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

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

industrial complex in

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona ( ) is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, w ...

. It was built between 1850 and 1925 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), to supply the railroad with

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American English, American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and International Union of Railways, UIC), also called a tra ...

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 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 tool (machining), cutting tools to make parts, usua ...

, 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 water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

, diesel 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 (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

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

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, 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 Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

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

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables 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 ...

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 operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

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

In 2019, the shops employed nearly 700 employees. After a series of layoffs between 2019 and 2021, NS reduced the staff at the Juniata locomotive shop to about 450 employees. The mass layoffs began on November 7, 2019 (95 employees) again in May 2019 (50 employees) and another round in July 2021 (86 employees) reduced the workforce in Altoona by nearly 36% as part of Norfolk Southern's new long-term business plan. The Railroaders Memorial Museum is located next to the Juniata Shops on the site of the Altoona Machine Shops.

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 cars and passenger cars *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, centra ...

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 (railroad), turntable, although it cannot be used to turn vehicles around. Overview A transfer table, also known as a traverser, consists of a si ...

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 of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

and

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

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 or ...

s ;

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