About five miles west of Altoona, Pennsylvania is the world famous Horseshoe Curve in the Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line from Philadephia to Pittsburgh.
I never did find a good vantage point to photograph this major engineering marvel rising from Altoona on the far left of the upper Kittanning Reservoir passing behind me and then around the notch in the hill on the right on its way west to the Gallitzin Tunnel. Prior to it's construction rail cars from the east were loaded onto barges and transferred over the hill through a series of locks and inclines making the trip both slow and expensive. Constructed in the early 1850s without any modern equipment it would still be a major engineering project today.
Due to the large number of worldwide visitors the original comfort stop was along the tracks at the top of the hill. With the decline of rail passenger service and increase in automobile traffic the new visitors center is located at the base of the hill along the road from Altoona passing through a tunnel under the horseshoe curve to Gallitzin. Operated by the Railroaders Memorial Museum, there are 194 steps up to the train level or for us wooseys the funicular incline is available for a small fee. They tell the story of the retire volunteer guide that would challenge school kids to a race up the steps and always beat the youngsters, we didn't even try.
For railroad lovers like Lori a trip to the top is rewarded by frequent trains and opportunities to wave at the crews but the fall colors continued to elude us.