It dawned on me the other day that it's been 21 years since the 1361 steamed out of Altoona on that rainy Sunday morning on her maiden voyage following "restoration". I was on the 8th Street (Juniata) Bridge as she stormed underneath with Doyle's Daylight orange tool car and the short consist in tow. What a thrill for a 14 year old boy who had visited the old girl many times during her cold stint on Horseshoe Curve and saw her from the short access road off Allegheny Street and S. 10th Avenue enroute from the Curve to the museum grounds (being a witness to her decent off the mountain made me late for football practice which did not sit well with the coaches at Our Lady of Lourdes where I attended school- it was DEFINITELY worth it though!).

I'm not trying to start another long thread about the K, just wanted to point out the passing of this significant date in railfan history (atleast in my railfanning history).

It would be interesting to see what some of the key dates in your personal railfan history include?