| WB. Here is an image of an official photo that was taken in Altoona, Pennsylvania, c. 1853. Shown here is the Pennsylvania Railroad's Altoona Machine Shops complex. From 1850 until the completion of the Horseshoe Curve in 1854, the PRR's mainline was different than its current form: the tracks paralleled 9th Avenue out of Altoona to Duncansville and the interchange with the Allegheny Portage Railroad ~ instead of curving right at 9th Street, paralleling 10th Avenue past ALTO and SLOPE Towers, then climbing the Allegheny Mountains to Gallitzin and points West. As such, the mainline tracks and the Passenger Station are actually on the other side of the two-story Master Mechanic's Building and the long shop structure depicted here. Brush Mountain dominates the distance. William E. Burket Collection. |