Then & Now

Bennington, January 5th

 In the last few days the Allegheny Eastern has experienced major upheaval. The photo to the left was taken on January 5th. This is the east side of Tunnel Hill, near Bennington. The New Portage branch and westbound mains are at table top level. The eastbound mains are elevated 1 1/2" and the New Portage bridge carries them over the branch. The tunnels are in place. The twin bores are sitting on the table top and the New Portage tunnel has been raised to match the elevation of those tracks. All in all it's pretty flat for the top of The Hill.

Bennington, February 6th

In contrast, this photo of the same area was taken today. All of the mains have been elevated. The westbound mains are now sitting 1 1/2" higher at the tunnels. The eastbound mains are still 1 1/2" at the bridge, but now run uphill to the 3" elevation at the apex of Horseshoe Curve. All the track has been realigned further "south" leaving a large area "north" of the New Portage bridge. The spline roadbed seen here has been recycled for the most part, only the section running east to Horseshoe is new. The splines are not only reusable, they are also still flexible and can be bent to a new radius when needed.

Horseshoe, January 5th

To the right is a photo of Horseshoe Curve as it looked on January 5th. Once again everything is laying directly on the table top, elevation 0" (more or less). The curve is pretty much centered on the aisle. The eastbound mains have dropped back to 0" after climbing to 1 1/2" at New Portage. The mainline from here all the way around to Antis (behind the glue bottles) is dead flat. The only thing on the entire layout that breaks up that flatness is the eastbound grade over the New Portage bridge.

You can see that there are not many opportunities for scenery in what is supposed to be mountainous territory.

Horseshoe, February 6th

This is no longer true. The photo on the right was also taken today and shows the elevated right of way running through Horseshoe Curve.