| Wye Switches. Here is the fourth of seven successive original photos that I took at the Wye Switches in Duncansville, Pennsylvania, on 3 July 1965. Shown here (R to L) are Pennsylvania Railroad engines #9541, #9686, and #7072. All were built by GM-EMD. #9541 is an EF-15 built in September of 1948 and rated at 1,500 horsepower. #9686 is an EF-15A built as an EH-15 for helper service in February of 1949, rated at 1,500 horsepower, but later regeared and reclassified as an EF-15A. #7072 is an EFS-17M built in October of 1956 and rated at 1,750 horsepower. In this context, they're pulling a 77-car mixed cargo freight train through Duncansville and up the New Portage Branch line to Gallitzin and points West. The wooden shanty ~ sporting a telephone and a coal-burning stove ~ is a left-over from the good old days when the New Portage Branch was double-tracked and switches needed to be thrown at all hours of the day or night. |