopped at a baseball field. There was a softball game going on so me, Ronnie, and Mark ran along the foul line. Adrenaline was pumping in all our veins. Elliot though, ran across the field during the game. The game came to a sudden stop and one girl yelled “What are you doing?” He said “There's a train coming”, pointing at the tracks and she said “Whats all this I hear about a ‘Special Train’?” he then yelled “Just Watch!” Just then the Train came through and blasted by the baseball field. The locomotive disappeared out of our sight and we zoomed out of there. Keep in mind this all happened in under a minute. As we left, Elliot said “Oh my god, I just realized what I did.” I said “I saw you running out there and I said ‘What is he doing running on the baseball field during a game”. We all just laughed even harder. He then responded “YOLO!”. I then said, “I wonder what everyone is thinking right now?”We all then started laughing again.

ABOVE: This is where Elliot stood in the middle of the field. There we are in the picture along the Right of Way. (Photo courtesy of Elliot Courtney)

        We chased it all the way to Harrisburg. It turned on the Wye track and ran onto the famed Rockville Bridge, well after the Garbage train we saw earlier. The Garbage train had to take the siding for this train. when our train came onto the bridge, it was getting dark out. We were exhausted afterward. We ended up staying in Harrisburg for the night. The very last day of the trip, we went rail fanning for a little bit in Macungie, but we headed home afterward. What was supposed to be a Friday to Sunday trip ended up being a Friday to Tuesday trip. The trip cost me over $100, and a camera, Ronnie a new suspension, and tires, and Elliot helped pay for the tires.

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