Horseshoe Curve

It’s kooky, it’s curvy, it’s the Horseshoe Curve, and it’s a great place to start visiting South Central Pennsylvania.

As the early rail expanded westward, the Pennsylvania Railroad ran into a major snag at Altoona: mountains. The grade in the Allegheny range was far too steep for a track straight up or down. To connect two sides of Kittanning Point, engineers designed a huge, bending track. Men used picks, shovels and horses to carve the curve, which is still considered an engineering marvel as well as a tourist’s paradise, and which opened to train traffic in 1854.

When you come to this spot where trains make a U-turn, ride the funicular or walk the 194 steps to the top. A sturdy fence protects your body from the trains but leaves your eyes and ears free to enjoy.

To imagine what it’s like, think of a football stadium 50 times larger than reality. You are sitting at the end near the goalpost, two rows down from the top tier. At the topmost level of the stadium, a train approaches from the far end. It chugs by, wrapping around the curve – and around you – as the engineer waves and toots the whistle.

The long train continues on the other side of the stadium so that, at one point, an endless iron snake curls behind you. Eventually it disappears around another curve, but you can still hear it, and everyone near you is still smiling. If the weather’s nice, you can enjoy a picnic while waiting for a few more of the 60 passenger and freight trains that traverse the curve daily.

[sidebar. Train buffs take note: The length of the curve is 2,375 feet. The grade is 1.8 percent. The degree of curvature is 9 degrees, 25 minutes. The central angle is 220 degrees.]

Excerpt from Off the Beaten Path: Pennsylvania, Glove Pequot Press, 8th edition, page 41.