The changing of the guard in the Altoona Pa helper pool (video) - Trains Magazine

MikeFF

I try to get to Cresson at least once a year and will miss the SD40-2 exhaust as heard from the front porch of the Station Inn.

I'm a regular at The Station Inn......As of now, the transition has just begun as far as the helper pool....When I was out on the West Slope last weekend, 3 SD40E's were in helper service....The 6301 and 6304 were paired up, and the 6303 was paired up with an SD40-2...

The other two 40E's were out of the area somewhere.

I stopped down to the Juniata Shops and checked out the turntable area.

There was another SD40E getting close to completion.

It was still in primer paint and its new numberboards were not in place yet.

So as more of these SD40E's are brought on line, the SD40-2's will slowly disappear from the helper pool....

So I would encourage anyone out in the area to snap as many pics and video the SD40-2's as possible.....for one day down the road, they will be gone.

One interesting thing of note is that NS has decided to stay with EMD standard cab power for the Altoona helper pool.

With over a thousand C40-9W's on its roster, NS could just had easily assigned a few dozen GE's to helper service.

David J. Williams