"Milepost 15": Up and At 'em

The styrofoam madness is spreading like a pandemic. Not only has taken over the main and branch lines, but it is creeping into the Keystone area as I type. This appeared in the Keystone Intelligencer today...

"Mysterious Substance Discovered in Keystone Area!

Local Officials Baffled!

A Huge Slab of Pink Styrofoam

A gigantic slab of pink styrofoam measuring almost 1200 feet long has appeared near the Llewyn Yards of the Allegheny Eastern Railroad. Mayor Blofeld and members of the City Council are at a lost to explain the phenomenon The city has requested the aid of State and Federal geologists in identifying the unknown object. The slab, which local cartographer Topo Graphica has estimated covers almost a full square mile, suddenly appeared on a quiet and overcast Sunday afternoon. There are rapidly spreading rumors that the slab is part of a improvement program started recently by the Allegheny Eastern Railroad. Officials of the Agg, as it is known locally, declined to comment...

Continued on Page 4"

The mainline roadbed continues to be replaced by blue extruded styrofoam. This morning All East construction crews began elevating the new roadbed in a temporary fashion, starting at BO tower...

Looking West from BO tower Towards McGarveys

Attempting to maintain an approximate 2% grade up the mountainside they reached Kittaning Curve within a few minutes...

Kittanning Curve Looking Towards the Reservoirs

The work continued and within another half hour they had entered Remington as they headed toward Sugar Furnace...

Remington Looking West Toward Tunnel Hill

Over the next half hour or so they made it to Tunnel Hill...

Tunnel Hill Looking West

and beyond...

Helper Loop Looking West

Enough already with the news report thingy....

Even though the helix isn't completed I'm able to see where the styrosplines might intersect the upper approach by using the support posts as a guide.

Styrofoam Roadbed and the Upper Approach

Of course all of this needs a lot of finish work and fine tuning, but things are well under way. The temporary risers will be replaced with real adjustable parts permanently fastened in place...

Permanent Upright

As for the pink styrofoam? Although it clashes with the blue, it was purchased anyhow. It's for remaking the flat areas of the layout, particularly Llewyn Yards. I've been thinking this over for a few days now. Today when we drove past the only center that I know carries it, I bit the bullet and purchased one big sheet of 2" thick extruded styrofoam. While it galled me to pay $36 for a 4' x 8' sheet of anything, I can cut the sheet in such a way that will get me the most bang for my buck. The yards require two 16" wide sheets end to end That will leave me with a 16" x 96" slab to use East Keystone and Keystone proper. All the rest of the mainline will be constructed (reconstructed?) from splines, including the Harrowgate and EF areas...