The traffic on Porta Road had barely 5 minutes to spare before the gates lowered once more, this time for an eastbound manifest led by SD70M 2601 and C40-9W 8946. A dissonant chorus of singing brakeshoes filled the air again as the duo led a mix of boxcars, chemical tanks, gondolas, and covered hoppers through the crossing at a progressively slower pace.
It was hard not to feel at least a little sympathy for the driver of the SUV who waited patiently for the tail end of the manifest to pass, only to hear a second eastbound approaching. As the last cars of the manifest came into sight, ES40DC 7589 and an unidentified C40-9 passed behind on track 1 with an empty slab steel train. The slab train managed to pass in its entirety before the manifest was clear of the crossing, but it was a moot point - as the tail of the slab train approached, the manifest ground to a halt 5 cars short of clearing the crossing, and judging by the scanner chatter it wasn't going anywhere soon. It looked like I would need to chart a different path back to Cresson than originally planned.
#train #trainspotting #railfanning #railroad #pennsylvania #travel
3 окт 2012
