Last Friday I had to travel back to Weirton, WV to help with some family business. I decided to take the scenic route and visit Gallitzin, PA as well as the Horseshoe Curve.
It was a raw, rainy day with some blowing wind. My impression of Gallitzin was that it was glued to the mountainside and barely hanging on to it.
Here are some shots of the New Portage tunnel and the museum at the tunnel park.
After driving around Gallitzin for awhile, I decided to go to Horseshoe Curve. This route from Gallitzin to the curve runs downhill to Burgoon Run and comes in from behind the curve. I'd never gone this way before, usually approaching the curve from Altoona.
That's the curve itself at the top of the photo. At the bottom are two tunnels - one for the highway and one for the stream. Only the highway one is signalled. 
The curve wasn’t too busy. There was a long freight train stopped there – I think the crew had to be changed. Once again I was struck by the sheer wildness of the spot. It was amazing to think of this marvel of engineering being built in the 1840s with just pickaxes and shovels.
Here's a shot of the funicular (inclined plane) railroad from inside the bottom shed. The staff wasn't too keen to run it so I had to climb the steps to the top and back down.
There's the tunnel I came through to reach the curve. Railroad west (ascending) is to the left in this photo.
Shot of the Museum building and the Altoona reservoir.
A modern signal bridge has replaced the nearly 100 year old Pennsy one. Railroad east (descending) is to the right in this photo.
Here are a couple of interesting photos from the museum at the foot of the curve. The first shows the topography before construction.
. This second photo shows how the curve fits into the landscape.
Finally, I followed the former Pennsy mainline west and south towards Johnstown. This photo, taken in Lily, PA, shows the only other train I saw on the mainline.
I came away with an understanding of the point of view of the Triumph series of books. This is railroading on a massive scale. It’s been 175+ years since the Pennsy cut this swath across the rugged Alleghenies and yet you can sense the raw power of these wild mountains as they struggle to shrug off their man-made harness.
George
).
