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This unique event happened at 10:40 at night on October 21, 1954. A momentary burst of lights unequalled in the annals of photography turns night into day for this history making picture marking the centennial of the world famous Horseshoe Curve of the Pennsylvania Railroad, an engineering marvel to this day and the 75th anniversary of the incandescent lamp. The photograph was snapped through the collaboration of the railroad and Sylvania Electric Products Inc. six thousand photo flash bulbs were mounted around the Curve near Altoona, PA on the wooded slopes above it, in the valley below it and even under the surface of the Altoona Reservoir, which the tracks encircle. Their simultaneous flash bathed the 2,000,000 square foot area in more light than the combined output of 15 million 60 watt household lamps. In the foreground is The Trail Blazer, en route to Chicago from New York. Across the valley a freight train is moving toward Altoona. The diesel locomotive of another freight is moving on the Curve in the right foreground. The 6000 flash lamps were connected by 31 miles of wire to 3 huge generators and a central control point. The flash was synchronized with camera shutters atop a specially built 154 foot tower by telephone lines and a loudspeaker system. The brief flash was the climax of months of planning and preparation for what Sylvania officials said is a photo flash picture unprecedented in magnitude of area and illumination. Although roads were closed to private cars to avoid traffic hazards special buses from Altoona brought throngs of amateur photographers and others to the scene. 

 

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