Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS West slope boredom, Everett excitement

Saturday, 7/31/21 was a beautiful day on the NS west slope between South Fork and Gallitzin, PA. 
The day started off great at Lilly with the eastbound Amtrak PENNSYLVANIAN @ 9:35, and a 65K west @ 9:49, followed by an eastbound helper set.
However, from 10:05 to 12:15, not a single thing moved on this stretch of railroad.
Finally a very long 36A showed at Cassandra, with 2 lead engines and 1 DPU working hard.

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Moving up to Cresson, a westbound coal empty 593 came along @ 13:15, and we noted the lack of activity in the helper terminal slated to be closed that day.
Although NS traffic then picked up, it was time to hit a busy CP Vito's for lunch, and get down to Hollidaysburg to catch the Everett RR's "Ice Cream Special" to Roaring Spring, Pa.

Everett 2-6-0 #11 and its 4-car train await departure @14:30
After a slight delay to load up latecomers, #11 pounds across River Road @ 14:41

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#11 approaches Monastery Road (aka Kladder station) @ 14:55
Crossing PA 36 at McKees Gap and getting into the 1.6% grade

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Reaching Roaring Spring, #11 passes over the driveway to the Appvion paper mill.
The mill's flagpoles are bare, as this mill shut down back in April.
This was the largest shipper on the EVRR.
The train then pulls up to the x-PRR station and the passengers get a 30 min. break to devour ice cream from a local dairy.
The local historical society uses this time to also sell drinks and snacks, show exhibits in the station, and direct riders to the duck pond across the street.
@ 16:00 the train departs back to Hollidaysburg.
All photos by Warren W. Jenkins

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Very nice..!!

For those interested, the Cassandra All Nighter is Aug. 7/8.

Posted from Android

Those are some mighty fine photos of O'l Number 11. Thank you for sharing those amazing pictures of an operation I knew nothing about.

Was out in Cresson/Huntingdon on Monday, 8/27 and traffic was down as well. Thought it might have been due to the gas/house explosion in Tyrone...
Nice set of shots on the Everett!
Bob

Great photos. I had not heard the news of the mill closure. How will that affect the future their freight operations?

Posted from Android

Everrett Railroad has a great operation that is the perfect length for a fun afternoon with kids. Their locomotive is beautiful and fits perfectly as a branchline steamer. It's run by good people and I highly recommend them.

the NS Pittsburgh Line simply isn't what it used to be. Extra long DPU equipped trains have cut down on train movements significantly, and while it's still busy, there also are now more dead periods without a train movement. We spent about 3 hours at the Curve a few weekends ago without a single westbound movement up the mountain.

99stang Wrote:
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> Was out in Cresson/Huntingdon on Monday, 8/27 and
> traffic was down as well. Thought it might have
> been due to the gas/house explosion in Tyrone...
> Nice set of shots on the Everett!
> Bob
While the gas explosion and fire in Tyrone was a tragic scene, neither RR in town was affected...

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