Eastern Railroad Discussion > Two extraordinary minutes @ Cassandra!

Last May I was on a purposely slow homebound trail, making my way through the western half of Pennsylvania. I may have grown up in Kansas, but an early 1960s PRR calendar hanging in my Grandparents’ house in Abilene put a Pennsy bug in me at a very young age. I can still see that red PRR Keystone under the headlight of a gracefully curved engine nose. A GG-1 action painting by Grif Teller? Seems likely…

No matter the year, and no matter how many mergers, bankruptcies & name changes are involved I was thrilled in these modern-day 20-teens to be exploring what I’ve known was once called the “Standard Railroad of the World”. I spent the night of the 12th in Altoona. The next morning I cased the town for photo-ops then drove out to pay my respects to the Horseshoe. (I thought about it, but figured I didn’t have enough time left on this planet to successfully ascend the 24,973 steps up to track level… ;^) Feeling old, I headed for Cresson instead. In a heavy overcast I caught some sporadic action in the Cresson ~ Lilly ~ Portage area. While camped out on the narrow Jefferson Rd overpass in Portage a local man stopped by and we struck up a short chat. He wasn’t exactly a railfan, but I’ll say he was railfan friendly. He gave me directions to the train watching pedestrian overpass at Cassandra. It was nigh onto lunch time so I dive-bombed a Portage convenience store and back-tracked to go find Cassandra. Drama followed:

1. With able directions I drove right to the spot! I grabbed my lunch and my camera bag and found a spot on the walkway. At 11:39 AM, with a very large dump truck this M.O.W. guy is s-l-o-w-l-y “threading the needle” between 2 main tracks. Talented driving in reverse, I have to say.

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2. Oops, I should have been looking the other way! At the same time NS 1118 east appears almost out of nowhere, sneaking up on my “6”. I turned for a quick series of shots, but…

3. & 4. …I should have been better prepared look right back the other way! At 11:40 AM NS 8019 west materializes, sneaking up very quickly on my newest “6”. I react as best I can, and gauging their speeds I realize the trains might meet right underneath me. It looks like I’ll just miss the meet… ooof. I did manage a very tight meet shot, albeit a bit speed-blurred.

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5. & 6. Oh yeah… while the long trains are rolling by at 11:41 AM I noticed my partially finished then abandoned, highly nutritious lunch. But it’ll have to wait… for another “meet” shot of both trains’ rear ends. It’ still 11:41 AM: “Hey FRED… meet FRED…”

7. Meanwhile it’s still 11:41 AM and our talented, reverse-driving M.O.W. guy (remember him?) is once again bravely plodding along. I gotta say I’m impressed with Cassandra! I never expected to find SO MUCH railfan drama & entertainment packed into just 2 minutes…
(7 photos taken May 13, 2019 from the Cassandra, PA railfan overlook)

Thanks for the directions!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/19 11:26 by santafe199.

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Curious how the location got its name.
In Greek mythology Cassandra was doomed to always tell the truth but nobody believed her.
Nice pics.

-Bob out west.....................

I sure that I make it back there someday.  Best place in the world to railfan!

BobP Wrote:
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> Curious how the location got its name.
> In Greek mythology Cassandra was doomed to always
> tell the truth but nobody believed her.
> Nice pics.
>
> -Bob out west.....................

Various PRR historians have expressed frustration in finding any explanation for the name.
The tracks originally went through the center of town.

santafe199 Wrote:
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> 2. Oops, I should have been looking the other way!
> At the same time NS 1118 east appears almost out
> of nowhere, sneaking up on my “6”. I turned
> for a quick series of shots, but…

Here's the view from the next bridge west looking back at your bridge; Jamestown Rd., 3 trains at once!
Taken on 7/17/2017, this scene now is missing the classic PRR PL signals.

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Fantastic!  Now go out a buy a lottery ticket........

weather Wrote:
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> Fantastic!  Now go out a buy a lottery
> ticket........
Happens fairly regularly there!

One of my favorite areas...

1118 sure has small hard to read numbers.

Nice series!  Those eastern trees hide so much of the view.  You can be a few yards from the tracks and not see them from the highway because of the foliage.  Obviously here the trees are hiding some serious cliffs that are given away by the slide fences.  And you are away from seagulls and ravens, or that bag of chips wouldn't still be there!

mapboy

You sure found a great spot and excellent timing. Thanks for the shots and story.

Don Allender