Making Memories with the Big Boy

 It has been a year or two since we first started hearing that the Union Pacific Steam Engine named Big Boy, #4014, would be coming through the Pittsburgh area. Frank and I talked about it a lot discussing where we could go and how to catch it.

    We also reminisced, a lot, about our adventures chasing the Nickel Plate 765 as it came through town. That had been quite a while ago.

    I’ll never forget, back in 2012, as we stood on either side of the RR tracks beside the Emsworth Dam. If my memory serves me right, we were the only ones there. First we heard the whistle, echoing through the river valley. Then we saw it, coming around the bend, rapidly approaching. The whistle sounded again and before we knew it, it had passed us. It didn’t take long to pass but it was long enough to ingrain itself into our memories! We caught it a couple different places during that visit. Wow, what a rush!

    In 2013 we chased the engine again. We first saw it as it was leaving the Conway yards. We pulled over to the side of the road and jumped across the Jersey barriers to get pictures. Luckily the traffic was light! We turned the car around and followed it into the North Side where we watched it back onto the Ohio Connecting Bridge to turn around for its return trip. We followed it a lot that day! There were many more railfans that came out to see it as compared to the year before!

    While it was great hearing the whistle and seeing the smoke, listening to the wheels pounding on the tracks and sharing the views with the other rail fans, the best part was the fun of chasing it. Going out with a friend and seeing what we could catch. Even if our photos came out bad, we still had a great time getting them and lots of memories!

    This year, 13 years later, in anticipation of the Big Boy's visit we took a couple scouting trips to look for possible viewing sites. We searched east of Pittsburgh, looking for a spot that was away from any larger population centers. We finally decided on either a spot a mile or so outside of New Florence or else on a curve near the community of Torrance. The New Florence site was about an hour away from Frank’s house. The Torrance site was closer to our houses but also closer to Blairsville which might lead to larger crowds. We opted for the further site. What’s another 20 minutes of drive time for a good adventure?

    Saturday, the big day had finally arrived. I left for Frank and Kelle’s house just before 9. This is late for Frank and I to leave, we are usually on the road before sunrise. The three of us left their house about an hour later. We had an hour’s drive in front of us and of course, we still had to make a coffee stop!

    I had felt as if I was still in grade school when I tried to figure out what time the train would arrive at our spot. 

    I must have been paying attention because the train arrived within an hour of when I figured. Good thing we left early to allow set up time. We ended up waiting for about 1¾ hours. This gave us time to find our spot, set up and then roam around a bit, and meet some of the others who had come to see it.  There was a couple from Bedford who came here, trying to avoid the crowds. (Good minds think alike!) There was a group of Amish men who had ridden their bikes here and there were lots of kids, parents and grandparents. Where we set up, the closest people were 20-30 yards away.

    While we waited, the sun moved above the trees, stealing our shadows. The weeds near my tripod kept getting trampled further and further back as I tried to stay in the shade and keep cool.

    Finally we heard the whistle, way off in the distance. It was coming! The adrenaline started pumping, even more than it already was. Then we saw the headlight, rounding the curve a half mile away. There was the smoke! It wasn’t going fast and it was on the track right beside us. Just as it passed us, the whistle blew, sending a shock wave through us all. I couldn’t help but yell when I heard that whistle! After a dozen cars passed us, it came to a stop.

    A mass exodus started moving down the tracks towards the engine. A short bit later the whistle sounded again and the wheel sets started to creak. It started moving again and soon disappeared as it continued on its way. We started to pack up our gear.

    The road had a lot more cars on it than when we first arrived. Everyone was trying to leave at the same time. We got out into traffic and then stopped a few miles away to do a geocache. After all, what is an adventure without a find or two? Then we returned to rt. 22 and headed back.

    Nearing Blairsville, on a hunch, we decided to stop at the other site we had considered, just to see if the train had passed by yet. Nearing Torrance, we could see cars lining both sides of the street. Rolling down the windows, we could hear the engine, it was really close. Pulling onto the bridge that crosses the tracks, we were greeted by hundreds of people looking over the edge. The train was directly underneath us! The whistle blew again and we could see the engine coming out from under us. All the people on the bridge turned and ran across to the other side, ignoring my car. So, we just stopped and watched.

    Frank was able to get a couple nice pictures as the crowd rushed around us. We could see hundreds of people lined up on either side of the tracks, almost all holding phones and cameras, getting their own unique pictures.

    We turned around at the end of the bridge and wended our way through the crowds of people returning to their cars. People were laughing, smiling and happy, some walking down the center of the road, oblivious to the car right behind them. I can understand the mood they were in, we were feeling it also! We lucked out for sure, we took a chance and we caught the train for a second time, just as it passed under us! Cool!

    On Sunday morning, Ann Marie and I were on the road just after 7. We were heading to New Brighton in Beaver County. There were already lots of people along the tracks when we arrived. We walked in and found a good site, the one I had scoped out four days before. I set up, and then moved as more people arrived and finally set up on a pile of RR ties. Further down the track there was an even larger crowd. The tracks run alongside the town, easy access for the population.

    Our location was about five miles from the Conway Railroad Yards. The train was due to leave the yards at 9, it arrived at our location at 9:45.   We talked with the people around us and watched another train go by before the steam engine arrived.

    Then, in the distance a light was seen. The crowd surged towards the tracks. Once again, just as it passed us the whistle was blown. It was followed by not only echoes but cheers from all the spectators.

    The same thing happened as the day before, the people all left with smiles on their faces. They were laughing and sharing their experiences, they were happy!

    Once we were able to get out of our parking spot, we started back towards Pittsburgh. We stopped at a small place in Ambridge, the K&N Restaurant for some breakfast. It was just the type of place we like, opened in 1958, reflecting that time period. We ate at the counter, enjoying the bustle and rush of the waitresses. We had a good meal at a great price and best of all, we just lucked into it. Sometimes those are the best places to eat.

    Our next stop was to visit Arlan at City Books. As we walked in her face lit up as she came over, ready to share her own adventure into railfandom. She had watched the Big Boy as it crossed the Ohio River. She had debated on whether or not to close the shop early and thankfully decided to do it. We were like a couple kids sharing our stories. The visit to the book shop just added to the excitement of the day!

    Looking at my pictures later I was thinking about how many people across this country had come out to see this engine. I am also amazed how some people had no idea at all about it. My one neighbor asked me if the restaurant chain was opening up again. I tend to forget that not everyone is excited by the same things as me.

    We, as a country, have to thank The Union Pacific, and Norfolk and Southern Railroads for providing this wonderful show for us. Millions of people have lined the tracks across the nation, all unified together, millions of people that we share these memories with. I’m also thankful that I had Ann Marie, Kelle and Frank to share this event with. Having people you care for along with you, always makes better adventures!

    I was still pumped up Sunday night; nine hours after watching the Big Boy go by. So, I took my camera and went down over the hill and caught another train as it came out of the Lower Glenshaw tunnel. As you can see in the picture, I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t gotten his fill (Phil?) of trains that day!

Sunrise to Sunset

 

The flashes and bangs of the 4th of July had disappeared and thankfully, some of the heat of the past few days. I woke up on Sunday to a world filled with fog. I rapidly got dressed for church and left early, hoping to find some nice pictures. Unfortunately, the fog had mostly dissipated by the time I left home, but I did get to watch the sun as it rose over the Alleghany River.

    The rain of the previous night had dropped the overwhelming temperatures of the past few days into a bearable range. Ann Marie and I decided it was time to take a road trip. We were actually able to roll down the windows and enjoy the breeze on our arms. I am a big believer in “460” air-conditioning; rolling down 4 windows and going 60 MPH!

    We decided to do a couple Adventure Labs located around Apollo. Adventure Labs are much like Geocaches. You use your phone to direct you to various places and once there, answer a question to claim a find. It is like a virtual scavenger hunt. Some may be tough but most are really easy and like caching, they’re fun and take you to some interesting sites.

    We started out in Apollo, located in Armstrong County, sitting along the Kiskiminetas River. The first stop was at a log cabin built around 1816. Then we visited a local cemetery where we found a couple mausoleums.  Then we located a couple of the houses in the town, one that Nellie Bly’s family owned, the house she grew up in! Nellie Bly was a journalist in the late 1800’s. She became famous by traveling around the world in 72 days, following Jules Verne’s story Around the World in Eighty Days. She also wrote an exposé about sanitariums by getting committed to one. Not far from the town are the remains of the Biddle Iron Furnace, one of the first furnaces built in Western Pennsylvania. It was built in 1817. When the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal was built, the furnace used it haul iron to Pittsburgh.

    On our way to the next Adventure Lab, we stopped at Dolly’s Diner for lunch. We sat at the counter and watched the serving staff rushing around, dealing with the Sunday morning crowds. It was a good meal with good service and best of all, it was inside a restored, air-conditioned diner from the 1950’s!

    From Dolly’s we drove beside the river to Leechburg. This town was founded by David Leech who in 1827, came to build a lock and dam for the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal. We visited the “walking bridge” that crosses the river and a couple other sites to claim a few more finds.

    Enjoying the searches, we decided to visit Saltsburg next. Saltsburg is located in Indiana County, about a half hour away from Leechburg. The town got its name because of the abundance of salt in the area. Since this town was also along the Kiskiminetas River and along the route of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, it had a thriving boat building industry. The finds here were quickly located, taking us to a large grain mill built in 1912 and the route of the canal as it passed near town.

    The day was getting warmer; the “460” air conditioning was abandoned for actual AC. We drove through New Kensington and crossed the Alleghany River. In Springdale we stopped at Glen’s Custard where we treated ourselves to large milkshakes. While we were there, we met Rick Sebak, a popular Pittsburgh producer and documentarist, who had stopped by for the same reason as us. We BS’d for a few minutes before we left for home.

    Rain came and dropped the temperatures once again. Let me tell you, sitting beside an open window and listening to the rain falling through the trees is one of my favorite things!

    I wasn’t quite ready to hit the sack yet, so I grabbed the camera and went to search for the evening train as it came through Glenshaw. I caught it as it was passing behind the old Glenshaw Glass plant. 

    Walking back to the car, I was greeted to a beautiful display of sun rays coming through the clouds. The sun had given me a nice picture as it rose and here, it was giving me one as it set. It was another good day, from sunrise to sunset!

Fifty Years

 On the day our country celebrates its 250^th birthday, I will be celebrating another anniversary. It was on the 4^th of July, 1976 that I quit smoking. I figured that if I didn’t slip up and go back to this addiction, I’d always be able to remember the exact day I quit. The two hundredth birthday of our country, fifty years ago!

    I did do some planning. I smoked more than my usual amount of cigarettes on the days proceeding. I wanted my mouth to taste like shit! I smoked one butt after another, opening a new pack as soon as I emptied the last. Lighting a new cigarette off of the one I had just finished, my fingers smelled as bad as my mouth tasted.

    1976, beside the country celebrating its 200^th birthday, lots of things happened during the year. There was a Freedom train that stopped in Pittsburgh for a couple days. The average price of gas was around sixty cents a gallon. NASA landed Viking 1 on the planet Mars and it sent color pictures back to us earthlings. VHS tapes were introduced, changing how we watched TV. The first Rocky movie was released, Alex Haley’s book Roots spent 22 weeks in the number 1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List and Stephen King was rapidly gaining popularity with two books under his belt. Cigarette prices were soaring up into the fifty cents a pack range. It was getting expensive to smoke in those days!

    Just a couple years out of high school, I was working in a small machine shop in the basement of a building in Blawnox. I was a whole two years into my full-time working life. I rode my motorcycle and enjoyed hiking and camping. In the evenings, I’d get together with my friends, and we’d listen to music, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Kansas, Frampton, Wings and The Eagles to name just a few. We would watch TV and BS, fueled on by herbal and alcoholic spirits. Those were the days! We all smoked. BUT, I can still remember the smell of the room the next day as I cleaned up. Emptying the butts into the trash and washing the ash trays could turn your stomach, but I dealt with it. It was all part of the habit!

    I have to say though, cigarette smoke can smell good, especially if it’s just a slight wisp, and an attractive woman is doing the smoking. A mixture of perfume and cigarette smoke can take you away to a different place. It can add a bit of mystery or intrigue to an evening. It brings to mind, Brigitte Bardot or Uma Thurman, Humphrey Bogart or Clint Eastwood. Smoking was cool, it made me feel cool! It also left a bad taste in my mouth.

    The time had come. I didn’t want that monkey on my back anymore. It was time to quit, while I still could. So, late in the night, as the clock neared midnight, on the 3rd of July 1976, I took my last drag on my last cigarette, crumpled the pack and started anew.

    Now this year, as the country celebrates its 250^th birthday, I will also be celebrating my 50^th year free of tobacco addiction. A half of a century, I’d never have guessed it back in 1976. I haven’t always made the best choices, but this was definitely one of my better!

The Author Within Us All

 

We all dream. Sadly, most of our dreams are forgotten. I, myself, love my dreams. They are one of the reasons I look forward to going to bed. I never know what I’ll dream or even if I’ll remember them, but I always anticipate them. I woke up this morning, in the middle of a dream and scribbled some notes that turned into this short essay.

    Why is it that we dream? There are many thoughts on this and don’t worry, I’m not going to try and explain them. There are plenty of studies that have been done and many books written about the subject. Dreams are not only what we experience at night and during naps, they are also things that we look forward to or goals we hope to achieve.

    Maybe our sleeping dreams are our brains trying to review the events in our day and life. I tend to think that our dreams are a way of entertaining us as we sleep. As I said before, I never know what I’m going to dream. I have tried to influence my dreams (without much luck) and I try my best to remember them. I write down my more memorable dreams.

    Thankfully, nightmares or bad dreams have only been a very small part of my dream life. I experienced some in my childhood but, they are now gone. I still have an occasional uncomfortable dream but never anything that terrorizes me.

    Memory always plays an important part of my dreams. Many of the places I go are places I’ve been to before, either in my life or in my dreams. The places I’ve visited in my waking life are never the same in my dreams, though I always KNOW where the place is. It just never looks the same, but there is no doubt to me, where it is! There are many places that I’ve visited only in my dreams and they always look the same. I’ve met many people from my past in my dreams, most still alive and many who have left this life. I always enjoy these visits! I also participate in many of the activities I used to enjoy. I find it exhilarating to run through the woods, leaping over rocks and logs, and not get tired! Riding my bike up hills without exerting myself, how could I not wake up feeling good after that?

    I love to read. When I do that, I take my imagination to a different place. I experience the world through the eyes of the author and see it through “the eyes” of my imagination. I see the picture they are describing. I think that my dreams are the stories my subconscious mind is writing for me. Perhaps our dreams are the authors inside of our minds, writing the adventures we live each night when we go to sleep!

    I can’t wait to see what I’ll “write” tonight!

It Is Getting Closer...

What is it exactly that gets us interested in trains? For many it is the circle of track running around under our Christmas trees. Or maybe it is from looking at our early picture books or the reciting of The Little Engine That Could, night after night before bedtime. Some of our interests stem from our parents or grandparents who lived through the years when trains seemed to be everywhere.

    I believe my own interests come from a combination of all of the above. Trains were a part of my family in more ways than one. My grandfather worked in the Pennsylvania Railroad roundhouse in Verona, PA. He later drove a streetcar on the rails through town. My father and my brother made an HO train layout of the Kiski Junction, a location across the river from Freeport. 

     My father had taken many pictures of trains during his lifetime. In 1924 he had the opportunity of riding in the cab of a steam engine, an event he documented in one of his albums. “Over sixty miles an hour!” Some of his pictures grace the walls of my library.

    I imagine that it was inevitable that I would become a rail-fan myself. Being a photographer, I fell right into the hole. There is an anticipation I feel while waiting for a train to come. The feeling rises as the engine comes into sight. The noise increases and the train seems to get faster as it nears. The loud blaring of the whistles sends a shiver through me. It is a rush I feel, one that continues to draw me back time and again. The "pictures" may only be an excuse to hang out at railroad crossings…

    The Union Pacific’s Big Boy, steam engine #4014 has been taking up a lot of space on the internet. Facebook’s algorithms put numerous postings on my pages daily. The train is in the second half of a cross-country trip. It has been to the West Coast and will soon be entering Pennsylvania. It is scheduled to be in Philadelphia for the 4^th of July, our country’s 250^th birthday. It will be returning to its home base later, going through Pittsburgh in the process. (July 11^th)

    This steam engine is a monster! Weighing over a million pounds, it is 133 feet long. It has 16 driving wheels and because of its length, the frame is articulated to allow it to round bends. It was built in the early 40’s, engineered to pull very heavy loads. The 4014 is one of 25 engines built by the American Locomotive Company. (ALCO) Only eight of these massive engines remain and only the 4014 is still in operation.

    The engine worked until 1961, twenty years and during this time it covered over one million miles before it was retired. It was eventually rebuilt, converted from coal to oil and then returned to the rails in 2019.

    Needless to say, there are many, many people looking forward to seeing this engine, myself included!

    While we wait for this monster engine to steam into Pittsburgh, I have been searching for a spot to photograph it. My rail-fan friend Frank and I have been scouting out various places, checking out the lines of sight, the ease of access and whether or not there are any nice background buildings or rail signals. (Having a nice background can make or break a picture!)

    We are looking for a spot where there will be a minimum of people. Spots where the train will be stopping or where it goes through towns and cities will probably be overrun with spectators. Granted, no matter where we see it, it will be worth it, BUT, we would like to get some good pictures at the same time!

    This coming Thursday, we will be going out again on another scouting trip. The weather forecasters are predicting a day of clouds with minimal chance of rain. Hey, we’ve been out in the rain before, a little rain never hurt anyone. Hopefully, rain on the 11^th will be non-existent.

    While I am waiting, I go out and take more pictures of trains, practice, practice, practice! I also search the maps, imagining how shots from along the lines might look. I find that as I sit and watch the TV or read my book while lying in bed, a portion of my brain is thinking about camera speeds, locations to visit, B&W or color, or both, what to bring along and a multitude of other things. I’m not complaining, it’s all part of the fun of being a rail-fan photographer!

Searching for Who Knows What

 

This morning my buddy Frank and I took a ride. As is always the case, we were armed with cameras and GPS’s. We had a rough idea of where we were headed, and our purpose was to find some interesting things to photograph. Nothing in particular, we'd know it when we saw it. Our destination was the Turtle Creek and Braddock area.

    The day was perfect for photography. The sky was a deep shade of blue dotted with puffy white clouds. The polarizers on our lens made the sky appear even darker.

    We did a cache in Wilmerding, (You know, “There are no Winky’s in Wilmerding!”) across the RR tracks from an old building that Frank used to work in, many, many years ago. We were right beside the tracks and sadly, saw no trains go by.

    Since we were in the area, we stopped to take a few pictures of the George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge. The conditions were perfect!

    Opened in 1932, it was then regarded as the longest concrete span bridge in the world. It is approximately 240 feet from the deck to the valley below. After we took some pictures from one side, and watched a train go by, we went to the opposite side to see what it looked like from there.

    While the shots from this side were nice, they didn’t compare to the view from the opposite side. While we were there, we watched a set of 4 Union RR MP15 locomotives pull a line of cars into the mill, crossing a long bridge. Next, we decided to see what the view was like from on top of the Westinghouse Bridge.

    To do this involved a bit of walking. Naturally, we couldn’t stop the car on the bridge, so we had to find a spot to park and then hoof it to the center. We strung our cameras around our necks and started walking. Ten or more minutes later we were nearing the center. The sun was hot overhead and cars and trucks were zipping past us just a few feet away. Thank heavens there was a sidewalk! The noise was loud to put it mildly, but it was definitely worth it once we got out in the middle of the span.

    Kennywood could be seen off to the left in the distance, its yellow roller coaster standing out against the green hillsides. The huge USS Plant grabs your attention in the center of the view. Turtle Creek was below, lined on either side by railroad tracks. A dam could be seen almost directly below us, with a flood gate hanging over the stream. The Norfolk and Southern RR tracks could be seen going under the Union RR Bridge and the Braddock Avenue Bridge, disappearing into the trees to the right. During the height of the steel boom this area was supposedly the most active railroad area in the county! 

    Back at the car, we headed into Braddock where we stopped numerous times to photograph old, abandoned buildings and Churches. One of the Churches no longer had a roof and the windows were all broken out. Sad how such a nicely built building, once weekly filled with people, now sits empty with only (?) pigeons living in it. We photographed a few houses that were surprisingly still standing, the end of their lifetimes rapidly approaching.

    We passed a train and hoping to catch it further down the line, pulled into a funeral home parking lot. We framed our shots and waited…and waited. After waiting 10-15 minutes we gave up and continued on to where we started our journey.

    Without a doubt, it was a great morning! Trains, caches and decrepit old buildings, what more could you ask for? And, so far no signs of ticks or poison ivy! What a great way to spend a sunny morning!