FastFlyingVirginian's video: Snow Shoe: Horseshoe Curve In March 1996

Watching the recent snowfall on @VirtualRailfan 's excellent Horseshoe Curve cam got me reminiscing about my visit to the Curve on March 23, 1996, when the aftermath of some late wintry weather was still evident on the mountainsides. I previously uploaded this footage in several parts years ago (Remember when YouTube used to limit uploads to 10 minutes? Pepperidge Farm remembers...), so in my nostalgia I decided to rework the footage into a single clip, applying the editing know-how I'd learned since. The future Mrs. FFV and I were visiting with friends in Harrisburg that weekend, and when it came time to figure out something to do on Saturday, I somehow managed to convince them all to pile in the car and make a day trip out to the Curve. The almanac reports the high that day in Altoona was 41F, but 30+ mph wind gusts made it seem much more bitter and our elevated position in the park at the end of the valley didn't help one bit. This would be my last outing filming with a borrowed shoulder-mounted VHS camcorder before I purchased an 8mm camcorder 3 months later, and gloved hands (or the lack thereof) made operating the camera a challenge in the cold. The camera had a single battery that would last maybe 2 hours in the best conditions, so with the cold cutting that time significantly I had to be more selective about what to shoot - a far cry from my current hardware with three 5-hour battery packs on hand. With three meets occurring in the short time we braved the elements at the Curve, our time there was well spent. I wish I could say the same about our visit to the tunnels in Gallitzin, but no trains passed while we were there, and the group's tolerance for the cold was all used up by then. In retrospect I'm glad for even the brief, trainless glimpse that we got, given that the recently-abandoned Gallitzin Tunnel bore had not yet had its rails removed and its portal bricked over.