3RD Anniversay...

Welcome to the 3RD anniversary post on my photo blog (#803). Instead of coming up with something new I decided to put up photos that have appeared over the last three years. I set out to put up my personal favorites, not knowing how many I would post after going through the file it ended up at 16 photographs. These favorites may not be technically correct or my best but they are my favorites for various reasons. For some of you that have been with me all along you will have seen them before but for the newer viewers some of these will be new to you. Do you have any favorites of mine? Did I post any of them here or did they not make my cut? Here is hoping I stay with it for another three years.

It Must Have Been A Wonderful Time...

The Presidential Race...

Sorry for the delay today, I tried to put a video up and four hours after starting it the video was still uploading, then it gave me an error message. So I tried to upload it to photo bucket but it turns out it is slightly larger than allowed for their site. So you get Friday's post and hopefully I will find time to get something ready for then.

This one is for the Cliatt family, looking out for you buddy. The train in the top photograph was at the Harrisburg transportation center a few weeks ago when we were there for training. Obama charted this train to bring him to Harrisburg. We tried to peek through the windows so we could not see much but what we did was fantastic. Could I ever travel this way. I don't know what it cost but the man we were speaking to said it was allot to charter the train, then you had to pay the crew and you had to pay Norfolk and Southern to use their tracks.

The other photograph was shot from an overpass in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. I liked the view and the posters and thought it would be a good shot. With the way the election is going I thought it would be fitting since the election is getting a little clearer now.

Pennsylvania GG 1...

The Pennsylvania Railroad's GG1 electric locomotives were built between 1934 to 1943 at the PRR shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a total of 139 units constructed. They remained in service with the PRR's successors The Penn Central Railroad until the early 1980's. The GG1 became one of the most recognized and famous classes of locomotive worldwide.

The GG1s were large locomotives, 79 feet 6 inches long and weighing 477,000 pounds. The GG1 was designed to run on the standard Pennsylvania Railroad catenary power of 11,000 Volts AC, 25 Hz. One flaw in the design of the GG1 became apparent in the Blizzard of 1958. This storm, which swept across the northeastern United States, began on February 16. The usually unstoppable GG1s were knocked from service when their electrical components were shorted out due to moisture.

This unit #4859 in located in the Harrisburg transportation center with an old all wood PRR caboose behind it. What a beautiful site it is, the only thing in my mind that can compare to it is the T1 locomotive.

Am I All Alone...

The title seemed fitting, when doing these blogs sometimes you feel all alone. I have been getting good feedback on this site and I thank you for that. But, my other site on the Shippensburg Fire Departments history has been getting nothing lately. Now if the incidents I was posting were unimportant or minor I could understand that but in the last ten days I posted an alarm that three firefighters died at, the Vigilant's getting the Jennie Cameron with photographs and a large fire downtown that would have gone to four or five alarms by today's standards. I know you can't force people to comment but when they don't it makes me feel like I am standing in the station and this is all I see.

Now for the photo itself, it is another I took while training a couple of weeks ago at the Harrisburg Transportation Center. Like others I thought it looked better on my laptop when I edited it, they always looked washed out on my home monitor.

I promised you a week of all different things and that is what you got, next week will be more of the same with another video from Alaska. I have my photographs ready through next Thursday but all the new ones I will be work on after that will be a learning experience (like they are not now) as I upgraded from Photoshop CS2 to CS3 last night. Actually I paid for it Linda did the work for me, maybe I can get her to do the laptop tonight, thanks Linda.

Harrisburg Railroad Station...

The week before last we finally got some good training at work. None of the keep you busy type stuff that we are just going through the motions on but training that people learned from and that we should all get when we come on the job. The safety representative from Amtrak was in and did a two day class on dealing with Amtrak emergencies. If you payed attention there was allot to learn.

One of the perks of going to the Harrisburg Transportation center was that we could bring our cameras along. This shot was taken inside the train station when we were leaving. The camera was hand held at 1/25 of a second using existing light with my Nikon D70. It looks like there are no trains about to go out as the place was empty at the time.

Train Through Glacier National Park

Sorry for the missed day yesterday folks. We spent the last couple of nights in Disney hotels and you know for what you pay for them they still charge extra for wireless in the rooms, and I am just to cheap for that. Yesterday is just lost for this site. I plan to post a few photos from here in the next week including a series of where is Shane (like where is Waldo) and maybe some more bird shots and Disney photos.

In October 2006 I had the chance to go to Glacier National Park. Close to the entrance we stopped to scan the hillside for sheep and I noticed this bridge over a gorge. Lucky for me liking train a BNSF, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe train crossed carrying intermodal containers.

The BNSF is one of four remaining transcontinental railroads left and one of the largest railroad networks in North America, the Union Pacific is the only one larger in size.

Doorway To Color...

Last month Linda and I took a road trip through Letterkenny Army Depot. This was the first time we have driven on base since most of it was opened up to other industry and the general public. Our mission was to find deer and we did see a bunch. But we also found an area that had many box cars sitting around. They appear to have been sitting there for some time and are beginning to rust. Being a train buff I took a few shots not knowing if I would ever use them.

Now I know you all will find this hard to believe, but I see things as black and white with very few grey areas. Color is just not an option, I would have to be to open minded. But for some reason last night as I was getting an image ready for today this just looked like a grey area leading me into the unknown color. Maybe it is my open minded outlook I have as I head out to work this morning. Dang all that crap and it is not even April Fools Day.

More EBT

Today's post is a few more photographs from the EBT's fall spectacular before I move on. Sorry but I don't have any information on the two motorized pieces pictured above.

Trolley Car 172 was built in Oporto, Portugal in 1929, although it looks very similar to cars that operated in the United States around 1900. Oporto built a large fleet of these cars in their shops. Car 172 has an attractive interior, with very ornate carved wood trim , fancy brass fittings, and sliding end doors. It also has a unique seating arrangement, with two seats on one side and one seat on the other, made necessary by the narrow twisting streets of Oporto.

Car 172 came across the Atlantic Ocean in 1967. Both cars were trucked aboard highway trailers from Philadelphia to the Rockhill Trolley museum. While several other US museums and groups have acquired cars from Oporto, the Rockhill Trolley museum was the first to import cars from that city. Car 172 was in operating condition upon arrival at the museum and was placed in passenger operations immediately. Its four wheels give a bouncy ride, as frequently parodied in the Toonerville Trolley films. The body of 172 has been restored in the Buehler Shop.

East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company

East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company was originally chartered on April 16, 1856 to mine and transport coal from the rich fields of Broad Top Mountain. Due to lack of funding, however, the railroad did not become a reality until fifteen years later when the Rockhill Iron & Coal Company (RIC) was incorporated. The founders, a group of Philadelphia businessmen, bought a controlling interest in EBT stock, and made plans to construct a narrow gauge railway. The line was opened from Mt. Union to Rockhill Furnace on August 30, 1873, and was completed in 1874 to the company town of Robertsdale which was developing around Rockhill No. 1 Mine. In 1891, the tracks were extended to a new mine at Woodvale. Trains made several daily runs to Mt. Union where coal was transferred to the standard gauge cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

At Rockhill, the company built an extensive shops complex and engine house. With its steam-generated and belt-driven machinery, the EBT was almost totally self-sufficient, maintaining its rolling stock and constructing its own freight cars. As the railroad prospered, passenger service was expanded to include public excursions as well as transport of miners. In the early 1900's, the trackage and bridges were substantially rebuilt, including an early concrete arch railway bridge. In 1906 a new passenger station at Rockhill was constructed, which bears the name of the neighboring town of Orbisonia. This building also houses the company offices.

Being in Orbisonia around the EBT is like stepping into the late 1800's or early 1900's. These photographs were taken at the fall spectacular Saturday October 6, 2007. It was not the best day to shoot as the fog was very heavy and when it burnt off the sun was harsh. The top two photos were worked over extensively in photoshop to enhance detail and give them an art work effect. I hope you enjoy them.

EBT #15

These photographs and others you will see this week were shot at the fall spectacular on October 6, 2007 at the East Broad Top Railroad in Orbisonia, Pa. Trains and trolleys run all day at the spectacular, while the boy scouts and other local groups sell food. The event is attended by hundreds but the visitor that most stands out is the adult male running around with their cameras smiling like they are little kids again. For anyone that likes trains this is a place you must visit.

The above photos are of number 15 a Baldwin 2-8-2 built in 1914. Number 15 was purchased in 1914 because of the increase in passenger traffic. After a four year overhaul number 15 returned to service in 2005. She made many trips this past weekend bringing joy to hundreds.

Later this week there will be more photographs and history from the EBT.

PRR 643

Like all boys young and old I love trains. Here the engineer is releasing the brakes on Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive 643 to begin one of its many passenger trips at the Williams Grove Steam Engine association show.

Every year around Labor day at Williams Grove Park just outside Mechanicsburg, Pa. the association holds there annual picnic that last about 10 days. The train runs non stop taking passengers for a short journey. There are tractor parades featuring John -Deere, Allis-Chalmers and many other types. And there is a number of steam tractors operating sawmills, thrashers and other vintage farm equipment.

Never go hungry as most the food is home made and worth the wait in line. Before going home it is always good to stop in the butcher shop and pick up some sausage and scrapple.

The show has been going on since 1959, they can be found at http://www.steamtraction.com/