The Untimely Demise of Blair Furnace

This entries title sounds like a Mickey Spillane novel about a murdered Hollywood starlet. Would that it were so. It might make more interesting reading. Alas, if it's excitement you're looking for you came to the wrong blog...

The helix has been moved to its proper place on the layout. There is some additional carpentry and then the final assembly and installation. Then I can complete the mainline up The Hill.

Some of my research indicates that Blair Furnace is an older name for Altoona. It's kind of like New York used to be New Amsterdam. Forget where I found that precious tidbit of trivia, but the name sounded perfect. Blair Furnace was a way to model both the Glen White Coal & Lumber Co. and the Altoona Northern using the same trackage. It was to be operated in a similar fashion to George Armstrong's "empties in / loads out" scheme but without modeling either the coal mine or the power house. Empties delivered to the Glen White interchange at Horseshoe Curve would become empties dropped in Juniata by the Altoona Northern. Loads would work in reverse. This would have applied to any number of products shipped by rail, but the emphasis would be on coal, coke and lumber. There would be several "real" industries served by sidings, but the bulk commodities bound for the mine or coke ovens would be sent to Lala Land to be picked up by the PRR at either exchange.

This was all well and good for a while. Then there was a discussion about coke ovens and other points at Railwire. I started thinking things over (which is always dangerous) and studying the track plan. Could I model the coke operations on the All East? Would I want to?

Current Arrangement of Blair Furnace

So I started playing around with a way to incorporate the coke operations into the Allegheny Eastern. That led to a redesign of the Altoona Northern, which led to a redesign of "Juniata" (quotes indicate the PRR equivalent name so the reader may follow along) which led to changes etc etc and so forth. The result is a new track arrangement for everything between "Gallitzin" and "Juniata"...

Proposed Track Arrangement

Starting clockwise from "Horseshoe"...I revised the trackage for the Glen White so it's a better depiction of the actual siding. This will go hand in hand with a connection at Sugar Forge that mimics one of the coke sidings that once existed there. Of course this meant a redesign of the whole Glen White/Altoona Northern interchange and effectively deletes Blair Furnace (most of it, anyway). I also corrected a glitch in the "New Portage" junction at Sugar Furnace.

At "Gallitzin" I'm thinking of adding a siding for several industries seen on the Sanford map from 1910. The siding ran to a mine and passed the Gallitzin Electric Light plant on the way. I still have to work out how the siding and the helix can coexist. I also changed the radii on the westbound mains, moving them closer to the helper loop and leaving more room at "Spruce Creek". This in turn allowed me to change the radius on both westbound tracks at "Spruce Creek" and move the mains further apart. I want to be able to run the "Juniata River" between the the two sets of tracks as it does on this topo...

"Spruce Creek" Topographical View

The two areas will be separated by the backdrop. There isn't much room for scenery so I'll need to paint or print convincing mountain sides.

While I was at it I sketched up a way to "simulate" the flyover at "HOMER". While I didn't even try to model the receiving yard or the hump, I was able to raise the westbound freight main so the two passenger tracks pass underneath. The flyover totally eliminates the crossovers at "ANTIS"...

"HOMER" Flyover and Altoona Northern

The Altoona Northern tracks were redesigned and although they still connect with Glen White, now take up less real estate. They still provide switching opportunities for the AN. Rather than what I envisioned before this area will be densely populated with structures and streets. One pair of sidings is based on a Sanford map of the Canan Knox Supply Co. in Altoona...

Sanford Map Canan Knox Supply Co.

To give the PRR yard crew more to do I rdesigned the long siding in "Juniata" and moved it closer to the passenger mains. I added several small sidings that could serve industries and/or the "PRR Altoona Works".

So much for doodling. In the real world, the helix has been moved back into the garage and now occupies its rightful place on the layout. There is a bit more machining to do. Seems I overlooked the outside cut on all levels. Have to remove the floppy corner pieces...

Hmm...I Seem to Have Missed Something...

I told you I often miss the obvious.

Regards,
Frank Musick
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Allegheny Eastern Railroad