Large Scale Central

NKP 765 Eastbound Deadhead Move

Prototypes
#1

After pulling the excursions out of Conway Yard, August 13th, 2012 saw NKP 765 make a deadhead move to Harrisburg via the NS Pittsburgh Line through Altoona and over Horseshoe Curve. After running out to Cassandra (PT256) I chased the train east to Mount Union before I gave up. With a nearly 160 mile round trip chase, I took hundreds of shots, but like usual, only got a few I was happy with. But after standing trackside at seven locations and watching… no, experiencing the locomotive thunder by, I have no qualms in saying it was worth it. A couple of my better shots:

After battling upgrade through Cassandra and Lilly and coasting through the enginehouse at Cresson, NKP 765 makes a short service stop in Gallitzin before beginning the descent into Altoona

After making a full service stop at Altoona Pipe & Steel, NKP 765 begins the 132mile trek from Altoona to Harrisburg. Here she coasts gently under one of the few remaining Pennsy (PRR) Position Light Signals left on the Pittsburgh Line at the Fostoria Road Crossing.

So far, so good. NKP Makes an awesome impression on the nearly 100 railfans that clog the road as she thunders upgrade out of CP Jacks in Mount Union. Directly to the left of the engine is the Mount Union Yard where several old East Broad Top hoppers remain to this day. More pictures were uploaded to my facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4732061858925.193148.1216111148&type=1&l=b651b3a728

#2

Nice. Thanks for posting.

#3

Sweet!

#4

Nice. Couldn’t have picked a better spot as far as scenery is concerned.

#5

Great pics Jason…got a few myself when she came through!

#6

Thanks David, it was your thread that gave me the idea to continue it here.

#7

Great Pictures!
Thanks for sharing them with us.

#8
Jason Gallaway said:
Thanks David, it was your thread that gave me the idea to continue it here.
Cool...thanks for sharing!

BTW…everybody calls me Rooster round here these days so you might as well too!
:wink:

#9

Your photos brought back many fond memories, Jason. Before girls and cars sidetracked my recreational interests, hanging out on the NKP at Silver Creek, N.Y. was what I did. Beautiful locos. Great shots.

#10

Joe, Silver Creek? That down toward the Erie, PA section of the state?

I’m originally from the Tri-County area where Wyoming, Cattaragus & Erie Counties come together.

n/m… I just did what I always tell everyone else: google maps is a wonderful research tool. I was right, its roughly where I expected, though closer than I realized. Its directly west of where Genesee Road ends. I used to take Genesee west out of Arcade to North Collins before detouring over other roads to Eden where the club track exists for the Live Steam Club I belonged to before I moved to Penna.

#11

Jason, yes that Silver Creek. It’s 32 miles south of Buffalo. My grandparents has a summer cottage there, which I inherited but sold at the bottom of the market. Kinda wish we owned it now, although living in California would make it problematic.

The railroad story. The NYC, NKP and Pennsy all ran through SC and both the NYC and Pennsy had stations there, although there wasn’t much action, passenger wise. The NKP and Pennsy shared trackage to Northeast, PA and the Pennsy local out of Buffalo came through once or twice a week to switch Pennsy’s house track and such. The block from SC to Dunkirk, I think, was situated there and there was this old telegrapher named Charlie Grubb, who took a shine to me and used to regale me with stories of the good old days. He chewed tobacco and spit masterfully into a spitoon. He was a great telegrapher with a “bug,” and tried to teach me Morse Code, which is still how it was being done in the 50s. He let me throw the semaphore signals, if the block was red, throw switches, and even hand up the train orders (using a hoop) to a passing locomotive. I almost hung them on the side of the boiler, I was so freaked out by standing that close to a speeding loco. One day when the Pennsy local came by, Charlie introduced me to the Pennsy engineer, a nice guy named Joe Kasper, who also took a shine to me (hey, I have that effect on people) and gave me a cab ride as he switched Silver Creek. But one day, he invited me to ride cab all the way to Northeast, which took all day. I sat on a milk carton in the middle of the cab, right under that hatch you see on all of our model locos. We’ll, since we’re talkin’ coal-fired, all that soot came raining down on me and when I wandered into my grandparents’ cottage at the end of the day, my grandma almost–umm–fainted. I had a great time on the railroad until cars, girls, et all, got me off track. BTW, ya could do stuff like that in those pre-OSHA days. Heck, back in Buffalo when they were building the Sqagequada (however ya spell it) Express way and dynamiting the limestone, I used to ride my bike down into the excavation site and watch 'em blow things up. Try doing that today! I also got to ride shotgun on a city bulldozer, which was filling in a lily pond across from our house. Like I said, I have a magnetic personality. Or maybe these guys all felt sorry for this fat little Polish kid. :slight_smile: