As some of you may recall, I was born in Elmira, NY and lived there until age 7. My father got the itch to own his own pharmacy, so we moved to Hammondsport, NY in 1976. I was rather sad to be leaving the now former EL behind, as the Southern Tier Mainline was still quite active at that point. However, my sorrow was short lived when I discovered Hammondsport had its very own shortline. I spent many, many hours by the tracks as a kid. My parents also got a book called
Keuka Lake Memories, which profiled the history of the Bath & Hammondsport RR up to 1965. The most frequently photographed B&H locomotive was their final steamer, 2-6-0 #11. I never thought I'd see her run until I found out the Everett RR bought #11 a few yeas ago. After the majority of restoration was done by the Western Maryland Scenic RR, #11 was sent over to the Everett RR. She made some test runs late in the summer, and has been running excursions this fall. My cousin missed our family reunion this summer, so he proposed railfanning in PA this fall. We picked Sand Patch for the 1st day, but what about the 2nd day? We visited Gallitzin (as seen in anther thread), and chased the Everett RR, too.
We weren't quite sure where the excursion departed, so we went to the Everett RR's HQ in Duncansville. There was no excursion, but there was a nice 44 tonner, a Geep and some rolling stock:
We eventually figured out the excursions depart from Hollidaysburg, so my cousin and headed over there. my wait of 39 years was fulfilled at long last!
For the curious, #11 was built by Alco's Cook Works in 1920. Here we see the Mogul idling at Hoillidaysburg before the 1st trip of the day departed:
The engineer was kind enough to to shoot htis view of the cab interior for me at Hollidays burg:
Number #11 departs Hollidaysburg with the 1st trip of the day:
The 1st trip of the day returns to Hollidaysburg:
All photos in this post were taken by me Saturday 11/7/2015 in Blair County, PA... excepted as noted in the cab shot.