Same fan-trip, interior photo:
Biehn’s Bridge along Township Line Road between Telford and Sellersville:
Covering some local lines in Allrntown, wiwesth an 1100 ex-Darton & Troy Cininnati lightweight, here on 12th Street near the West End Cemiyary:
On 12th Street, adjacent to the cemetary:
Turning south from Gorden to 17th Street:
At Allentown Hospital, 17th and Chew Streets:
Interior:
Location information from Richard Allman.
812 on a fan-trip at School Siding, Center Valley:
This photo really belongs between the 2nd and 3d of the preceding post. Note the operator (motorman, engineer, driver) using the back-up controller in the left seen through the window.
The wye to turn the ex-C&LE (and ex-Indiana) LVT Liberty Bell single-end interurban cars at Philadelphia (69th St.) terminal was some doistance west of the terminal, requiring rearp-end -first with the hostler controller for auite a distance, analogous to thr turn-around in Allentown, involving rear-end-first moves to and from the Fairchance yard, partly shown in an earler post:
A Quakertown - Perkasie local car on 5th St., Perkasie, on the Liberty Bell route:
With a bit more electronic-darkroom work, including some from Richard Allman. the vegetation is much better represented:
Brush siding, north of Norristown, named Brush due to the vegitation:
And idenitying the grade crossing, looking in the oppsite direction, with a Philadelphia-bound car:
Jim Shuman photo from Richard Allman
Close inspection required a caption correction for the photo above.
After leaving the nearby Pitman factory, that evening
a Liberty Bell car
approaching, same road crossing, same direction, Allentown-bound Liberty Bell approaching.
American Flyer offered only one HO locomotive, a somewhar simplified Central J1 Hudson with six-wheel tender. It had the same sequential reversal as the S-Gauge models. Pittman, who supplied DC permanent-magnet motors for Varney, Mantua, and others, sold a permanent magnet that fit inside the Hudson and cnverterd the "univeral" motor to a DC permanent-magnet motor. This gave 2-rail polarity reversal, standard for Mantua, Varney, etc.
daveklepper... to fit inside the boiler of an American Flyer HO Hudson to convert it to polarity reversal...
I notice you were discussing the S gauge universal-motor stuff on CTT a couple of weeks ago, but I don't know enough to search over there for American Flyer HO discussions...
After re viewing more efidence, Richard tld me the crossing must be in Sellersville. GThis makes sense, b ecause I rode LVT to-and-from Sellersvfille to visit the Pittman factory to buy a permanent magnet designed specifically to fit inside the boiler of an American Flyer HO Hudson to coonvert it to polarity reversal, and I always had my Leica with me. The Pittman factpry was adjacent to the LVT track but a distance from the station.
1. Photo further improved. Look above.
2, It's Coopersburg, not Cooperstown.
3. Richsrd Allman sent a map. edited version attached. The road crossings cannot be the photo, unless the destination sign is wrong and the interurban is southbound to 69th St., Philadesphia, not northbound to Allentown.
Richard Allmsan told me that it is probably Coopersburg, and he also improved the photo:
Anyone know the exact location of this grade crossing?
My error: LVT 219 was an 11=windw car, not 12.
Herewith the correction:
I think the standard Cincinnati Curve-side, and the LVT's Easton Limited Dayton and Troy cars where similar, were the most beautiful of all steel lighteweight, non-Peter Witt street and interurban cars. The West Penn's front variation may improve operator vision, but it detracts a slight bit from the overall artistic effect.
Obviously, I like the appearance of Third Avenue home-built lightweights. But only the Broadway double-end Peter Witts surpass the Curve-sides in looks in my opinion.
Thanks for the good news. A beautiful car and restoration.
My spot removals had taken out the front retriever rope. Also, the operating pole needed strengthening.
Herewith
Wheeling 639 (Cincinnati 1924) is preserved at Seashore, where it is part of the regular operating fleet.
https://collection.trolleymuseum.org/browse.php?id=00639SWV
John and Bill had the day planned. We left the car from Easton at the Bethlehem Grand Union, rode the South Bethlahem line to Atllentown, then went to Northhampton and back, then to the Fairview car house and back, all with photos posted earlier. We then boarded a Liberty Bell ex-C&LE car, grabbed parler seats at the rear, and I was amazed and thrilled with the speed, acceleration, smooth riding qualities on what was the 1st of several enjoyable trips on this line. I would have been content to enjoy this comfort and speed all the way 69th Street, but we left at Norristown to sample a P&W "Bullet" to Ardmore Junction, then downstairs to a two-car Brill Center-entrance Red Arrow train to 69th Street, before riding the Market Street Elevated to 32nd Street Elevated Station, a walk to 30th Street, and dinner-in-the-diner on the PRR back to Manhattan.
My 1st visit to LVT was at age 15 with older friends John Stern and Bill Watson, met through my having joined the ERA shortly before this trip, April 1947, my 1st railfan excursion outside the NYCity area. We took the morning Lehigh Valley train, (Black Diamond?) to Easton, and my photos at the stop at Flemington Jc. are posted above earlier
At Easton, we expected to board a comfortable ex-Dayton & Troy Cincinnati Lightweight Curveside like one photographed later in life on a fan-trip in a differfent car, possibly a repeated posting:
But we were dissapointed when a regular city car showed, which I duly attempted to photograph before boarding, only to find on developing that I only got part of the car:
I never printed this photo nor used it for anything.
But now, I want to use it, since it was first LVT car I rode, the first trolley car I rode away from NYCity on a railfan excursion, and the first I rode on a genuine interurban line, even theugh a city car. So here is my repair job:
The added backgound buildings were adapted from the ex-D&T lighweight photo at the same location, and the added underbody details from a photo of an LVT car of the same series.
And the only time I ever did ride a Cincinnati Curve-side was on the West Penn local Connosville-South Connolsville line in June 1949, a car preserved at Arden. Is it the only Cincinnati Curve-side preserved?
Riochard Allman yells me this is on ST. John's Street. where a n umber of LVT motormen lived. and we are trailing a Liberty Bell car on its every-roung-trip cleaning-and-maintenance movement from the Allentoen 8th-&-Hamilton downtown station to the Fairview yard, shops, and carhouse.
The doodlebug photo itself and the combined photo in its second appearance have a bit of the "F" of the Flemington Junction station sign showing at the right edge.
I did not remember that I had taken the two pictures until I had what I thought were only LVT negatives scanned.
Wonder what other useful suprises I'll find as I have more negatices scanned.
daveklepper I took these two photos at Flemington Junction, where I remember a connection to and from Flemington, NJ.
Apparently, only a fraction of the seats got to Seashore. Possibly during the period when the coach seats were used, 1949 - 1953, the double seats were re-purposed by LVT and/or one or more of its employees, thus preventing the Seashore restoration from being truly authentic.
LVT 1030's seats at Seashore are reproductions built from the original specs, except for a couple which were used as patterns. When the car came to Seashore the bucket (bench) seats were removed, and later re-used in CRANDIC 118, which came from the C&LE. Info from Ron Rudell, who with his brother Tom has been involved with 1030 its entire time at Seashore.
LVT 1030: The body change was the rear end, and again parts off the damaaged car were used. The energency door was in the center of the rear, and was required because of the Norristown Bridge, which did not have any side-of-single-track walkway. The C&LE cars and the 1030 on LVT had a flatter rear-end than the IR cars.
I think this much-damaged but hopefully repaired photo was taken in Bethlehem:
Importnt detail missing frum the combined photo, here restored:
Combined the tco photographs. Any comments?
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