I wasn't able to ride the Horseshoe Curve on my Pittsburgh Circle trip, bit I did get a nice ride through the Youghiogheny River Gorge and over the Sand Patch Grade on the Capitol Limited. I got some video of both out the railfan window, but there wasn't much to see going through the Yough as the summer foliage pretty much obscures the river, and it was a bit of a hazy/foggy day, so the mountains didn't show up well. But I did get a nice view of the Sand Patch Grade, and took a nice 19 minute video of the crossing. Unfortunately, I set my video for 4K, and thus, the file is 12.3 gigabytes, so I won't be uploading it here any time soon. However, I have a few videocapture stills that show the view very nicely, and the view from the back of the train revealed stuff that I had never seen before, even though I've made this ride a lot of times.
This bridge is what the Western Maryland used to cross the tracks of the B&O. It's now part of the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail.
Looks like at some time in the past, this CSX main was triple tracked.
Here is the summit at 2,258 ft. (688 m) altitude . The third track is actually a crossover. The train entered the summit tunnel soon after this frame.
The eastern end of the Sand Patch tunnel. It's all downhill from here.
A view of the Cumberland, Maryland Amshack.
CSX freight locomotive in the Cumberland yard. Riding by, I got the impression that there used to me more tracks at this yard and it used to be a busier place than it is today.
This bridge is what the Western Maryland used to cross the tracks of the B&O. It's now part of the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail.
Looks like at some time in the past, this CSX main was triple tracked.
Here is the summit at 2,258 ft. (688 m) altitude . The third track is actually a crossover. The train entered the summit tunnel soon after this frame.
The eastern end of the Sand Patch tunnel. It's all downhill from here.
A view of the Cumberland, Maryland Amshack.
CSX freight locomotive in the Cumberland yard. Riding by, I got the impression that there used to me more tracks at this yard and it used to be a busier place than it is today.
