Horseshoe Curve

       We had to check out of the cabin at the state park and clean it by 10 a m.  Frankie ran the vacuum and I cleaned the kitchen while Dan,Olivia, Olya, and Matt loaded the cars.   I think we had packed too much food for the weekend! No one ate any of the cereal. Matt said to me..."who would  eat cereal when there were donuts available?"  When we were packing, I packed  three hamburgers we had cooked on the grill the night before.  Olya took three and I took three.  Olivia and Dan told me not to take them because no one would eat them.  Guess who ate them for lunch today?? Dan and Olivia!! After we checked out of the cabin, we went to Horseshoe Curve.  It is a historical landmark!

  Frankie and Matt had never been there and wanted to go.  What I really like about Matt and Frankie, other than treating my daughters well, is that they like to go and see new things. We have been there tons of times because Dan is an avid train watcher!  The Funicular wasn't running when we got there so we climbed the 194 steps. Of course it started running two minutes after the time we climbed the steps!! Dan held my arm and I was fine walking up until the last step!! My leg gave out on the last step and I fell!! If you look through the trees on the right photo, you can see a train going by!



 It was raining so we didn't stay that long!  We let the four kids buy shirts so they had a token of being at Horseshoe Curve! 

The Funicular

 At the top of the stairs!

                                                                                  The steps we climbed!!


Olya and Matt had their own car and left to go back to college. Dan, Olivia, Frankie and I left to drive home!    Olivia was hungry, of course.  I drove for an hour and then we stopped at a restaurant to eat.  After a few bites, Olivia wasn't hungry any more! It was a fun ride home. Dan told Frankie about historical train facts and the beginning of the railroads.  Frankie seemed really interested or else he is good at faking it! Dan watches the History Channel and reads a lot so he knows his history, especially train history!! Frankie asked a lot of questions so he certainly paid attention! Both guys thanked us for having a great weekend!

The Horseshoe Curve opened February 15, 1854 and was engineered by J. Edgar Thompson. It is located at Kittaning Point, at the base of the Allegheny Mountains. Ride the Funicular or walk 194 beautiful landscaped steps to the tracks for a front seat view of a train mans’ wonder. You will also find the Horseshoe Curve to be a relaxing and entertaining place to enjoy a picnic lunch.  

The length of the curve is 2375 feet. Degree of curvature is 9 degrees; 25 minutes; central angle is 220 degrees. Elevation of lower (east) end of the curve is 1594 feet, upper (west) end is 1716 feet-122 feet total elevation climb. The grade is 1.8% or 1.8 foot rise per 100 feet.

Other interesting facts:

• Wagon transportation from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh took about 20 days. In 1834, the same trip via train, canal and the Allegheny Portage Railroad (to cross the mountains) took about 4 days-when the canals weren’t frozen.
• By 1852, trains could cross the state but were still dependent on the Allegheny Portage Railroad, which didn’t operate at night. With the addition of the Horseshoe Curve in 1854, passengers could travel the entire route by rail, and the time was reduced to an average of 15 hours.
• The construction of the Curve was done by about 450 workers, many of them from Ireland. The work was done entirely by hand, and workers were paid 25 cents per hour for a twelve hour day.
• The Horseshoe Curve was on a list of twelve key industrial sites targeted by Nazi saboteurs who were captured at two sites on the U.S. coast in June 1942.
• Famous people who have traveled the Curve: Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and dozens of vaudeville, stage and screen stars.