I recently visited Altoona PA with my daughter Erin.  We were there for a family reunion with the Wolf family, from my mother’s mother’s side of the family.  While there I took the advantage to check out a train museum and the famous horseshoe curve.  The museum was fantastic and I learned the history and how Altoona became a large city by supporting the Pensylvania Railroad with factories to build steam locomotives.  During the era of steam locomotives, Altoona as one of the largest producers of steam locomotives, constantly innovating and making ever larger locomotives.  Unfortunately they completely missed the trend to diesel locomotives and eventually all the factories were closed.  GE did have a diesel locomotive factory in Erie PA and Grove City, close to Altoona which I had the opportunity to work in building locomotives and so did my daughter Chele.  Here are some great pictures from the weekend.