Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

118.                    Fourth Day (Thursday)

Trip to Altoona – raining hard in the morning - river over the road in several places but we got thru (later the roads closed) a sight of one man going to his house in a canoe. Not long until rain turned to snow. A heavy down-pour necessitating frequent stops to clean windshield- Later in the afternoon, the snow stopped – a beautiful unaccustomed sight (to me) – in the mountains the air in the valley warm enough to melt the snow on trees, but up on the mountain sides & tops it was colder, and the trees covered with snow with loose white ragged clouds flying low to obscure the tops at times – a fragile fairylike quality- Reach Altoona about 4 p.m. go to Penn-Alto & get comfortable rooms.

Fifth Day- Friday-

     First meet Mr. Phelan, superintendant (sic) of the operating part of the railroad; then to car works at W. Altoona or Juniata; meet Mr. Grimshaw. (This man well-named – his name might be punned into Gumjaw – his head was sculpturesque, chiseled, with not a wasted form; not even a faint hint of laxness or self-indulgence, trimmed to the wind – he never spoke an unnecessary word. I liked him tremendously) – He escorts us thru the works; first the locomotive repairs, and then the freight car works, foundries, and the round house, where locomotives are washed with a spray, take on coal and water. In the yard outside of the round-house seemed to be hundreds of locomotives all steamed up ready to go; a wonderful sight with smoke and steam squirting from them.