Eastern Railroad Discussion > Good times on the Nittany and Bald Eagle

The morning of Friday July 30th in Cresson, PA dawned sunny with patchy clouds.  I was there for my (almost) annual trip to western PA and the Station Inn with my brothers and some good friends.  Barely dragging my butt out of bed after some serious imbibing the night before, I woke my brother Steve (TO handle stevelv), who with much grumbling got himself up and presentable at 7:15 to hit the road.  Our other brother who imbibed a bit more that we did decided to sleep in.  Our target this day was the Nittany and Bald Eagle train NBER-4, the (I believe) every weekday Bellefonte-Tyrone round trip.  Being in Cresson ten out of the last twelve years, this is something we've actually never done, so I was anxious to check it out.  After some Sheetz coffee, we arrived at Tyrone a few minutes after 8am, and waited.  Due to a scanner malfunction, we did not have any radio heads-up as to what was going on.  Around 9am, after starting to lose faith, my bro had the brilliant idea of calling the N&BE directly to ask where the train was.  The operator actually let us know he was running a bit late today, so we decided to drive north (really northeast) to see if we can intercept him on the way to Tyrone.  Well, about 20 miles out we spotted him through the trees heading south and making good time, so we quickly did a U-turn and the chase was on.  We tried to catch him at the South High Street crossing in Port Matilda, but only beat him there by seconds, and basically got crappy through-the-windshield shots, which I won't post here.

So, back to Tyrone we went, to get the classic street-running shot on Washington Avenue.

1.  Coming south on Washington Ave with the N&BL GP8 #1603, ex CR #5400, exx RDG 634 leading the train



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/21 10:33 by rbenko.

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2.  Trailing unit was North Shore RR GP38 #2012, originally PC 7688. He's headed up the ramp which takes the track over the Little Juniata River and into the interchange yard with NS

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3.  While waiting for him to come back north, NS local C42 makes an appearance on the ramp, switching out the interchange cars in the Tyrone yard

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4.  NS C42 reversing on the ramp

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5.  About 30 minutes later, NBER-4 starts its northbound journey with the NS #2102 leading

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6.  Closer shot crossing 12th Street in Tyrone

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We decided to make good on our earlier attempt and nab him at the South High Street crossing in Matilda, PA.

7.  Crossing South High Street in Port Matilda, PA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/21 10:34 by rbenko.

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Not being that familar with the area, we hightailed it to Milesburg, PA and while crossing Route 144, saw him in the distance.  We set up for a shot, but little did we know about a quarter mile from where we were, he would take a 90-degree turn right at CP Bell towards Bellafonte and Sunnyside yard.  So we quickly got back in the car, and headed to Sunnyside yard.

8.  Here he is pulling into the yard, with the conductor ready to jump out and help facilitate the many switching moves he would make.

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9.  A closer look, with brother Steve in the weeds on the left taking some cell phone video.  Those EMDs sounded great - reminded me of the many days in my youth spent at Bound Brook, NJ watching and listening to a CNJ GP7 (or 9) switching the LV interchange.

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10.  Another look at the job shunting cars, with the myriad switch stands showing their Christmas colors.

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At that point, we called it a day - we were both hungry and thirsty, and the sun was high.  A quick Google search by Steve found the Axemann Brewery just south of downtown Bellefonte.  We headed there, and once inside discovered that the brewery was on the banks of the Logan Branch of Spring Creek, with a wide-open view of the creek and the N&BE ROW to Pleasant Gap directly on the opposite bank.  As Steve went up to the bar to grab a couple of tall frosty beverages, I heard a distant horn, and an increasingly loud throbbing of EMDs.  Could it be our train?  Much to our delight it was, trailing a bunch of covered hoppers destined for the Graymont Lime Pland in Pleasant gap.  So, after a very fruitful morning, the pièce de résistance for the entire day just fell in our lap.  You know the old saying - it's better to be lucky than good!!

11.  From the Axemann Brewery, with many surprised and happy patrons waving and recording its passing on their cell phones - however I don't think any were as happy as we were!!

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Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for viewing.

Rob Benkovitz
West Palm Beach, FL

Excellent Rob, thanks for posting!  Love the EL colors on that NSHR GP38.

msw
spokane

Rob, nice job, especially that last shot. All you need is a fly rod too!

Posted from iPhone

Very nice!
 

Very nice group; interesting variety of locations.
GK

One thing that fascinates me about Eastern RR's is the fact that you can't really see much, due to all the trees.  So, it's very interesting to see how the RR's laid out their grades and routes, all hidden among the forests.  This post shows some of that.  Out west, you can see it all and makes sense.  Back east, it takes more investigating and observing.  It's all very interesting, and it amazes me how well the early survey crews did finding RR routes thru all the hills and forests.

I've wanted to catch them running to Pleasant Gap (past Axemann) for a while, but haven't had any luck. Anyone know their schedule?

I have to agree with everyone else on here that you fellows did an outstanding job of catching this train at so many different places.  I think that all the photos are terrific.  Thanks for sharing them with all of us.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Not to take anything away from the early eastern surveyors and builders, but the landscapes of the northeast were a bit clearer in the mid 1800s when they did their work. The original hardwood forests had been largely cleared, and much of the lower slope hillside country was being used for grazing and hay. 

But take away the cows, and this country still wants to be a hardwood forest. Second growth woods is always only a decade or two away.