Eastern Railroad Discussion > Off the beaten path on the Conemaugh Line...

Today, I got an afternoon pass from my gracious wife and decided to head off the beaten path a bit in search of remaining fall color and some trains. I've been meaning to try a certain shot on the NS Conemaugh Line for sometime now, and today looked like a good day. So I journeyed to the Conemaugh Dam Recreation area a bit west of Blairsville, PA. This is an area most fans, including myself, tend to ignore in favor of the nearby Pittsburgh Line around Latrobe, or more likely even the famed "west slope" between Johnstown and Cresson. The Conemaugh Line serves as a low grade conduit for (mostly) eastbound tonnage freights, keeping the Pgh Line fluid for westbounds and intermodals, so traffic can be sporadic at times. This can be very frustrating while one listens to train after train calling signals at nearby CP Pack on the Pgh Line. Anyways, the area around the flood control dam on the Conemaugh River offers some neat views of trains crossing large steel bridge from the riverside. This is the best time of year to get these shots, with the low fall afternoon sun providing sidelight on train crossing the bridge, and the low fall river levels allowing one to venture well out into the dry riverbed in some places. I'd tried to get this shot several times in the past, but had either been skunked by clouds, high water, or a simple lack of trains.
1. Here's a shot of parking area below the dam, snapping this shot of the current bridge going over the 1907 era former PRR alignment on the stone arch bridge. The current bridge is actually the THIRD track re-alighment in the area. The original line gave way to a better engineered route in 1907, and in the 50's, an Army Corps flood control project required a new Conemaugh Line for double digit miles to be built on a much higher alignment, since the dam would put the 1907 line in the bottom of the lake!
2. No sooner had I arrived and turned the car motor off when I heard an eastbound blowing for the nearby tunnel to the west. I scrambled down the hill and found an open spot along the river. THis wasn't the optimal location I wanted to be at, but it would do as a late running 36A rolled over the bridge.
3. After 36A cleared, a welder at SALTS called and asked for some railroad, but teh Pgh West dispatecher informed him he'd have to wait for another eastbound already in the picture. I wandered down the riverbank to a spot where a small point of dry land extends out into the river when its at low eb, and an hour later got 10N on the bridge with a WILD consist including an SD60M, 2 BNSF units, a GP38-3 and an SD45-2 trailing! Unfortunately, the arrival of the train naturally coincided with a cloud.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/14 18:45 by PittsburghMike.

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After 10N cleared, the welder again called and was again rebuffed...for now there were 2 more trains about 45 minutes to an hour out. I decided to poke around the park a bit while I waited and used the opportunity to drive across the old 1907 PRR bridge which is used by visitors to the park to access the far shore. It also lets you check out the 1907 Bow Tunnel , closed during the 50's line relocation and offers as nice view upstream towards the dam. The piers in the original show the only traces of the ORIGINAL PRR line. This is a really neat area, as the remains of a canal towpath that was part of the system that predated the PRR can also be seen by exploring the park a bit.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/14 18:37 by PittsburghMike.

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7. The downriver view.
8 & 9. It was now train time, and I headed back to my riverside perch (In retrospect I wish I'd climbed down the far bank for a different angle, but that leaves something to do next visit). First up was a PP&L coal drag, followed 45 minutes later by a 544 drag of system hoppers destined for the nearby Huff power plant. It was now 1700, and 4 trains had made for a nice afternoon. I was tempted to head for Blairsville to search for the LV 8104 that was dumping coal for the transload on the Blairsville IT, but that would have made my arrival home later than agreed with Mrs PghMike, and I do my best to stay in her good graces...while I journeyed home, the very patient welding crew FINALLY were given a solid 3 hours to go about their work. The railroad doesn't stop when the sun goes down!

Thanks for looking!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/14 18:44 by PittsburghMike.

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Mighty nice! I like the Conemaugh Line. I live within ear shot of it and I do not pay enough attention to this line. This must change as the Conemaugh line offers many nice vistas for good shots as yours. Also, the history of those bridges in the Blairsville area is a nice touch! Thanks for sharing, Pittsburgh Mike.

SantaFeRuss

Everything was awesome here. Absolutely LOVE the bridge shots.

~Craig Z

PittsburghMike - I really enjoyed your MRL series and these are terrific too. Thanks for posting.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO

Great series PM.

GREAT stuff...!!! Thanks for sharing.

Mike, thank you for the interesting narrative and great pictures. I certainly had no idea about his area. Again thanks.
John

The road less traveled ? Very nice series.

Thanks gents.

A couple notes on the location, especially for those with families/spouses:
-There is a bathroom right at the parking area next to the bridges.
-Closer to the entrance to the park, about 1/2 mile from my riverside shots, there are picnic pavilions and a playground for the kids.
-If you are paying attention to a scanner that has good reception, you *might* get a garbled signal call when eastbound trains passes CP SALTS several miles to the west, which gives about 10 minutes warning on a train. The challenge is that is on the other side of the tunnel, and the mountain blocks a lot of the signal. Short of that, you will hear the train blowing for the tunnel, which will give you about 5 minutes warning before a train. The climb down the hillside from the trailhead parking area requires at least that long, so unfortunately you kind of need to be hanging out along the river while you wait.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/14 07:43 by PittsburghMike.

Thought it was interesting to see tracks still in place with tunnel out of service;

The photos of the abandoned Bow Tunnel (and the sign) prompted me to view the area in Google Maps/satellite. It took a bit of wandering, but I found the likely spot to send the ROV down to check the integrity of the plug.

For those interested, there's a neat view of a lost abutment that's just below the water's surface. From the West Penn Trail's curved bridge, go east. At the east end of the next bridge, look a bit north for a spit of land that points roughly north east. Zoom way on this and look into the water just beyond the waterline for the right angles.

Hmm ... how seismic active is this area? If the plug ever failed in a natural disaster, where do we think that gate would wind up? ;-)

* JB *