Eastern Railroad Discussion > "Legal" Access to "Benny's Curve"

Below is a Google map aerial photo of the area just east of the  NS Gallitzin tunnels in PA.  Is Bird Eye Rd, which runs east along the NS ROW, considered a public road to get to the cemetery?

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I drove down birds eye road to the cemetary years back. Don't know what it's like anymore?

John Miller
Conestoga, PA

I believe it is ............ however, the area popular for photography, overlooking the curve as well as the straight stretch of the tracks leading to it from the tunnels, is another matter. I've got ripped before for saying this, but, all I can tell you is my first-hand experience and you can go from there: the rocks from which everyone likes to stand and shoot are part of NS' right-of-way and conversely, if you are there taking pictures, you are tresspassing. Same goes for the outside area of the Horseshoe Curve [next to track 3] that has so many still pictures and videos taken from it. A few years back [fall of either 2014 or 2015 - I forget which], I found myself at Bernnington Curve with some other railfans taking pictures when the head of the area NS police showed up on the opposite side of the tracks [off of Sugar Run Rd] to inform us of the infraction. Unfortunately, one of the other guys that was there had decided to go down and across the tracks to take pictures from that side himself [the fact of which made at least one of his companions unhappy even before NS police showed up] so he was easy-pickings. After requesting all of us to meet back at our vehicles, with the understanding that we were looking at nothing more than a warning, he told us that the ROW at that location extended up to where most of us where [33 1/2' from the middle of the gauge of the outside track] and we all now have our names in their database as having been warned. In the course of the conversation, he also advised us that they actually own up to 300' of the area on either side of the Horseshoe Curve, rendering that area off limits as well ....... not that this stops many people in either location. The point here is, proceed at your own risk of legal action & don't shoot the messenger; that information comes straight from The Man. But the road itself, as I understand it, is open to the public 1) because of the cemetary & 2) because it also provides access to State Game Lands that border the NS ROW. 

Good discussion from 2014......

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,3388862,page=1
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/17 10:01 by cinder.

Benny camp site some years ago, no problems then.
Ed K. cp Laurel Run

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Ed K. cp Laurel Run

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Thanks Ed.....You have told us the same thing several times....Always with pictures!

I'll repeat what I posted a few years ago on this topic.  It appears that the NS claims to the veranda at Benny are bogus.  (Road access to the area is a different issue, but it ain't all that difficult to bushwhack the last several hundred yards through the woods to get there)  The state of Pennsylvania appears to think that they own at least a portion of the veranda, since their boundary is very, very close to the tracks.

See the following PA game lands map system.  For some reason I can't get the system to put out a decen jpeg or ping file to post here.  But just zoom in on Altoona, Gallitzin, Tunnel Hill and you'll get the message. 

http://pgcmaps.pa.gov/pgcpublicviewer/

The last couple of times I've gone there, I've made sure to have this site on my iPad.  As I noted in 2014, it's common for NS people to claim ownership of stuff they don't own.  It is our right (some would say our obligation) to call them on this.  Especially since there is no signage, and NS staff routinely claim that they own the entire mountain.  Tell that to the judge guys, it just ain't so.

I'd also repeat the value of guerilla railfanning.  Don't set up a picnic camp on the rocks.  Stay back in the woods to the extent you can, and wear clothing that blends in with the surroundings.

cinder Wrote:
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> Thanks Ed.....You have told us the same thing
> several times....Always with pictures!
Just sharing how it looked plus picture possibilities back then, it was a really neat place to be!
Ed K.

 

Also, don't go out in the state hunting lands in hunting season with clothing that blends into the landscape.

The county tax map should be the authoritative guide for precisely where the boundary between the (tax paying) railroad and the state game lands is.  It might even give the reference bench marks used by surveyors to determine same.  In Pennsylvania, at least, the burden would be on the land owner to prove that you were trespassing.

 

I am liking The CNJ SD-35 (CNJ 2506) sandwiched in between the EL Units.... Thanks Ed!!!

Unfortunately the parcel maps are not online in Blair County.  You have to go to the courthouse in Holidaysburg.

I drove in to the cemetery down Birds Eye Road for the first time in Aug. 2016.  I will likely never do it again.  The road is so close to the tracks that if a train is approaching it feels like one would be hit.  God forbid something was hanging off a car.  And if you are driving in to the cemetery you will be seeing the locomotive coming straight at you.  Not much room to inch over away from the tracks either.  

Additionally so much soft stone had been placed (spillover ballast) adjacent to the track my four wheel drive Trailblazer was bottoming out.  I would not drive a regular car down that road.

My my sons and I did not walk past the gate on the roadway near the cemetery so we did not get in to Bennington Curve but it does look like it is growing in quite a bit.  No where near as clear as it was when Ed would camp on top of the cliff.

We did see two trains from the parking area for the cemetery and followed the second train, a westbound out of there.  In my opinion there are better photos to be found elsewhere from safer locations.

These are the type of shots you can get at Benny's these days (in the afternoons) - It's a bit of a constraining space, but it is a nice curve with great elevation.  I guess it's up to you to risk being hassled by the NS "man".

Both shots taken Aug 6th, 2016

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The Conrail era.
Ed K.

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You can clearly picture the area where the Red Arrow's  K4's landed !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/17 17:43 by NKP715.