I walk up Front Street in Cresson, Pennsylvania. On a twenty foot rise stands Norfolk Southern's Pittsburgh to Altoona mainline, once the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Grinding up the hill and towards Altoona, a manifest rolls past. I wave a the engineer. Box car after box car thunder past.
I look up. In the distance, a locomotive light glistens. A westbound double-stack glides down the hill. The first freight fights its way past.
Norfolk Southern's mainline in Western Pennsylvania brings joy to my heart. Once the Pennsylvania Railroad, once Penn Central, once Conrail. This mainline has always been a key artery to American railroading and continues to be today.
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