Horseshoe Curve is a 3,485-foot (1,062 m), triple-tracked railroad curve on the Norfolk Southern Railway's Pittsburgh Line in Logan Township, Blair County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is close to 1,300 feet (400 m) in diameter and has a grade of almost two percent. As a train travels west from Altoona, it ascends almost 60 feet (20 m) in the 0.66-mile (1.06 km) segment that makes up the curve and rotates 220 degrees. The curve was completed in 1854 by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a means of lessening the grade to the summit of the Allegheny Mountains by increasing the distance. It was built as alternative to the time-consuming Allegheny Portage Railroad, the only other method of traversing the mountains. It has formed an important part of the region's transportation infrastructure since its opening, and during World War II was targeted by Nazi Germany in 1942 as a part of Operation Pastorius. Horseshoe Curve was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. It was also designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2004.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_Curve_(Pennsylvania)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1954:
Great Britain defeated France at the Parc des Princes in Paris to win the first Rugby League World Cup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_World_Cup
1982:
South Korean boxer Duk Koo Kim suffered fatal brain injuries during a match with American Ray Mancini near Las Vegas' Caesars Palace, leading to significant rule changes in the sport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duk_Koo_Kim
1985:
The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted, causing a volcanic mudslide that buried the town of Armero, Colombia, and killed approximately 23,000 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armero_tragedy
1990:
A man began shooting people indiscriminately in Aramoana, New Zealand, killing thirteen people in the country's deadliest criminal shooting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramoana_massacre
2007:
An explosion hit the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City, the Philippines, killing Congressman Wahab Akbar and at least four others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batasang_Pambansa_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Streisand effect: A phenomenon in which attempting to suppress an item of information attracts additional unwanted attention to it, thus furthering the spreading of the information. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do not fear but that He will go on to supply what is yet wanting when once I have begun to use what He has already given. For a possession which is not diminished by being shared with there, if it is possessed and not shared, is not yet possessed as it ought to be possessed. --Augustine of Hippo https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo