Who says model railroaders create unrealistic landscapes?I was looking for something to write about when I came across this photo taken last month. There was a lot of luck, timing and wide-angle lens work to get a pretty mediocre shot. But that's not why I took it. It was the unusual setting that got my attention, in addition to the train itself. This is Tyrone, PA, on the edge of Altoona's "railfan mecca" zone.
In the last couple of years, the coal trains passing through on the old Pennsylvania that were once powered by legions of SD40-2's, have received newer power. At first they got SD50's and SD60's, many still in blue paint. I hear those units were less likely to be overhauled due to the cost relative to emissions standards, so they were on borrowed time. SD60I's seem to be the norm lately and the other units are being de-rated into SD40R's for helper service. I enjoy seeing those wide cab units, especially blue ones. Many were assembled in the Juniata Shops just down the road. My photo files show many in the lead of hotshot intermodals, still in Conrail blue. There's just something about those "isolated cabs" stuck on the head end of a typical high horsepower EMD. They also became visual precursors for the waves of SD70's to follow. Indeed at first I had to look at the trucks to see the difference. Wide cab SD60's were just unique.
In this photo, a coal train is diverting from the mainline through Tyrone and up the Nittany and Bald Eagle line. Here I am standing under the remnants of a bridge, part of a wye that used to be squeezed into this narrow valley town. As you can see from the photo, the road I am on also passes over a bridge to get under the bridge the train is on. Mixed in among all this is a pedestrian bridge to the center of the wye. A model railroader would be laughed at if he built something this unusual. Sometimes reality is better than fiction.
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