| Museum Bound. Here is an original photo that I took of a Pennsylvania Railroad train below the Muleshoe Curve on the New Portage Branch Line west of Duncansville, Pennsylvania, on 17 October 1965. Shown here are four PRR passenger engines. The lead locomotive is #5898, an EP-22 built by EMD in 1951 and rated at 2,250 horsepower. All four engines are of the same model and vintage, so there's 9,000 head-end horsepower at work here. They are pulling the very first "Horseshoe Curve Excursion" sponsored by the Lancaster Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The "Excursion" departed Lancaster bright and early on a Sunday morning, following the PRR's mainline through Harrisburg to Huntingdon. There, it switched over to the Petersburg-Hollidaysburg Branch Line and followed the undulating Juniata River to Hollidaysburg ~ where the Railfans were treated to tours of the PRR's Samuel Rea Shop. After leaving Hollidaysburg, the "Excursion" passed WYE Tower and took the New Portage Branch Line via the Muleshoe Curve up the Allegheny Mountains to Gallitzin. There, it passed through the westbound Allegheny Tunnel, navigated the wye at Gallitzin, and passed through the eastbound New Portage Tunnel on its way down the Alleghenies. At the Horseshoe Curve, the "Excursion" stopped to allow the Railfans to visit the PRR's K-4S (4-6-2) "Pacific" #1361 enshrined there. After all were safely back on board, the train continued down the Mountains toward Altoona and the return trip to Lancaster ~ a round trip of over 350 happy miles! As of 04 July 2016, or 51 years later, this unit ~ still numbered "5898" ~ is in active excursion service with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, & Southern Railway at Jackson, Missouri. |