A TRIP FOR REAL THIS TIME

We got up early this morning and set off for Gallitzin, Pennsylvania. The weather was beautiful, sunny and not too cold. Gallitzin is Southeast from where we live about 209 miles..., and we have been there several times in the past few years. We love trains, and this place is a premier spot to watch. Gallitzin is a small town settled back in the 1800's by the Irish Catholics. The US Government hired 100's of these immigrants to help dig a large tunnel through the Allegheny mountains so the trains could navigate the steep grades. The Alleghenys in this area are especially hilly with many obstacles. In the first picture you can see the trains exiting the tunnel. The old tunnel to the left is the oldest one back when they had steam engines. You can see the black soot marks on the tunnel front from the smoke. They no longer can use this tunnel because of the high stack trains that need more height. In the background is the brick building, Tunnel Inn. It is a Bed & Breakfast where we stay, and can watch trains close up all day if you want to.

The two engines you see high up on the hill is at The Horseshoe Curve. Another great engineering feat near Altoona, Pa. It was built by the Irish laborers in 1854 and opened to the Pennsylvania Railroad, ( at one time the largest railroad in the world )this time to get around the mountain, not through it. It actually is in the shape of a horseshoe, and if the train is long enough it can almost meet itself as it travels from one side to the other.

A set of long forgotten railroad tracks taken from on a hill looking down.

The last picture is on the way home at Cook Forest State Park.

Cook Forest State Park is a 8,500-acre (34.40 km²) Pennsylvania State Park in Farmington Township, Clarion County, Barnett Township, Forest County and Barnett Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is a heavily wooded area of rolling hills and mountains along the Clarion River in northwestern Pennsylvania. Cook Forest State Park is known for some of America's finest virgin white pine and hemlock timber stands and was once called the "Black Forest" due to the preponderance of evergreen tree coverage