Many railfans know about Horseshoe Curve, Gallitzin, and Cresson…but fewer people know about West Slope spots such as Mineral Point, Staple Bend, or Parkhill.
Hiking/ biking trails located between South Fork and Conemaugh offer rewarding vantagepoints of NS West Slope railroad actionj for those willing to hike.
One nice location is in the slagdumps at Parkhill, located a few miles East of Conemaugh, Pa.
Eastbound trains often stop just East of Conemaugh to pick up helpers for the climb up and over the Mountain to Altoona.
An Eastbound NS 10G had just gotten back on the move yesterday after getting helpers, and was having a hard time building up speed with all the tonnage he had.
The train is seen crossing over a PRR stone arch bridge at Parkhill, Pa as it grinds slowly up the West Slope grade.
The rear SD40-2 helpers could be heard for nearly two minutes in this video before they rolled into camera view.
And, a bit earlier, as seen from a vantagepoint on an old Conemaugh and Blacklick RR Iron bridge that crosses the NS Main at the same location, an Eastbound 26T stacker climbs the grade through Parkhill…
First video is 8 mins. 47 secs. long. Leading are 2 GE units, with an SW1500 [?] tucked in along behind them; pushing are a pair of SD40-somethings. Awesome sound from so far away from the tracks - would be fun to play with something that has a sub-woofer. Still using the original microphone that comes with the camera ?
Second video is 4 mins. 18 secs. long. Again, 2 GE units are leading, but nothing else with them and no pushers. It was going up the hill at a pretty good clip then for that configuration, too.
First video is 8 mins. 47 secs. long. Leading are 2 GE units, with an SW1500 [?] tucked in along behind them; pushing are a pair of SD40-somethings. Awesome sound from so far away from the tracks - would be fun to play with something that has a sub-woofer. Still using the original microphone that comes with the camera ?
Second video is 4 mins. 18 secs. long. Again, 2 GE units are leading, but nothing else with them and no pushers. It was going up the hill at a pretty good clip then for that configuration, too.
Its not a lake but rather another section of the former slag dumps…The iron bridge that I stood on to get video #2 carried tracks of the Conemaugh and Blacklick across the PRR main where slag was also dumped…The slag is now being quarried and hauled back out.
Slag dumping at that location ceased in the early 90’s with the closing of the last Steel mill in Johnstown.
The Conemaugh and Blacklick stores railroad freight cars on the old trackage nowadays.
