Elizabeth and I awoke at the Harrisburg Hilton Hotel and I went down the street to Dunkin' Donuts for a maple bar and orange juice. Since today was the meeting day of this convention, I went downstairs to Lancaster meeting room to be in attendance at the Advisory Council meeting. Elizabeth enjoyed a made-to-order omelette in the Ad Lib Café then she set up the room with tent cards, note pads, pens and agenda for the morning meeting.
Joe Maloney, NRHS Vice-President (standing) welcomed everyone and explained the reason for President Tony White's absence.
Elizabeth in her position as Advisory Council Secretary, flanked on the right by Richard Shulby, Advisory Council Chairman. To her left is Edward Fortuna.
Robert Brewster, Doug Scott, William Welk, Mitchell Dakelman, Brad Bender and Jim Perry, representing their respective chapters.
The Advisory Council meetings are simulcast via Zoom video conference. Here, Dan Meyer makes sure the camera is pointing towards the person speaking so those on Zoom can participate.
Mike Yuhas, Patti Webb, Mark Irvin, Tom Gallagher, Becky Gerstung, Victor Varney, Bill Long and Ron Gawedzinski, representing their respective chapters. This meeting lasted for an hour-and-a-quarter once the plenary session of the previously-submitted reports were discussed and reviewed.
At noon, I walked down to the station, found the Power Directors Office open and went inside.
Power Directors Office InformationThe Power Director's Office was transferred to Penn Central in 1968 and to Amtrak in 1971. In May of 2022, the Harrisburg Chapter NRHS signed a lease agreement with Amtrak to preserve and restore the Power Director's Office. The organization's volunteers are now working to restore the equipment to operating condition in order to make the PDO a fully interactive, hands-on experience for visitors.
BackgroundIn 1915, the Pennsylvania Railroad began electrifying its railroad. Use of electric locomotives offered several advantages over the steam locomotives of the era. Among them, electric locomotives were less expensive to operate and maintain. The railroad began using electric, multi-unit train sets wherein each car has its own propulsion motors. The use of these "MU cars" provided faster acceleration and thus reduced running times between stations, allowing more trains to be scheduled. The MU cars could also be operated from either end, eliminating the need to turn steam locomotives at the end of their runs. The electric locomotives were also cleaner and thus were better suited for use in tunnels such as those under the Hudson River leading to New York Pennsylvania Station. The first section of track to be electrified was a twenty mile segment from Philadelphia Broad Street Station to Paoli. Ultimately, Harrisburg was as far west as the PRR went with the electrification of its passenger lines. Enola (just across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg) was the western terminus of the electrification of its freight lines. The Harrisburg Power Director controlled all of it, including the Pennsy’s famed "Low Grade Freight Line" that allowed freight traffic from the New York area and Philadelphia to avoid climbing hills present on the route of the main passenger line and allowing freight trains to operate directly into the massive classification yard in Enola.
Historical SignificanceThe Pennsylvania Railroad was “The Standard Railroad of the World.” Electrification was not just important to the railroad and the areas it served, it was important to the nation as a whole. This massive project not only allowed passengers and freight to move throughout the eastern United States more efficiently and more economically in peace time, it was indispensable to the nation's war effort during World War II. There were uncounted freight trains that moved raw materials to the defense plants and moved war materials from defense plants to the ports. There was also a constant flow of Troop Trains that carried military recruits to training bases and carried soldiers, sailors and marines to and from embarkation points for Europe and the Pacific. While all railroads participated in this effort, the Pennsy’s electrification allowed the railroad to handle a great deal of this traffic while minimizing the use of fossil fuels, a precious wartime commodity. This was due to the fact that much of the electricity used by the PRR was generated by the Safe Harbor Hydroelectric Dam on the Susquehanna River.
Engineering SignificanceThe electrification of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s multi-track main lines from New York through Philadelphia to Washington and the Main Line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg was a major engineering achievement of the early 20th century. It was the single largest capital improvement program undertaken by any railroad up to that time. The electrification program cost more than $250 million (roughly than $3.2 billion in today’s dollars) and covered some 2,200 track miles, roughly 700 route miles. It accounted for approximately 25% of the electrified railroad trackage in the United States. In 1936 the power system of the Pennsy consumed 563,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity! Clearly the system was engineered to last. Much of the system remains intact serving trains operated by Amtrak, Maryland Area Regional Commuter, New Jersey Transit and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to this very day, spanning the time frame of those early MU trains in 1915 to the high speed Acela trains of today.
My Visit
Westbound Departure Yard track layout. All subsequent photographs are track layouts; the caption will identify the subdivisions.
Harrisburg Station.
Westbound receiving yard.
Enola Yard.
Landisville and Rowenna.
Harrisburg Subdivison 72.
Columbia Subdivision 56 and Royalton subdivision 71.
Columbia Subdivision 56.
Port Subdivison.
Rowenna Subdivision.
Safe Harbor step-down Subdivision.
Landisville Subdivison 60.
Landisville Subdivison 60 and Safe Harbor step-down subdivision.
Safe Harbor stand-up and Smith Tower.
Close up of Safe Harbor stand-up and Smith Tower.
Providence Subdivision 52 and Fishing Creek 24.
Bart Subdivision 51 and Providence Subdivision 52.
Landisville Subdivison 60 and Witmer Subdivision 55.
Witmer Subdivision 65, Kitzer Subdivison 57, Parkersburg Subdivision 66 and Bart Subdivision 51.
Parkersburg Subdivision 66.
Witmer Subdivision 65, Kitzer Subdivison 57, Parkersburg Subdivision 66 and Bart Subdivision 51.
Leaman Tower and Bart Subdivision.
Ernest Subdivision 68.
Ernest Junction and Horsham Subdivision 62.
Horsham Subdivision 62 and Langhorne Subdivision 61.
Langhorne Subdivision 61, Paola Subdivision 4 and Morrisville Subdivision 54.
Langhorne Subdivision 61 and Morrisville Subdivsion 54.
Horsham Subdivision 62 and Langhorne Subdivision 61.
Ernest Subdivision 68 and Horsham Subdivision 62.
Ernest Subdivision 68 and Frazer Subdivision 63.
Ernest Subdivision 63, Frazer Subdivision 64 and Parkersburg Subdivision 66.
Ernest Subdivision 63 and Ernest Junction.
Horsham Junction and Ernest Junction.
Tower Downs and Thorndale Subdivision 65.
Frazer Subdivision 64 and Paola Subdivision 4.
Cooper and Nickel control points.
Safe Harbor step down, Safe Harbor step-up and Fishing Subdivision 54 track control points.
Dillerville Junction, Landisville Subdivision 69 and Columbia Subdivision 56 control points.
State, Royalton Subdivision 71, Goldsboro Subdivision control points.
Harrisburg Shop Power Lines controls.
Banks of control points.
Parkersburg Subdivision 66 and Bart Subdivision control points.
Kinzer Subdivision and Providence 52 control points.
Thorndale Sundivision 64 and Horsham Sundivision 62.
Frazer control point.
Control panels for all subdivisions.
Power console.
Railroad Magazine, Pennsy magazine and Trains Magazine.
Safe Harbors Hydroelectric Power Plant.
AC Motors stop sign.
High Voltage Insulator.
Time to Close 7:00 PM.
I walked back over to Harris Tower but they were closed. However, I found Doug Scott in the parking lot and we watched for trains.
Norfolk Southern AC446CM 4391 East with Union Pacific D70AH 8928 and BNSF C44-9W 4055 on a stack train.
Norfolk Southern AC44C6M 4797 West with BNSF C44-9W 4055 on a empty coal train. I returned to the hotel, went to rest of the board meeting then to Subway, where I purchased sandwiches for both Elizabeth and I, taking them back to the hotel where I ate in our room. The annual membership meeting took place in the evening and I attended that, then Elizabeth returned from the registration room and we called it a night.
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