DUNCANNON, PENNSYLVANIA
I am a kid. I still like kid things. Like trains. Big trains. Steam locomotives. If I were president, I would mandate that railroads use cabooses again so that every child can wave to the conductor in the caboose when one goes by.1
I was excited last year when I saw that Union Pacific planned to bring the Big Boy on a “USA 250” cross-country trip, and I studied the itinerary of the world’s largest locomotive. I found a viewing location near Altoona, Pa. for later in the week, but I found this great opportunity midweek.
I did my homework yesterday in finding a secluded viewing location, not knowing how crowded Duncannon would be. However, I did not do my homework on how to get around a closed road.
At 8:00 a.m., I parked at the private park at the confluence of the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers. I crossed the bridge over the Juniata River and was soon stuck in traffic. I wasn’t sure if this was train traffic or construction traffic. It was the latter. Rather than wait for the flagger to release the traffic up Newport Road, I went into the town and came back a side street. They were still stopped.
I chatted with the flagger. He told me that he didn’t know how long the road would be closed. I asked him if it was 10 more minutes or an hour, all the time calculating how long I could wait and still get up and over the hill to my private location that I found yesterday at Toe Patch Road. While I was there, a voice came over his radio.
I could hear that they were waiting on an asphalt truck which was stuck in traffic down by the Juniata River bridge. He replied he had no way of contacting the driver. After that conversation, I asked him what he needed and then volunteered to ride down and pass on the message. I took off and found the truck. The driver looked a little incredulous at this cyclist, dressed in a stars-and-stripes cycling kit, and told her that the flagger sent me down and that she needed to pass the traffic and get up the road.
I went ahead past the stopped traffic to the intersection and stopped so I would block any oncoming traffic. She then pulled out, passed the stopped cars, and went up to the flagger and then up the hill. My good deed for the day was done.
When I went to the truck, I saw a little opening with access to the train tracks. I saw there were four people with soccer chairs waiting for the train. This wasn’t quite alone, but it would do. For the next 10-15 minutes, I kept watching the stopped cars, hopeful that I could still go up the climb and make my private viewing location. But I resigned myself to staying here.
I talked briefly with the four people gathered there. What time did they expect Big Boy to pass? One woman thought it would be 20 minutes from Enola to here, depending, of course, on how fast Big Boy was traveling. Big Boy was scheduled to leave Enola at 9:00 a.m. More people showed up. I moved down the tracks. Some people followed me. I moved farther down the tracks. Ultimately, I wanted to be where no one would be in my way, and I wouldn’t be in anyone else’s way.
A big boy, clearly at least 300 pounds, came and started talking with me. He told me he has a G-scale of the Big Boy at home. I see one on eBay for $2000. He could have a bike for that price. But he’s a fan of the train.
I looked for a location to set my bike down so that it was out of the way of any steam spray that might come from the train. At this point, I didn’t know which of the two tracks the train would be on and settled on the one that had the biggest drop-off so that any steam would pass safely over my bike on its side.
Some families arrived with small kids. Lots of small kids. The kids ran on the tracks. I was careful not to even walk over the tracks as this was an active rail line, albeit with decent sightlines in either direction. One family even brought their dog. SMH. Who brings a dog to see a super loud train?
The big guy was tracking the train on the website. He told me when it was five miles away. I could hear the whistle. That wasn’t five miles. Don’t spend your time looking at your phone, or you may get gobsmacked by a train. We saw the train and the excitement built. I crossed over the tracks to be on the opposite side of the tracks from the train. The guidance was to stay at least 25 feet from the train, which I did.
The whistle was sweet. The train was beautiful. It went by in under a minute.
The crew all waved. You got the feeling they knew how special this is and never forget how excited people are to see it.
This experience was slightly reminiscent of watching the Tour de France. People gather all day for a race to go by in less than one minute. But there was no all-day tailgating, and there wasn’t a pre-race or pre-train caravan. While it may be impractical to do on an active railroad, note to Union Pacific: If you do this again, have a “race caravan” of self-propelled rail cars go ahead of Big Boy by 30 minutes and throw candy to the kids. It works in France.
After Big Boy left, I rode downtown. I had heard they charged $100 for parking at some of the businesses. When the road became U.S. 15, I turned around. I went back to where I parked, crossed the Susquehanna River, and rode up River Road just far enough to stretch my legs.
Back at the car, I put the bike away. I took one last look at the rivers not sure I would be back here. Getting into the little park one goes through a parking lot of a place called The Devil’s Den. It looked like a bar, had an OPEN sign, and I thought about going in and getting a Coke, appreciative that I have at least driven through their parking lot a few times. In looking to link to it I discovered that it is really a strip club. Yikes!!! Glad I didn’t go in.
What a day. This will be one to remember forever.
EPILOGUE – I mentioned I didn’t do my homework in getting around a closed road. It appears there was an alternative route about 1/2 mile away that would have taken me to the top of the climb. I was fooled into thinking this was the only road up the hill because of all the traffic that willingly sat there waiting for the road to open instead of using the alternate route. If I had checked Apple Maps when the road was closed instead of waiting for it to open, I could have gone to my private location.
- I know, the president doesn’t have this power but I can dream ↩︎
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