The Railroaders Memorial Museum, Altoona, PA: Cousin Bob Wolf far right has a “chat” with a train’s porter, who is known for his waxy disposition, in front of a near life-size mock up of a steam locomotive.

A RAILROAD TOWN--

We always visited my hometown Altoona for our summer vacations way back then—and, I quickly learned not to climb trees.

It went like this: Dad’s oldest brother Uncle Bob and family lived way up the hill on First Avenue where you could look far below and see the Pennsylvania Railroad—everywhere.

Those were the waning days of steam locomotives.

And they burned coal and belched black smoke, staining the otherwise pristine mountain atmosphere. And that smoke coated everything in tar-colored smudge. And, it had already done that for nearly 100 years, way back then.

Altoona was a railroad town, in fact, the home of the Pennsy RR and had more shops and railroad tracks than a small boy could believe. They built their own locomotives there.

And, they could fix them when the big trains came screeching down the mountain with sparks flying and brakes locked and the steel wheels grinding themselves flat against the tracks trying to hold the train against the mountain’s steep grade.

Today it’s a much cleaner town, but it still celebrates its railroad history. There is the world-known Horseshoe Curve we visited yesterday.

There is a delightful Railroaders Memorial Museum, located appropriately in one of the sprawling shops of that bygone era tucked in with the main line where folks still watch the much cleaner and awesomely powerful diesel engines pull the trains through their mountain valley.

Today, Altoona is like much of the industrial rust belt of our Northeast. The ear splitting, body-pounding shops that employed many, many thousands of railroaders are but skeletons of their origins.

And, the city is in the process of redefining itself while keeping careful custody of its rich railroad heritage.