[?]

Back to the History of Norfolk Southern in PA

Duncansville, Roaring Spring, Hollidaysburg / Samuel Rae Car Shops

Updated: Thursday, December 23, 2010

History of the Hollidaysburg Car Shops
by Jim Logrando - Norfolk Southern Mechanical Department, Altoona, PA

PRR Roundhouse and Shops Hollidaysburg PA. Antique post-card view.

In 1949, the PRR began studies with the goal of weatherproofing repairs to freight cars. It was known at the time that it was cost effective to get as much car repair work as possible under roof so that operations were no longer subject to interruptions caused by rain and cold weather. At the same time, railroad management decided that a production line type car repair setup might be established if there were sufficient facilities for accumulating cars of the same type in large numbers. Successful production line operations require a steady flow of work into the shop.

The site at Hollidaysburg was selected because the former classification yard in the area provided sufficient space for the huge plant that was planned. This site was located on a PRR line at Hollidaysburg that parallels the main line, but bypasses the Horseshoe Curve and Altoona. In the early 1950's there was little movement over this route, except for rare instances when the main line was blocked for some reason. In the 20's and 30's, this bypass was regularly used by some through freights, and Hollidaysburg had a hump classification yard and a large locomotive terminal. Use of these facilities had ended many years ago and by 1950, the Hollidaysburg buildings and yards were either abandoned or used only for storage.

PRR officials planned for parts of the old classification yard to be used to provide track space necessary for accumulating cars in sufficient numbers to support production-line type repairs. The site required a minimum of grading and had a close proximity to the Altoona area shops and the planned Reclamation Plant in Hollidaysburg permitted combining all cars repair operations into one complex.

In June 1952, the PRR directors authorized construction of the new car shop, named the Samuel Rea Car Shop in honor of former PRR President and Hollidaysburg native Samuel Rea. Construction began in October 1952, when removal of the hump was started. Production in the newly completed Samuel Rea Shop began on a limited basis in 1955, full scale operations beginning in 1956.

When completed, the 2,760 foot long main shop was 180 feet wide with approximately three miles of railroad track installed under 704,472 square feet of roof. Along the North side were two large bays used for truck and wheel work. The main shop and these two truck bays were floored throughout with six inches of concrete.

Shop offices, a tool room, a cafeteria and locker rooms were built along the North wall of the building. Much of the South side of the building was used for storage. These included two warehouse buildings covering over 30,000 square feet and equipped with covered unloading docks. An additional outside storage area of about 800 feet long served by two overhead cranes.

East of the shop is a scale for light-weighing cars after they are rebuilt. This scale was part of the equipment used in the old Hollidaysburg Classification Yard. It was renovated and lengthened before being installed at the Samuel Rea Shop. North of the main shop building was another service building containing two oil (or gas) fired boilers and two 3,000 CFM synchronized - motor driven air compressors. Locker rooms, offices, cafeteria and some smaller work areas were heated with steam-fed space heaters. The boiler plant also heated hot water for the locker rooms. The repair areas of the main shop were not heated.

Car Repair Operations Layout at the Samuel Rea Shop

In 1955, the shop production floor layout at the time of opening of the Samuel Rea Shop called for car repair operations over three tracks that ran the full 7,760 feet length of the building. A fourth full length track at the South side of the building was designated for material handling, but could be used for production if the need arose. Maximum flexibility was built into the three production tracks, so that they could be tooled to make repairs on any type of freight car. 

It was possible that all three lines could be repairing the same class of car at the same time. It was equally possible that each line might be doing a different type of car. Along the entire length of the tracks were key-slots in the concrete floor for use in erecting PRR designed portable scaffolding as the need arose. This scaffolding could be quickly set up or dismantled to accommodate changes in the production schedule.  

Service boxes were provided on each side of the track on 40 feet centers throughout the shop. This permitted the use of short hoses, short welding cables and short electric lines. The idea here was to leave the shop floor area as open as possible for the movement of material handling trucks.

After incoming cars were cut down and made ready for rebuilding, they were transferred from their own trucks to temporary shop trucks. The road trucks then moved to the first two truck areas for dismantling. Wheels were cleaned and moved to the wheel and axle shop. Side frames and other truck parts were then built up, annealed and transferred to the truck assembly area. Here the reconditioned wheel and axle sets and the rebuilt truck components were then assembled and moved back to the main production line. In the meantime, the car body had been rebuilt and inspected. Rebuilding included grit blasting of the original car body surface to remove rust and old paint. A fresh coat of new paint was then applied on-line in the paint shop.

The freshly painted rebuilt car body then was reapplied to a set of rebuilt road trucks. The temporary shop trucks that carried the car through the assembly, cleaning and painting operations moved to the beginning of the production line for reuse. The car was stenciled while still in the car shop and then moved out onto the scale for light-weighing and shipment for railroad service.

Car movement down the production line was accomplished by floor-mounted winches which had the capacity to move up to four cars at one time. Twenty-four of these winches were installed along the three production tracks. Material was moved to the production lines by shop trucks and overhead cranes which spanned every bay. These overhead cranes were also used for some production operations.

When fully operational in 1956, the Samuel Rea Car Shop was capable of producing 50 cars per day based on a two-shift operation of each of the production tracks. Third shift activities were denoted to cleaning up and restocking the production line for the next day's operations.

The Samuel Rea Shop was renamed the Hollidaysburg Car Shop by Conrail and this name continues on under now Norfolk Southern management. Much of the operation of the shop remained the same as described above except that the fourth track was a full time production track and car repairs/rebuilding are done for other railroads on a commercial contract basis as well as for Norfolk Southern's own fleet. The Hollidaysburg Car Shop employed about 500 employees.

  Hollidaysburg Track Chart

	6-3-98		6-3-98
	6-3-98.  #9506 @ Clark and E.Juniata Street		6-3-98.  #9506 @ Clark and E.Juniata Street
	6-3-98.  #9506 @ Clark and E.Juniata Street		6-3-98.  #9552 @ Jones and E.Juniata Street
	Date XXX.  Photo by Chris Behe		6-3-98.
	6-3-98.	--	--

Wye Switches.  View towards Duncansville.  Date XXX.  Photo by Chris Behe

Wye Switches.  View towards Hollidaysburg.  Date XXX.  Photo by Chris Behe

Recent News

References:

Railway Age Magazine. October 31, 1955.

For additional information, see the Conrail Cyclopedia - Car Shops: Hollidaysburg, PA Interior Photos Web Page.

PRR Morrison's Cove, PA Branch

The Horseshoe Curve Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, has operated several excursions this summer and autumn (July-October 2000) on the former PRR secondary branch, The Morrison's Cove branch. These trips have been operated with the cooperation of the Everett Railroad Company and the Roaring Spring (PA) Historical Society, utilizing power and crews from the Everett RR, chapter owned ex-Lackawanna RR commuter coaches (3) and participation of Chapter members as car attendants. It's been a very rewarding experience for us all and a chance for area residents and visitors to enjoy the countryside between Hollidaysburg-Roaring Spring-Martinsburg. The crown jewel is the finely restored PRR passenger station in Roaring Spring, owned and operated by the Roaring Spring Historical Society.

The Morrison's Cove Branch is still quite active today under the auspices of the Everett Railroad Company, and presently terminates within the two villages (via a wye) Martinsburg, Pa., and Curryville, Pa., primarily farming/agricultural communities. However, at one time in the early part of the prior century, the line terminated in the village of Henrietta in southern Blair County, also a very rural area. Passenger service was provided between Henrietta and Altoona known as the Henrietta Accommodation.

Interestingly, information contained in the publication "Blair County's Postal History and McGraw's Blair County Place Names" published by the Blair County Historical Society in 1947, contains the following:

Henrietta Post Office

" At the completion of the Morrison's Cove Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, of which Henrietta was the southern terminal, the post office was established at that place April 4, 1872, with Daniel D. Morrell, manager of the Cambria Iron Company's interests, as the post master.

Mr. Morrell served the people of Henrietta faithfully for a score of years until he was succeeded by J. Elvin Hagey on the 16th of Fegruary, 1898. The only compensation he received was what he realized from the cancellation of stamps. His average salary amounted to about $4.00 a month during the early years of his postmastership. The following persons succeeded Mr. Hagey on the dates given and in the order stated:

Chas. A. Brumbaugh..Apr. 3, 1914
Jno. H. Endsley (Act) Mch 6, 1928
Seyphert F. Dunn Oct 16, 1914
Jno. H. Endsley July 3, 1928
Frank H. Teeters Oct 8, 1919
Maud Nicodemus June 14, 1934

The office was discontinued January 15, 1935, and the community served by rural delivery from Martinsburg.  During the years when the ore mines were in operation, the office served about 350 persons."  (by David Seidel; posted 9/23/00)

See Robert Schoenberg's Pennsy Page for the October 1925 Issue of "The PRR Information" magazine for a Profile of Samuel Rae.

NRHS and its logo are trademarks of the National Railway Historical Society
Photos are by Chris Behe unless otherwise noted.