Rail Transportation Engineering instructor Bryan Schlake (right) reviews the controls in the cab of Penn State Altoona’s EMD SD60I locomotive with senior Bryson Edwards.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Until recently, Penn State Altoona’s Rail Transportation Engineering students have had to go to Curry Rail Services in Hollidaysburg for “lab” classes to work on a non-operational diesel locomotive donated by Norfolk Southern and stored at Curry.
Now those students need only walk from their regular classrooms downtown across the pedestrian bridge to the roundhouse at the Railroaders Memorial Museum to work on the engine, following its transfer from Hollidaysburg, coupled with a transfer of ownership from the college to the museum.
Those transfers for the sake of program efficiency and convenience are part of a cascading series of improvements planned by the museum and the college that leaders at those institutions hope will enhance the reach and influence of both the program and museum.
Fully realizing those ambitions depends on a $500,000 Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant from the state acquired for the museum through state Sen. Judy Ward, R-Hollidaysburg, and on raising another $500,000 to match the grant, museum Executive Director Joe DeFrancesco said.
It will take about $50,000 in separate funding to make the locomotive operational, so that instead of students working on what would be the equivalent of a cadaver in medical school, they will be involved in actual live procedures, according to DeFrancesco and part-time RTE instructor Bryan Schlake.
Rail Transportation Engineering instructor Jon Hileman (center) demonstrates brake shoe replacement on Penn State Altoona’s EMD SD60I locomotive to students.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
The grant-related funding could provide the roundhouse shell with facilities including a jib hoist, overhead crane, inspection pits, equipment for welding and air brake work, electrical infrastructure and a ventilation system, enlarging the potential for the RTE students, opening up the likelihood that other colleges will take advantage and making the facilities attractive for students in high school, middle and even elementary school, including summer camps that could draw from distance — while also enabling the museum to become a true restoration shop,
DeFrancesco and Schlake said.
DeFrancesco expects to launch a fundraising campaign soon, he said.
The museum recently began developing the business plan needed to access the grant money, he said.
It has also identified assets it owns that are connected with the buildout of the shell to serve as a “Plan B” match for the grant money, although any cash it can raise to replace those assets on the match list will expand “the work we can accomplish,” DeFrancesco said.
Rail Transportation Engineering instructor Jon Hileman (center) demonstrates a knuckle replacement on Penn State Altoona’s EMD SD60I locomotive to students.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
One such Plan B asset is a donated “drop table,” he said.
Hands-on learning
Rail Transportation Engineering students Thursday were climbing over the locomotive to examine various components under Schlake’s guidance.
In the cab, Schlake showed students the throttle controls, horn and bell, the “dead man switch” that requires frequent periodic attention to ensure that operators are paying attention; the diagnostic panel that enables operators to run a load test for volts and amperage; and the main panel with its circuit breakers and shutoffs.
Student Bryson Edwards of Granite Falls, N.C., interned last summer for Norfolk Southern in the mechanical department at Enola Yard, helping move locomotives, building “consists” for outbound trains and filling out mechanical inspection books to get trains “ready to go,” he said.
Rail Transportation Engineering instructor Bryan Schlake (right) talks about the electronic breakers in the cab of Penn State Altoona’s EMD SD60I locomotive with senior Asa Frantz.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
He always wanted to work for a railroad, and in high school, sought out a program that could help him fulfill that ambition, he said.
His great-uncle worked for Southern Railway, he said.
He’s not sure yet whether he’d rather work in railroad management or on the “craft” side, he said.
If the labs involving the static locomotive at the roundhouse rate an 8 on a 1 out of 10 scale, because hands-on experiences are better, labs that occur after the locomotive becomes operational could rate a 10, Edwards said.
Hands-on experiences “stick with you longer,” but it’s even better “to get your hands dirty,” he said.
Easy access
When the locomotive was at Curry Rail, it took 20 minutes for students to get there, and they needed to figure out a way to do it, Schrake said.
Having the locomotive at the museum makes it all less of a hassle, he said.
Even now, the program sometimes gets the RTE students experience with operational locomotives through visits to the Juniata Locomotive Shop, Shrake said.
But that requires significant planning, with arrangements that need to be made with Norfolk Southern officials.
When and if the museum gets the Penn State locomotive operational, those experiences will become easier to arrange and more frequent, according to Schrake.
The effort to get the locomotive operational will involve not just fundraising, but also a search for industry sponsors for materials and training, according to DeFrancesco.
The locomotive was refurbished by Norfolk Southern and would be roadworthy for the mainline, except that it’s currently drained of fluids and in a mothballed state, DeFrancesco said.
Getting it ready to operate is more daunting than preparing a car to run.
The fuel tank holds 5,000 gallons, for example.
“It’s a beast,” DeFrancesco said.
Significant training would be necessary, including safety instructions, he said.
If the locomotive becomes operational, the museum at minimum would expect to operate it on-site — through the roundhouse and onto the museum siding, using the turntable at the roundhouse, according to DeFrancesco.
The engine could also perhaps go onto a branch line, he said.
With Norfolk Southern’s permission, if it passes qualifying tests, it’s possible it could ultimately go on trips on the mainline, according to DeFrancesco.
Penn State participates in the Tracks to the Future program with six universities, with four more expected to join next year, he said.
The RTE program is the only one of its type in the country — and perhaps the world — accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, according to Penn State Altoona Chancellor Ron Darbeau.
The railroad industry can absorb 100 graduates per year, and the Penn State program produces “nowhere near that” — a discrepancy he hopes to shrink, he said.
The proposals discussed by DeFrancesco and the collaboration between the museum, the college, Norfolk Southern and Curry Rail should benefit not only those organizations, but the community at large, Darbeau said.
Rail Transportation Engineering
Regular engineering school graduates who go into railroad engineering typically need six to 12 months’ additional industry-specific training, according to Steve Dillen, coordinator of the Rail Transportation Engineering program, as cited in a college news release.
The RTE program handles most of that, “thereby making graduates immediately ready for the workforce,” according to the news release.
Since it began in 2011, 100% of RTE graduates have found employment in the industry.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.
