Cassandra PA 012014 Until Later Cassandra

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Having spent the last two nights at the Cassandra Overlook Motel, I would've been remiss if I hadn't spent some time at its namesake before I left. The car's thermometer reported 28 degrees as I arrived at the park, balmy enough for me to indulge in pleasures like not wrapping a scarf around my face like a mummy, or working the camera without gloves on without my hands going numb in the process. You know, the simple things. • The rails were quiet when I arrived around 7:30, and remained so long enough for me to set up shop and relax on the bench with breakfast. At 7:52, SD40Es 6325 and 6322 served as a gentle warm-up exercise as they drifted west. Fifteen minutes later, increasingly rare SD60 6709 and exceedingly common C40-9W 8928 kicked off the main event as they blasted out from under the bridge on track 2 with RoadRailer train 262. Just a few minutes behind 262 and over on track 1 was coal drag 506, clawing uphill behind SD40Es 6300 and 6315, C40-9W 9518, and SD60 6630. Tucked back in 506's long rope of blackness - and sticking out like a sore thumb - was hopper 146313, painted in a bright yellow scheme to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coal loading facility at Pier 6 in Norfolk, Virginia. SD40E helpers 6326 and 6316 kept the drawbars of the 146313 and its brethren compressed as the drag continued its slow march to the summit in Gallitzin. • At 8:26 it was time for a westbound. There wasn't a wide-nosed cab in sight - or a GE, for that matter - as 11A cruised downgrade behind SD70 2567, SD40-2s 3440, 3352, and 3380, SD40E 6324, GP38-2 5257, and RP-E4C slug 718. Any thoughts about further motive power flights of fancy were brought back down to earth four minutes later, as an eastbound intermodal charged up track 2 behind C40-9Ws 9603, 9894, and 9789. The trailers and containers were still rolling upgrade when an eastbound train of empty slab steel gondolas joined in on track 1, led by C40-9W 9795 and ES40DC 7501. • Encouraged by the burst of activity I lingered a bit, hoping the traffic would continue. No such luck - it was another hour before another train passed, a long string of empty PP L coal hoppers behind SD70M-2 2653 and SD60M 6788. I would say this all was a fitting finale, but there was plenty of time left in the day to take an alternative route home...

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