Horseshoe Curve Celebration

Did anyone attend last nite “lumen-in” at Altoona? If yes, a brief report on how it went would be much appreciated. The wife and I were going to drive out there from NJ( we were told there were tons of tickets available) 'till we checked the weather which called for rain/t’storms. We were doubly glad we decided not to spend 5 hours driving each way when we later learned that V.P. Cheney was making a campaign stop at the Altoona minor league baseball teams nite game. You can bet that screwed up traffic in that little 'burg for a goodly while!!!
Anyhow a brief report from someone who was there would be great!

Thanks, Ross Rowland

…Was there to be a lighting extravaganza similar to the 1954 lighting venture at the curve last evening…? If not similar, to what extent did it occur…?

Yep, they were going to shut the Curve down for 6 hours yesterday and light it all up like they did 50 years ago. I was in Altoona last night around 8:30 - 9 PM, and it was POURING rain, although it had pretty much cleared up by 9:30 or so. I didn’t get anywhere near the Curve, however; I was working.

http://www.railroadcity.com/events.htm

…I wonder with all the rainy weather in the Altoona area last night if they actually went ahead with the light display around the Curve…? Any word from where you are at Nora…?

I wanted to go but had no way of getting there.

It looks like they did, yes. http://www.nscorp.com/nscorphtml/releases04/julyfourth.html

Anyone know what type of power was ofthe three trains? I know the business train had two SD70M’s but thats all I know.

…Thanks, Nora for the data on that…