Nostalgia & History > Conrail East Slope Action in 1979 for Flare Friday

In October of 1979 my buddy Tom Luckey and I headed for Altoona and spent the weekend on the East Slope of the Alleghenies. We spent most of our time at Bennington Curve (MP 246.5 Pittsburgh Line) on the grade just below Tunnel Hill. Eastbounds came down the Slide with brake shoes smoking and dynamics howling. Westbounds and their Helpers strained as they made their way through CP Benny and on through the tunnels at Gallitzin on the way to the summit at Cresson,PA. This particular weekend we logged 100 trains in a little under 36 hours ! No SD35,SD40,SDP45 or SD45-2s in helper service on this trip. Nothing but 25 SD45s (12 pair and 1 single). We also spent some time at CP Slope on the west end of Altoona where you can watch eastbounds coming off the grade and westbounds trying to get a run for the hill. Shot #1- 6109,6191 shoving PGPI at Bennington Curve. Shot #2- 6164,6224 pushing PFPI through CP Benny. Shot #3- 6079,6072 (ex-ELs) double heading TV-3X which has another 45 head out at Bennington.

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Shot #4- 6149,6133 double heading a westbound Empty Grain train at Bennington.  Shot #5- 6125,6165 pushing a westbound TV at Bennington.  Shot #6- 6091,6114 shoving the BAPI through the interlocking at CP Benny.

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Very nice.  The Conrail paint looked good on them. Still had fairly wide open shots, but I guess most of those places are considerably more greened in.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/18 15:09 by King_Coal.

Shot #7- 6125,6165 double heading westbound JCO-7 (empty grain) at CP Slope.  Shot #8- 6134,6083 helper ahead on eastbound PICA at Slope.  Shot #9- 6189,6163 eastbound returning light to Altoona at Slope. We were in 20 cylinder heaven on this trip ! Enjoy !

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#9 is a great shot - and agree the CR scheme fit those units very well.

Awesome series - thanks for sharing.  The east slope was quite a place back then, especially before the fourth track was removed. 

BTW great scans - what do you use?

Epson V600

How many trains during your stay went via the Muleshoe? Or was it out-of-service by then?
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/18 22:59 by BCHellman.

Excellent plus photo series with concise narratives.
Those SD45's were powerful looking machines.
Apporeciate your posting.
ALLEN

Great bunch.
JB

We didn't see any moves on the New Portage Secondary (Muleshoe) on this trip. We had seen a few on our previous trips in 1978. I think by this time it was basically an escape route if there was a derailment or major maintenance on the East Slope. I think it was officially taken out of service and abandoned sometime in 1981.

What a great series of shots!! I loved the distinctive look of the SD45s, but they could be rough riding at speed. On the mountain I'm sure they felt right at home! Very nice1
Also love seeing all of the locations. Never thought I'd say it, but I wish Conrail was still around.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD