Horseshoe Curve

[USS ALASKA]

http://explorepahistory.com/kora/files/1/2/1-2-5AA-25-ExplorePAHistory-a0b9p8-a_349.jpg

Source - LOC

Source - LOC

Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, PA. Completed in 1854 to replace the Allegheny Portage Railroad. Built by Pennsylvania Railroad Engineers John Edgar Thomson and Herman Haupt. Thomson was the former chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad and Haupt was the chief engineer of the Southern Railroad of Mississippi. Both had roles in the ACW - Thomson as President of the PRR and Haupt as a Brigadier General with the U.S. Military Railroads, appointed as Chief of Construction and Transportation in the Virginia theater.

The Horseshoe Curve allowed the PRR it's first straight-through rail route from Philly to Pittsburgh without the issues of the Allegheny Portage. First built with two tracks, it was upgraded to 4 by 1900 because of high demand. During the ACW, with the problems on the B & O, it became a important rail link from the Atlantic Coast to the West along with the NYC and Erie RRs. Was considered so vital to the US war effort that it was targeted in Operation Pastorius during WWII.

Still in heavy use today under the ownership of Norfolk Southern. You can go there and watch the trains - there is a park and visitors center.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[JOHN42768]

An interesting engineering project. Speed must be very slow, understandably

 

[USS ALASKA]

Speed must be very slow, understandably.

Slow sir, but not crawling...Speeds for trains at Horseshoe Curve are 30 MPH for freight. Passenger trains are up to 40 MPH.

Sources...
Engineering Design and Construction. Pittsburgh Division. Track Charts. Atlanta, Georgia: Norfolk Southern Railway. p. 026.
http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/NS/NS Track Charts/NS Pgh Division Track Chart 2012.pdf

"Pennsylvanian" - Amtrak.
45

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[John Hartwell]

How do they handle very long trains? With the locomotives going exactly parallel with the caboose, but in opposite directions, the tendency would be to buckle and derail in the middle. Do they ever add extra locos in the middle or at the rear?

 

[bdtex]

So I'm guessing munitions produced at the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh were shipped east via that rail line?

 

[Mrs. V]

Big rail fan here! I seem to remember seeing a video of this, when my son was wee and already a crazy rail fan. All I can say is the first time I was up close and personal with a Steam loco..all I could think of was...good golly they are big!

 

[USS ALASKA]

The museum that runs the visitors area is here - https://civilwartalk.com/threads/railroad-museum.139977/#post-1684893

On the other side of the 'hill' is the Gallitzin Tunnels Park & Museum.
184/1686

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[nitrofd]

Slow sir, but not crawling...Speeds for trains at Horseshoe Curve are 30 MPH for freight. Passenger trains are up to 40 MPH.

Sources...
Engineering Design and Construction. Pittsburgh Division. Track Charts. Atlanta, Georgia: Norfolk Southern Railway. p. 026.
http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/NS/NS Track Charts/NS Pgh Division Track Chart 2012.pdf

"Pennsylvanian" - Amtrak.
45

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

Thats faster then i thought they would be.

 

[USS ALASKA]

Do they ever add extra locos in the middle or at the rear?

Sir, according to 'Horseshoe Curve' by David Seidel and 'Norfolk Southern Railway' by Richard Borkowski...

'The 3,000-horsepower (2,200 kW) EMD SD40-2s and SD40Es helpers are coupled to the rear of long trains, providing power on the ascent and assisting in braking on the descent.'

So before the current era, the PRR did the same or ran shorter trains.
200

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

So I'm guessing munitions produced at the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh were shipped east via that rail line?

Sir, I would GUESS that to be true for the supplies headed east. The other routes would be taking the Erie RR or NYC's 'Water Level Route' which would be a bit longer. Or actual going by water via the Great Lakes and / or the Erie Canal. The shipborne route might actually be safer if not cheaper - just slower.
232

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

Thats faster then i thought they would be.

Agreed sir. Given the state of civil engineering at this level, the experience with projects of this size, and the overall neophyte status of most things railroad, they did a heck of a job. The first surveys through the Alleghenies for the Main Line began in 1839. Built with just black powder, hand tools and horses - it was quite an engineering feat for its time. And it is still in heavy use...
258

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

...and the tunnel connected to it...

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD
ALLEGHENY TUNNEL
Richard M. Casella
August 1993
Pennsylvania Historic Railroad Bridges Recording Project
Beneath Allegheny Mountain, east of Railroad St.
Gallitzin
Cambria County
Pennsylvania

Allegheny Tunnel is an example of a mid-nineteenth century railroad tunnel featuring ashlar masonry portals and a brick arch lining. Upon completion it was the longest railroad tunnel in America, allowing railcars to pass for the first time from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh without the use of inclined planes. As an integral part of the development of the Pennsylvania Railroad, it is associated with significant development in the transportation history of America. Herman Haupt made significant contributions to the fields of railroad, tunnel and bridge engineering.

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa3700/pa3721/data/pa3721data.pdf

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[R. Porter]

There was a 4,000 foot railroad tunnel built under Church Hill in Richmond, VA, in the 1870's. A portion collapsed taking several railroad workers and a steam locomotive. It has continued to collapse over the years taking houses and other structures with it.

Church Hill Tunnel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Library Lady]

Big rail fan here! I seem to remember seeing a video of this, when my son was wee and already a crazy rail fan. All I can say is the first time I was up close and personal with a Steam loco..all I could think of was...good golly they are big!

I don't know where you live, @Mrs. V , but if you ever get a chance to be up close and personal with the Union Pacific's Big Boy, it is an opportunity not to be missed. That engine is a brute! It's glorious to see it moving and pulling the UP's Business Train (made up of antique passenger cars from before Amtrak).

 

[USS ALASKA]

Journal Article
Horseshoe Curve: An Engineering and Historic Landmark
Dan Cupper
Pennsylvania Legacies, Vol. 4, No. 1 (May 2004), pp. 19-24
University of Pennsylvania Press

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27764920

Full article at above link on JSTOR with Google sign-in (In the upper right-hand corner of the linked page, there is a 'Log in' button. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google sign-in and this will allow for free reading of 100 articles a month).

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[James Brenner]

I recall reading in one of the Ohio regimentals that the soldiers had (apparently) known about Horseshoe Curve for quite some time and, as they were heading east, were quite excited about seeing it and traveling through it.