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OPPOSITE: ALTO Tower in downtown Altoona stands silent as the train drifts into town on May 26. STEVE BARRY PHOTO BOTTOM: Low light greets the westbound train at Duncannon as it rolls on the west bank of the Susque- hanna on May 26. MITCH GOLDMAN PHOTO


A layover was scheduled each day in Altoona to allow passengers time to visit the Railroaders’ Memorial Museum... With multiple trips it was easily possible to both ride and chase...


Curve in each direction.


This would only be a preamble for 2013, however. NS continued its lease on 765 and set up a series of employee trips out of Altoona for the third week- end in May. These would be trips up the hill to Gallitzin, with the train towed backwards to Altoona. But the icing on the cake was the announce- ment that public trips would be held on the following three-day holiday week- end. Tickets went on sale and the trips sold quickly.


The public trips would be consider- ably longer, which meant the train would need to be turned at each end to keep 765 from doing lengthy runs in re- verse. The west end of the trip was easy — the balloon track at AR Tower at Gallitzin would allow the train to op-


erate over the Curve and do a quick loop to head back down. The other end, though, required the wye (part of which is on Rockville Bridge) north of Enola Yard near Harrisburg. Enola would al- so provide an out-of-the-way place to service the locomotive each night. But the train would be required to board passengers at an Amtrak platform, and the first such location heading west is Lewistown; thus, nearly half of each day’s operation would be a deadhead move between Lewistown and Enola. To assist with dynamic braking (as well as to conserve water), diesel helpers were assigned to the trips. The employee trips needed a locomotive on the rear for the reverse move from Gal- litzin to Altoona (the balloon track at AR Tower was not used since there was


no place to turn the train in Altoona) and what better candidate than the lo- comotive Norfolk Southern painted to honor Altoona’s railroad — ES44AC No. 8102 in the Pennsylvania Rail- road’s famous tuscan red. For the pub- lic trips, which would feature a much longer train and no extensive backing up, a second heritage unit was added to the consist — ES44AC No. 8098 in Conrail’s dress blue.


The first day’s trip, on Saturday, May 25, departed Enola before sunrise; with a scheduled departure of 8:30 from Lewistown, this trip really had to drag its heels so it didn’t arrive too ear- ly. The next two days the train would leave Enola around 7:00 a.m. The trips, for the most part, operated on time (thanks to a very generous re-


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