BM&R PRR E8's 5898 & 5706 excursion to Altoona & Horseshoe Curve - November 1, 1987

BM&R E8's 5898 & 5706 lead excursion train from Temple to (6:35) Horseshoe Curve. I remember hearing the K-4's whistle (8:50) welcoming us into Altoona. Toured the museum, #1361 (12:02) and cab of GG1 (12:57), train returning to Altoona station (13:53) for departure.

[@robkrasinski6217]

I rode over the curve behind the 765 on an NS excursion on May 25, 2013 from Lewistown.

[@robkrasinski6217]

You can ride this route anytime on Amtrak. It's the NS ex-Reading lines east of Harrisburg that have been freight only for decades and you currently can't ride. Amtrak had Autumn Express excursions in Nov 2014 and Oct 2016 that went through Reading, but there currently are no excursions at all on NS.

[@robkrasinski6217]

That was a VERY long excursion. Something like that won't happen again even with the PRR E8's owned by Bennett Levin in Philly the ex-Conrail E units, because of the March 2018 Amtrak excursion ban and the E's don't have PTC installed. And open window coaches with friction bearings like the RBMN owns are now banned from NS and all class 1's. Conrail was more lenient in the 80's and let Andy run excursions from fall 1987 through 1988. #2102 also ran four excursions from Temple in Sept. 1985 after it traveled to Reading from Ohio. Andy bought the T-1 in 1986.