Thanks for the comments. I have not been back there since Dad passed away.
I do have a NJ trip coming up soon. I'm starting to think that I may take my son over to Bethelehem and Allentown one day for some railfanning. We can't recreate these shots of course, but we can still have some fun.
Well, yes, I did enjoy the Belen shot a bunch, but these two shots are even more enjoyable. I know we all are familiar (or should be familiar) with O. Winston Link's work covering the N&W. What impressed my about his work was the memorialization of an America that was rapidly disappearing, and not IMHO for the better, thank you. I get the same feelings from these two shots, especially since you note that much of what we see has been bulldozed by now.
I guess as I get older, I long for the simpler days or whatever. I guess it's right what they say: "The good old days are the product of a faulty memory." Or not.
Charles, I like those shots....Maybe it's something about my Pennsylvania roots. They really do show close quarters rail action in a Typical Pa. town.....Realistic.
Quentin
Charles, That part of Pennsylvania is most interesting as far as streetrunning, and raillines adjacent to streets, (close views of various equipment,etc.) Some years back I spent alot of time working in that area of Penna. Picking up and delivering freight. Towns like Tamaqua, Easton, Catasauqua, (Allentown area), the powder plant up on the Blue Mountain, Wilkes-Barre area, and Reading, to mention a few that peak through the curtain of time. Thanks for the memories.
Thanks to all the kind words about the Belen, NM shot, I thought I’d share two shots from Bethlehem, PA taken while railfanning with my dad the year before in 1977. I know these are similar shots, and will look like the same train at first glance, but they’re not.
First train is a big U-Boat leading a train from Saucon Yard crossing Third Street. Just about nothing in this shot is still there. The branch has been cut (although this crossing does still exist). All of the buildings have been bulldozed. The little lantern type warning on the crossing gate are long gone.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=196567
Second shot is the one-of-a-kind “Conrai” U-Boat, with my dad in the shot. We had both run to get this going away image of light engines heading to Saucon at the same spot. That’s Dad trying to get a shot off. Based on my search of his negatives, I don’t think he pulled it off.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=196558
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