2017-23
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| been on a lot of country roads lately |
Altoona Pennsylvania
Johnstown
Campground: Noel's Trailer Park. 35
minutes from Altoona, $25 for 30 amp electric. No water or sewer at
site. 6 over the air TV stations(poor), good Verizon signal. This is an
old trailer camp, most sites are seasonal and a few full time live-ins.
Overhead electric wires hang low and a worker directing me to my
pull-thru site kept a watchful eye on the top of my camper to make
sure I cleared each set of wires. Electric cut out about 4 times and was weak.
It will do for a couple of nights, but I would not recommend the park.
It will do for a couple of nights, but I would not recommend the park.
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| Noel's Trailer Park, a really old trailer park my campsite, behind the dumpsters |
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| Noel's is a really old trailer park |
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| lost electric power about 4 times and it's a weak, the a/c didn't like it at all |
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| anyone need storage? |
Distance traveled: 102 miles
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| Stop! wait, proceed slowly lots and lots of road repairs |
I picked this campground mainly because
it's approx. half way between Altoona and Johnstown. Both areas I
thought might be interesting to tour. With that said, I headed into
Altoona the next day. My GPS giving me good directions if a bit on
the exciting side. The route chosen went on up over one of the many
ridge lines of the Allegheny mountain range. And descending down the
mountain on a 14% grade was quite a thrill as the road traveled along
the edge of each heavily forested drop off. Thank goodness I didn't
have my camper in tow. My fellow Rv-ers will understand fully what a
14% grade means. Even without towing the camper downshifting and
breaking periodically are essential.
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| from detailed train layouts of Altoona The Railroaders Memorial Museum |
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| to exceptional vintage photo's and lots of innovative displays |
Altoona was once one of the main
centers for the Pennsylvania Rail Road and still is. New train
engines were built and tested here. The Railroaders Memorial Museum
and the famous horseshoe Curve, approx 5 miles away are well worth
the drive over the mountain. My first stop was at the Railroaders
Museum and I wasn't disappointed. Exceptional displays telling the
life of a railroad worker, the enormous man hours put in to research
the best products to be used on the railroads. An example being the
testing of various Florida oranges to determine which would produce
the most orange juice for the diners, or the testing of light bulbs
to determine which would last the longest and produce the most light.
Constant upgrades to the rail road equipment for communications and
safety were ongoing. Many of the displays described what impact the
trains had on local lives.
I highly recommend the Altoona
Railroaders Memorial Museum.
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| views from the Train Museum, into downtown Altoona |
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| museum is on three levels |
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| over 100 knobs, levers and switches |
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| comics hit on the popularity of trains |
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| each display covering another aspect of the train life and worker |
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| The Chairman of the board explains that he's got to make a profit for the share holders |
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| this is the era when everything was tested for efficiency and maximum use testing how much juice each type of Florida orange produced, to be served on the trains |
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| special devices created to test light bulbs brightness and longevity |
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| excellent displays |
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| life in the late 1800's |
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| The news boy is off screen, activated by motion sensors he appears as you approach the display to tell his story |
As a former Government worker I was taught early on that every job had it's fringe benefits. For the railroad worker, it meant their families could ride the trains often for free or for a minimal amount of money. Including being able to travel on other railroad lines as well, since many had reciprocal travel agreements. It was nothing for a wife and children living in Altoona to hop on a train and go into Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or even New York to shop and dine out. They could even take a vacation by rail all the way out west to places like Yellowstone National Park. Now that's a good fringe benefit.
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| Train enthusiasts will recognize the Horseshoe Curve |
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| trains pass through every twenty mintutes |
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| just coming into horseshoe curve |
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| it wraps around this reservoir and viewing park |
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| even Abraham Lincoln traveled on a train around this bend still heavily used today |
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| these cars are garbage scows sending trash from as far away as Philadelphia and New York, heading west |
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| and around the bend, eliminating the need for bridges keeping the train at an even level for the tracks |
The horseshoe curve was and still is an
amazing accomplishment in railroad history. Due to the numerous
mountain ranges in Pennsylvania, the original design of the first
railroads was to put down tracks where they could, transfer
passengers onto canal barges and back again to trains just to travel
across the state. The horseshoe curve enabled the construction of a
rail line along the ridge of the surrounding mountains completing the
rail line from one end of Pennsylvania to the other. In conjunction
with the museum, there's a wonderful park in the center of the
horseshoe curve for viewing the trains as they loop around the
mountain range.
Another day I toured the Mishler
Theatre, built twice, the first time in 1906 and the second time in
1907. Although the first one built had many fire protection features
including an asbestos curtain and sprinklers to put out any fire, it
was a fire next door to the theater that quickly got out of control
that took it down. The owner had already used most of his money and
was not sure he could rebuild. Local citizens put up the collateral
and it was rebuilt in record time.
Even though it was not a major city,
because it was on a direct rail line from Philadelphia and New York,
many entertainers, shows and plays would stop here first, before
going across country. George Burns, the famous stand up comedian
titled his memoirs “They loved me in Altoona”.
Unlike many historic buildings, this
one did not remain empty but for a couple of years. It would
eventually be purchased by a local non-profit group that has done an
exceptional job renovating it and bring back live theater, music and
other events.
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| downtown Altoona PA |
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| Inside the Mishler Theater |
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| lobby |
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| downtown Altoona PA |
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| The Altoona Trust, now a Comic book store |
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| The Mishler recently opened a bar in the basement, with a really cool vibe |
I even stopped in for a peak at the large cathedral on top of the hill close to the theater. A mass was being performed, but I was able to take a picture from the back of the modern day structure, with a picture of Pope Francis at the entrance. Grand yet understated in it's design.
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| light and airy interior |
Johnstown PA
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| town wiped out in 1889 including two more floods |
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| Johnstown PA |
Well, what a mess I made of attempting
to do a bit of touring in this city that has been devastated by three
major floods. The largest one being back in 1889. The story goes
that a number of wealthy industrialists had purchased land
surrounding a man made lake, including owning the earthen dam that
held back all the water. They built large cottages secluded amongst
the treed shoreline and enjoyed the summers in their own little piece
of paradise, away from the lower class workers.
The dam having gone through two
previous owners before the new wealthy industrialists took over. It was
not well maintained. Heavy rains rapidly overflowed the dam and
spillway, as a couple of feet had been removed from the middle of the
earthen dam to make it easier for the cottage owners to travel across
the top of the dam with their carriages. Creating a second point for
the overflowing water to travel.
The dam burst and flooded all of the
towns downstream with Johnstown being the largest town at the end of
the valley where three rivers intersect. With the lake gone and the
valley towns destroyed, the wealthy owners of the cottages would
never return to their summer homes.
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| the Red Cross had it's first major event in Johnstown, spending many months coordinating help |
Well I started out saying what a mess I
made of attempting to tour the area. I did of course tour the Flood
Museum, but only after being directed by signage away from what
looked like a perfectly good parking lot, over a bridge and to a dirt
parking lot at the Amtrak station. It was under renovation, but
conflicting signs indicated it was for museum parking and another
sign indicating for Amtrak employees only. Being the museum was back
across the bridge, I drove back over in that direction and ended up
getting street parking/w parking meter. Once again limiting my time
for touring.
My second attempt was to take a ride on
the “steepest vehicular Incline plane” in the world. Well, my
faithful GPS did take me to the site, but not to the base of the
ride, no I ended up driving to the top of the hill 900 feet almost
straight up. Turned out ok, because on Fridays and weekends, the
venicular train doesn't run until late morning and afternoons. So I
was able to enjoy the views and see this suburb in the sky before
once again descending back to flood plane level.
By then I was eager for some lunch, but
not being familiar with the town, I couldn't find any visitor parking
in the busy downtown shopping district. I'm sure there were some
places to park, but all I saw were parking lots designated for
various bank building employees only and other businesses, none for
visitors....
Though there were a number of very
interesting places to tour in the area, my stomach won out and I
headed out of town in search of a restaurant with a parking lot.
A note: I did download a Johnstown app
to my phone that was supposedly designed to give a listing of all the
interesting places to visit and a map showing ones preferences of
places to visit. Unfortunately, after I selected my places of
interest and retrieved the custom map, it had little dots on the map,
that one needed to open to see what the location marker was for.
After clicking on a few of them, I noticed the app added additional
places of businesses and shops/restaurants along with my selections.
Needless to say, it was not of any help.... good idea, just not
helpful.
So a short report covering only a 4 day
stay before heading out to an Army Corps campground, my last stop
before exiting Pennsylvania.
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