The Allegheny National Forest (ANF) Visitors Bureau partnered with the Kinzua Bridge State Park to create train and engineer photo cutouts.
The train and engineer cutouts are designed to encourage families to take pictures while visiting the Kinzua Bridge State Park Visitors Center and the Kinzua Sky Walk with the intent to create a visual keepsake to share with friends and family.
After seeing families enjoying the “leaf-people cutouts” that the ANF Visitors Bureau had loaned the park last summer, Mitch Stickle, park manager, suggested the idea to fashion cutouts with a theme to coordinate with the displays at the Kinzua Bridge State Park. The idea of a historic railroad train and a railroad engineer was suggested for the cut-out designs.
The ANF Visitors Bureau designed and fabricated the two cutouts at a cost of $900. When not at the park, the engineer and train will be traveling with the ANF Visitors Bureau to trade shows to help represent the region as a tourism destination.
Using the train and engineer cutouts, visitors will be able to capture travel photos, which help tell the story of the Kinzua Bridge. The adult cutout was designed to look like a Knox and Kane Railroad engineer. The smaller cutout, sized for children, is designed to look like a Knox and Kane steam-engine locomotive.
Helping to establish a social media presence, #KinzuaSkyWalk is printed on both cutouts. This is to motivate visitors to use the same hashtag while sharing their photos taken at the park online.
The Kinzua Viaduct, when first constructed in May 1882, was the highest and longest viaduct in the world and was built to transport coal, oil and lumber across the Kinzua Gorge. The Knox and Kane Railroad offered excursions across the bridge starting in 1987. The bridge stood for 121 years before partially collapsing under the powerful winds of a tornado in 2003. After the tornado, six of the towers left standing were re-invented as the Kinzua Sky Walk.
The Kinzua Bridge State Park Visitors Center is located at 296 Viaduct Road, Mount Jewett. Open year round, admission is free for the Kinzua Sky Walk, the Kinzua Visitors Center and the Kinzua Bridge State Park.
The park is open from 8 a.m. until dusk, and the visitors center is open from 8 a.m-6 p.m. For additional information, call 800-473-9370 or visit www.visitanf.com/the-great-kinzua-sky-walk/.
