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Tag Archives: National Historic Landmark

Horseshoe Curve National Historic Site, Tytoona Natural Area Cave Preserve

words and images Posted on September 5, 2019 by dlschirfApril 7, 2020
September 5
Horseshoe Curve

In December I’d checked out Horseshoe Curve from the parking lot, but hadn’t been up to the top since September 1988 — er, 31 years ago . . . Not long after, a visitor center and 288-foot funicular were built and opened in 1992. Not knowing anything about the funicular, I was surprised to find it doesn’t run constantly, only on the hour and half hour.

We spent about 15 to 20 minutes looking over the exhibits while waiting. I appreciated the one showing how the Curve had been carved out — I’ve never been able to visualize it or how it would have looked before. Another highlighted the wreck of the Red Arrow in 1947, which killed two dozen and injured more than 100.

The funicular cabins, which were made in the Durango and Silverton Railroad shops in Colorado, ascend and descend at the same time. They pass at a circle part of the way up (or down). I expected the cabin to veer to its right, but they swing to the left to pass. Very British.

Horseshoe Curve funicular going up

Up top the cars from the summer derailments (two!) are visible but not close. We’d picked up a list of scheduled trains at the visitor center, but am not sure we matched any that went by to it — certainly not the “Oscar” (trash train) heading west. In addition to the Oscar, we saw an intermodal plus helper locomotives returning in pairs as they do. No Amtrak — the eastbound Pennsylvanian had gone through earlier. I’d be on the westbound Pennsylvanian later in the afternoon, while it was still daylight.

Derailed centerbeams
Horseshoe Curve's 7048  locomotive
Intermodal train coming down

While we watched the trains we found ourselves plugging our ears. One thing I didn’t remember from all those years ago was the screech of metal on metal, the wheels and brakes as they fight the curve and the incline.

It seemed fitting we got a wave from the locomotive of the last train we saw — one of the few times I’ve seen a woman engineer.

Horseshoe Curve funicular going down

Our final shopping stops were Hillside Farm, where I bought whoopie pies, and Ridgeside Cider Mill, where V. picked up their first cider of the season and I added to my soap collection.

Tytoona Natural Area Cave Preserve

Years ago a relative had posted about Tytoona Cave (more formally, Tytoona Natural Area Cave Preserve), the name an awkward mashup of “Altoona” and “Tyrone.” Previously, its location had seemed a mystery to me, and December wasn’t the best time to visit it. I’d looked again recently and found out it’s connected (more or less) to Arch Spring in Sinking Valley which my cousin had pointed out to me a couple of years ago. Now I could find it easily on Google Maps — as it turns out, it’s on T495 off Kettle Road, less than a half mile from Ridgeside Cider Mill. Off we went.

There’s a slight cutout parking area, with the trail entrance marked by green barrels. Steps, some eroded, built in 2001 by the Tytoona Cave Preserve Committee and members of the Huntingdon Co. Cave Hunters, lead down into the sinkhole. Normally a stream flows into the cave, but it was bone dry. This made walking in without hiking shoes a lot easier.

Steps to Tytoona Cave's sinkhole
Tytoona Cave
Tytoona Cave

If you walk far enough into the cave, you can sign a register. I didn’t make it nearly that far. I didn’t have a flashlight, and was surprised by how dark it became a short way in. It’s easy to see why people in Tytoona Cave videos wear helmets with headlamps — it’s too dark to see the low ceiling that your head will hit.

Tytoona Cave
Tytoona Cave
Tytoona Cave
Tytoona Cave

The stream bed through the sinkhole may have been dry, but there was running water somewhere in the darkness. In this video, the cave walls and ceiling amplify the sound, but I suspect the cave’s water would make a respectable noise without the help.

It felt weird and creepy to hear water rushing nearby without being able to see it. If I’d had a light, a helmet, and a better physique, I wonder if I could have gone as far as the register or even the first sump . . .

On the way out, we saw a poster about Pennsylvania bats. Short version: Tytoona Cave is not the best place to find them.

Bats of Pennsylvania and other information

And so back to packing for the return trip on the Pennsylvanian and Capitol Limited.

Untitled
Posted in Adventure, Blog | Tagged National Historic Landmark, nature, Pennsylvania, photo, train, travel, video | Leave a reply

World Famous Horseshoe Curve

Horseshoe Curve, 10 minutes outside Altoona, Pennsylvania, is a world-famous National Historic Landmark — so the signs say. It’s not on the beaten track.

Horseshoe Curve
Horseshoe Curve

When my family used to visit their families in the Altoona/Bellwood area, sometimes we’d make a side trip to Horseshoe Curve. I still have a souvenir calendar from way back when. Note that it was not “World Famous Horseshoe Curve,” but plain old Horseshoe Curve.

Horseshoe Curve calendar

I don’t think we paid admission. My dad wouldn’t have paid, or would have paid only a nominal fee, for something as nonessential as a trip to Horseshoe Curve. I remember only that at some point, I’m not sure when, he commented how “overgrown” it’d become, which made it hard to see much.

In September 1988, after I’d been absent for awhile from Pennsylvania, my aunt took me to see it again. The only way to get up then was steps, difficult for her because she’d lost a kneecap to a car accident. You can see why my dad said you couldn’t see much for the trees and brush.

Horseshoe Curve, September 1988
Yours truly at Horseshoe Curve, September 1988
Sliver of Altoona Reservoir in background

In the early 1990s, a visitor center/museum was built, along with a funicular to get up to the top for those who don’t want to or can’t handle the steps. Now there’s an admission charge to see the Curve, which you can go up to only during the posted season and hours. It’s pricey for a family, and there’s no break for Blair County residents.

I’ve seen Horseshoe Curve as a passenger on Amtrak 42 (eastbound) and 43 (westbound), the Pennsylvanian. On this visit I didn’t, however. A freight train accident with a vehicle ahead of the Capitol Limited had made me miss the connection with the eastbound Pennsylvanian, so I’d had to take Greyhound from Pittsburgh to Altoona. On the way back, the Curve is dark when the Pennsylvanian passes at around 5:30 p.m.

The public can’t access Horseshoe Curve during the colder months. When we made a quick stop the day after Christmas, we just looked up. I’ll have to make a trip sometime in late spring, summer, or early fall for a real visit.

Countless trains have passed downhill toward Altoona and points east since Horseshoe Curve was finished in 1854, engineered by J. Edgar Thompson.

Horseshoe Curve
Update: Norfolk Southern removed this obsolete signal bridge circa June 2019

Kittanning Run passes under Horseshoe Curve from the north. It’s too bad there’s not a more bucolic fence to protect the public from falling in.

Kittanning Run at Horseshoe Curve

Of course you want to hear that water flowing. The odd thing is . . . I don’t recall anything but the reservoir. You’d think I’d remember hearing or seeing rushing water, but I don’t.

Pushmi-pullyu pairs of black-and-white Norfolk Southern helper engines go back and forth on Horseshoe Curve all day. They’re needed going uphill to pull/push and going downhill to help control speed/brake. You don’t want a long, heavy, fully loaded train speeding downhill around a curve. These two are headed back up the mountain.

It’s Pennsylvania, so you will see coal trains. You can imagine how much they weigh. This one is going downhill east toward Altoona in Logan Valley.


Horseshoe Curve specs

  • Curve length: 2,375 feet
  • Degree of curvature: 9 degrees; 25 minutes
  • Central angle: 220 degrees
  • Elevation of lower (east) end: 1,594 feet
  • Elevation of upper (west) end: 1,716 feet
  • Total elevation climb: 122 feet
  • Grade: 1.8 percent (1.8 foot rise per 100 feet)
January 9, 2019 by dlschirf Posted in Adventure, Blog, Photography, Video Tagged National Historic Landmark, Pennsylvania, photo, train, video Reply

Blast from the past

words and images Posted on April 5, 2009 by dlschirfFebruary 9, 2019

My brother sent me these photos, taken September 1988 in Pennsylvania at the Altoona Railroaders Museum, Horseshoe Curve, and Wopsononock (Wopsy) Mountain. I don’t know if this last is from the time I slid and rolled partway down the mountain until the brush caught me.

Altoona Railroaders Museum
Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum
Horseshoe Curve
Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark
Wopsy or Wopsononock Mountain
Wopsononock (Wopsy) Mountain overlook
Posted in Adventure, Blog | Tagged National Historic Landmark, nostalgia, Pennsylvania, photo, train | Leave a reply

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