I just read in Sunday’s Tribune Review (03-18-07) that 1361 is due back in Altoona this summer.
Any Info?
Here’s the link to the story:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/search/s_498006.html
Don’t believe everything you read.
The best statement was that the 1361 will roll back into Altoona under its own power. Somehow, I don’t see the Norfolk Southern allowing this.
And if NS won’t allow its own steam power to run, they will look long and hard at allowing some one else’s steam power-before saying NO![sigh]
What you say about NS is true but please remember they have allowed Bennet Levin’s PRR E9s to operate on the the Susquehana Port Road so they might allow that as no NS trains operate on that route in daylight. Also keep in mind that New Jersey Transit has allowed steam excusions in recent years and 1361 did pull trains on the North Jersey Coast Line, which is still in operation so NJT might see it as a kind of welcoming home to the K4s locomotives which operated on that line till the fall of 1957.
The reason I asked is that recently I was at the tunnel overlook in Gallitzin. I know it’s a total dream (I can still wish though) but if NS ran 1361 on a Saturday or Sunday just 1 trime a month on the middle track from Altoona, could it be switched to the loop track after the tunnel? To complete the trip, after going through Portage tunnel could it switch back to the middle track for the return? I was looking at a map there, but it was not very detailed.
I know the chances are slim to none, but it seems NS owes Altoona a little tourist business after moving so much to Roanoke.
I do not know of any corporation with a heart like that.
The reason Mr. Levin’s E8s are allowed out on NS is that they are diesels. No special provisions need to be made for them, and that sums it up. But, once 1361 is back in Altoona, it could be transferred to the Everett or to the Nittany & Bald Eagle to run on those lines. NS would be willing to move the K4, provided it wasn’t under its own power.
Obviously someone who’s never been on a steam trip through a tunnel. [:O]
Actually, I have rode behind steam in those very tunnels when 2102 and 4070 doubleheaded from Pittsburgh.
The Nay Aug Tunnel on the Steamtown run is a relatively short one and things can get pretty noxious in the coaches, even with the windows closed. I can’t imagine what it would be like in a tunnel as long as the Gallitzin one. And Westbound that’s an up grade.
Taking that a step further, imagine being in a double track tunnel with a slow freight meeting the passenger train you are riding on.