Altoona Works (also known as Altoona Terminal) is a large

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

industrial complex in

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. ...

. It was built between 1850 and 1925 by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

(PRR), to supply the railroad with

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

s and related equipment. For many years, it was the largest railroad shop complex in the world.

History

In 1849, PRR officials developed plans to construct a repair facility at a town newly established for this purpose, Altoona. Construction was started in 1850, and soon a long building was completed in the 12th Street area that housed a

machine shop A machine shop or engineering workshop (UK) is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tools to make parts, usually of metal or plast ...

, woodworking shop,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, locomotive repair shop and

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

. The 12th Street area facilities were replaced later by the Altoona Machine Shops. The first locomotive was built there in 1866. A total of 6,783

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

and

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

s were manufactured in Altoona between 1866 and 1946. In time, additional PRR repair facilities were located in

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Renovo and Mifflin, and the Altoona Works expanded in adjacent Juniata. Inventor

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

sent two assistants to the Altoona shops in 1875 to study the feasibility of installing

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

lines. In 1875, the Altoona Works started a testing department for PRR equipment. In following years, the Pennsylvania Railroad led the nation in the development of research and testing procedures of practical value for the railroad industry. In 1905, a Stationary Testing Plant was installed at Altoona, after originally being installed and used for locomotive testing in 1904, as one of the PRR System exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Locomotives tested on the plant included T1 4-4-4-4 No.6110 and Baldwin No. 60,000 Use of the testing facilities was discontinued in 1968, and many of the structures were demolished. Altoona Works turntable PA1

In May 1877, telephone lines were installed for various departments to communicate with one another. In the 1920s, the site consisted of 125 buildings on , and the shops employed over 16,000 workers. Portions of the complex are still in use by

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

(NS). During World War II, PRR facilities (including the Altoona Shops) were on target lists of German saboteurs involved in

Operation Pastorius Operation Pastorius was a failed Nazi Germany, German Espionage, intelligence plan for sabotage inside the United States during World War II. The operation was staged in June, 1942 and was to be directed against strategic American economic tar ...

. They were caught before they could complete their missions. By 1945, the Altoona Works had grown to be one of the largest repair and construction facilities for locomotives and cars in the world.

Current facilities

Today, NS runs a locomotive shop at Juniata with about 450 employees. The

Railroaders Memorial Museum The Railroaders Memorial Museum (RMM) is a railroad museum in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The museum focuses on the history of railroad workers and railroad communities in central Pennsylvania, particularly Altoona, the Altoona Works, and the greater ...

is next to Altoona Works.

Major facilities (1920s)

* Altoona Machine Shops (renamed 12th St Car Shop in 1928) ** Built steam locomotives during 1866-1904 ** Later in the 20th century it handled locomotive repair and manufacture of engine parts * Altoona Car Shops ** Built 1869 ** Manufactured

freight car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is ...

s and

passenger cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

*Juniata Locomotive Shop Juniata Locomotive Shop sign 2018

** Built 1888-1890; expanded 1924-25 ** Built steam and electric locomotives during 1891-1946 ** Included a paint shop, boiler shop,

shop,

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

house, erecting shop, two-story

, electric and hydraulic house, two-story office and storeroom, paint storehouse and gas house, and hydraulic

transfer table A transfer table or traverser is a piece of railway equipment. It functions similarly to a turntable, although it cannot be used to turn vehicles around. Overview A transfer table, also known as a traverser, consists of a single length of track th ...

and pit. ** Repair work only in the mid-20th century ** Builds and remanufactures locomotives today * South Altoona Foundries **Manufactured

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

and

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...

s ;Map of Altoona Works

References

External links

* * * * {{Altoona, Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Altoona, Pennsylvania Conrail Industrial buildings and structures in Pennsylvania Locomotive manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing plants in the United States Norfolk Southern Railway Penn Central Transportation Pennsylvania Railroad Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Railway workshops in the United States Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Altoona, Pennsylvania Blacksmith shops Manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania

History

Current facilities

Major facilities (1920s)

See also

References

External links