Let’s have some fun here to end the week and take us into the weekend on a high note: [8D]
Here’s the link to a little video - not mine, I just found it elsewhere on the ‘Net about 2 weeks ago, on David J. Williams’ Yahoo Altoona-Johnstown website. It’s supposedly from 1991 of a minor derailment on the Horseshoe Curve - it’s about 5-1/2 minutes long, and well worth viewing and listening to - takes me right back as if I was there, just before it was ruined by cutting off the access to the outside of the Curve and the imposition of the Visitor’s Center regimen and limitations, etc. [soapbox] It’s notable as an actual recorded instance when railfans were able to notify a train crew of a problem - read the caption notes for the full story - and get the train stopped before it got to the multiple cross-overs at MG Tower just a little further up the grade, which could have been a real disaster as the professional railroaders here will understand.
Notable are the sounds of the rear helpers throttling back to come to a stop at the western calk of the mountain there, and the chatter on the fan’s scanner, most of which is pretty clear. The derailed car goes by at about from 0:17 to 0:22, right behind the lead locomotives. The rear helpers - SD40-2’s 6387 and 6384 if I read and identify them right - go by from 1