Ken, these from this morning?
Now I know why she was showing in the system as out of the yard by 5 & change but not on the road headed west. Thanks much.!
JD,
The bridge photos were from Sunday evening.
Ken, nice job on the bridge photos. Yours turned out much nicer than mine did 
You had a better angle on the bridge.
ralph
Duncannon, Pa 5./25/2013
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Gallitzin, Pa.
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Nice pics. So how did the chase go? I imagine it’s pretty difficult to get ahead of her.
Jon Radder said:
Nice pics. So how did the chase go? I imagine it’s pretty difficult to get ahead of her.
Went great, Jon. Even gave Ralph a small tour of Orbisonia and by doing so, we missed 765 going through Mt. Union, by about 10 minutes…;(
And not knowing where you’re going didn’t help either, but by talking to other folks there, we found some out of the way spots.
But we did get to 4 different places on Sat. and 3 on Sunday. The last stop Sunday being the Rockville Bridge in the first 2 pix. That was a must.
All in all it was a great trip. Enjoyed the train, enjoyed the scenery, enjoyed some of the people and enjoyed the company…
and…we even saw a cabose on the tail end of a train…
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Nice pics Ken!
That bridge over Shermans Creek in Duncannon can be hard to get down into not to mention the ticks!
David Russell said:
Nice pics Ken!
That bridge over Shermans Creek in Duncannon can be hard to get down into not to mention the ticks!
We found the spot by accident on our way back to Harrisburg on Sat. I knew where Ducannon was so we just took a slow cruise through town till we spotted the creek and the road going in (road? …dirt path was more like it. )… Ralph was going to try and get a shot of 765 going over it this morning from the other side of the river along 322.
I remembered the spot for taking the pix of Rockville from a bus trip I took 10 years ago, but could not remember how to get to it. We spent over an hour cruising up and down 11/15 on Fri nite looking for it. Later the nite Ralph looked on Google Earth and we finally figured out how to get to it.
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Nice shots Ken. Glad you guys had a good time
Hey Ken, can I use your thread for my new pics, or would you prefer I make my own?
Purty pictures… 
Use it, JD, I’m flattered you asked…
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After the last employee excursion, a helper was coupled ahead and towed the engine and a few cars to the top of the mountain to get them turned the right way for the next series of public excursions the following week.
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On Saturday, I tried to get going in time to catch the ONE picture I WANTED. Well, no thanks to the wonders of railroading, I didn’t make it in time. Instead, I was only able to intercept at Plummer’s Crossing, just east of Tyrone.
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Well, Sunday I intercepted the train FAR east of where I wanted: Marysville. I was called to take a freight to Harrisburg. The good part is I got to pass the train at “The Cove”. Monday Morning however, I managed to get back to Altoona fast enough and burn out of the yard to intercept the train in the place I originally wanted. Milepost 193, (Mapleton, PA) just east of CP-Jacks (Jacks is the interlocking where the East Broad Top used to interchange with the PRR.) The weather and the sun combined just perfect for a rapid series of shots at this, one of the doomed PRR position signal bridges on the Pittsburgh Division.
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Not about to waste the chance for a decent shot, I got a few nice ones as she chugged west towards Huntingdon and CP Hunt.
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After our shots at Mapleton, my son Logan and I raced west to get in front of the train once more. We finally got into position at the west portal to “Portage” tunnel on Main One. At the top, the train stopped after coming around the “Loop” and past AR Tower. Apparently they disconnected the jumper between the tender & diesels so that the NS engineer could run the dynamics while the Ft. Wayne engineer pulled the train down hill and into the tunnel.
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Rushing back down the mountain, Logan and I headed for Altoona Pipe & Steel where I expected the train to stop for water & service. Radio chatter said she wasn’t as far as I thought, and I decided to detour to the parking spot used by the operators when Alto Tower had been in service. I wasn’t in time to get teh shots I wanted… juggling my son and trying to get into position on railroad property in front of everyone wasn’t a task I wanted to try. So these had to suffice.
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Imagine my surprise when I was able to jump from Alto Tower to just east of the Amtrak platform AND get ahead of the train (like a mile move!). As they positioned the train to debark the passengers at the station, I got these shots. Unfortunately, they then pulled the train down into JBS (Juniata Back Shop). Once on the industrial track, they cut the 765 away from the train and ran it down into the bowels of JBS for servicing and water. While the crowd was waiting for the return of the train, we had three other train movements which we thought each would end up blocking the view of the returning passenger train. I decided that rather than wait for the train to depart, I decided to bug out and run ahead to Fostoria Road crossing. I didn’t think I was gonna make it since about three minutes after logan and I left Altoona Pipe & Steel, NKP 765 called Altoona East Dispatcher to let them know they were ready to roll.
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Well, we made it after all. Turns out that the steam train wasn’t nearly as hot this year as it was last time. Maybe after six trips, the dispatch office had just had enough. Either way, she got held up at Antis for a truck train to move ahead. Then they had to follow down on bad signals. Then the train ahead was told they would hold at CP Gray in Tyrone for another train to get around them both. In any case, we made it. However… we heard the steam train whistle for some people up the line. Then we heard that other train honk as it came through the same area. A group of us made the decision to cross the tracks, thinking that the freight was gonna block our view. Imagine our annoyance when it turned out to be a tiny little truck train that rip-roared past, was gone and we still hadn’t seen the steam train show up. In the rush to cross BACK over, my son lost his shoe between main tracks. He wants to stop and get it. I however pick him up and rush him across, telling him I will go back for it. Only after he is safely across and his shoe retrieved, does 765 make her final appearance for the day.
As the train slowly crept past, and then slowly crept around the curve and out of sight, I had a serious case of depression. The girl was gone. Another year and the steam is done. But no matter the case, the memories are priceless. Today’s pictures amounted to over FOUR HUNDRED Shots!!! course, it was actually only 200 since i finally figured out how to record RAW and JPG.
But no matter, the steam flows, and yet again the guys from Fort Wayne showed the world that STEAM IS NOT DEAD. With pistons pounding and exhaust barking, the 3,850hp; 802,000pound iron steed reignited the spark of railfan’s spirits as she rolled her sixteen car (including two domes and two full domes) plus troop car, canteen, two GEVOs and tender across PRR’s Middle Division in a display of steam-showmanship that will not be forgotten for a long time to come.
David Russell said:
Nice pics Ken!
That bridge over Shermans Creek in Duncannon can be hard to get down into not to mention the ticks!
Sure, you tell me about the ticks now 
As we were having dinner later I found a tick on me 
The rest of the night I had imaginary ticks crawling all over me
Ralph
They’ll do that to ya Ralph.
More nice shots J.D. Now I just need to locate some of those spots for my own rail fanning.
I recognize a few of those spots JD mentioned. Unfortunately we didn’t hear about them or see them till after the train went through. But I don’t think me and Ralph did bad for a couple of out of town amateur touristas that had no idea where we were. Next time we’ll have to hook up with JD …
I had 180 pictures, and about 25 video clips, of which about half were of 765 in all her glory. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to get these videos off this camera.
Glad to see ya made it home OK, Ralph…
Ken Brunt said:
Glad to see ya made it home OK, Ralph…
Holiday traffic was pretty brutal and the “Revenuers” were everywhere
But I still managed to make it home in 8 hours.
I overslept Monday morning and didn’t get any more pictures. I guess I need the rest
I have a couple of pictures worthy of sharing space with the fine photos already here. But it will be a day or two before I get them posted.
Ralph
For those lookign for a place to put pics online, I recommend & use imageshack.us. they don’t have those gregarious TOS terms which mean you give over your copyrights by posting to them, they give you five gigs free, and they don’t mind hotlinking, as my photos prove.
Their site is a little tempermental as far as gettign the code you need to show off your wartwork, but it just takes a little patience… and trial & error, lol.
One last thing. She is scheduled to depart Enola for points west at 8am on Wednesday. Last chance for a while to catch steam on the Middle Division. One last hurrah for steam up and over the Curve.