"Must see" railroad items in Eastern PA

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Glad you liked that part of the trip so much, Ed. 

Some of those tracks between Sunbury and Jim Thorpe may be owned by the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority - see the 4th map down on this webpage, that of the Shamokin Valley RR: http://www.sedacograil.org/Pages/JRA%20System.aspx  East of Mt. Carmel, the tracks were likely those of the Reading & Northern/ Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern - see its system map at: http://www.readingnorthern.com/map.shtml 

Ed & I had a delightful morning today doing a quick tour of the railroads of the Bethlehem area and eastern part of Allentown (as far as the Lehigh River bridge).  Unfortunately, for most of the trains we heard we missed the locomotives, and for some we could barely see them at all through the heavy vegetation - only the hump pusher and its slug could be watched up close, but they put on a nice show anyway.   

Link to the definitive book about the Bethlehem Steel Co. railroad at its Bethlehem plant, the Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England - Bethlehem Steel Railroading, by Nevin Sterling Yeakel:

http://www.amazon.com/Bethlehem-Steel-Railroading-Nevin-Yeakel/dp/1931477272/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

- Paul North. 

[MP173]

Paul:

Thanks for the tour of Bethlehem/Allentown area.  What a fascinating area, steeped with history and quite a bit of railroading.  I did find the Bethlehem Steel Railroading book at the Moravian Book Store in downtown Bethlehem. 

For a flatlander from Indiana, this is quite an area.  The Lehigh Valley Gorge area is a place I would love to spend a day exploring by bike, but it will not occur this trip.  Rain is moving in tonight and our time is limited.

The wife and I did walk down to the Lehigh River this morning and there was an EB NS crossing the river, which was followed by a 1 car CP WB train.  Fortunately I did pickup a photo of the train crossing the river, basically my only train photo of the trip.

Perhaps tomorrow, on the trip back home, we can return to the gorge area.  One item of interest is the cement district line just 300 ft west of the historic Hotel Bethlehem.  It follows the Monacacy River and has a great scene with a small dam adjacent to the railline.

 

Ed

[MP173]

Back home again in Indiana.

We made an executive decision on Saturday night/Sunday morning, based on incoming weather (rain and lots of it) to head back home on Sunday rather than Monday.  The plans were to return to Jim Thorpe on Monday morning and then head back mid day.  But, we made the 10 hour drive yesterday.

I have a new appreciation and view of not only the Bethlehem, Pa railroading (both past and present), but also of mountain railroading and also steel making.  Obviously, railroads, mountains, and steel are all inter related.

The Bethlehem Steel story is a fascinating one and I just scratched the surface.  Living in NW Indiana for 35 years, "the mills"  are always there, in structure, economics, and culture.  I am somewhat guilty of not fully understanding the impact of steelmaking on our area, that is until visiting Bethlehem and seeing the remnants of a once powerful economic force that is now just a few abandoned blast furnaces and buildings.  Further, discussions with my wife's family members who were involved in both management and labor of Bethlehem Steel painted an interesting story of economic power and failure, sprinkled with considerable arrogance.

Lehigh Valley and Reading were critical to this operation and it is easy to see how the opening of the modern Burns Harbor (Indiana) plant would have affected operations at Bethlehem.  Driving thru the mountains from Lewisburg to Jim Thorpe, there were a number of old tracks that pulled anthracite coal out of the area.  Not much coal left, but R&N seems to be growing the market.

The LV &CNR had quite an operation in the Lehigh Valley north of Allentown, as their parallel lines battled each other and gravity.  There are still trains thru the Lehigh Valley gorge north and west of Jim Thorpe and the scenery is stunning.  Our time was short in this area, and it is a massive tourist trap community, but to me it is worth another visit when I have an entire day...and hopefully my bike for an assault on the 2% grade.  The State of Pennsylvania has taken the old CNJ (correct me if wrong) line and converted it into a hiking/biking path up the gorge from Jim Thorpe.

I picked up Mike Bednar's book on LV's New York Division and also an November 2007 Railpace Newsmagazine which has a nice feature article on the Lehigh Gorge.

In closing, a big thanks to Paul North for the guided tour of Bethlehem and the Allentown Yard area (all legal...no trespassing).  Bethlehem, Pa seems to be slowly rebuilding from the loss of a major industry, using the available land for other uses (intermodal yards, casino, light industry).  The economic lessons to be learned from such a visit are many...for one, there are very few cradle to grave type jobs/careers left today.  The boom/bust cycles are not new to our era.  The roller coaster rides of the financial markets last week provided a fresh lesson of economic bubbles (witness the overbuilding of railroads in Pa and the decline).

Great trip, great scenery, great lessons in history.

Ed

[galaxy]

Steamtown will have it's annual Train Fest this coming Labor day weekend! They will be running steam trains, vintage diesels and have modern RR locos on display including a complete Amtrak train. There will be excursions too- though you said a train ride not necessary. The Noon shop tour is always good to se what tehy are working on currently. I believe that would be the Boston and Maine steamer they have been restoring for years now and trying to raise money for.

There are lots of static displays that SHOULD be back from asbestos abatement treatment this year. They are all great to look at. They have a static Big Boy {not ever to run}.

Steamtown is relatively cheap.

There is the Steamtown shopping MAll directly across form it and up a nice board walk that may keep non-train fols busy while you admire the trains and watch they play with them for the in-Scranton yard ride and prepare for longer excursions.

Next door is the Electric City Trolley museum- one fee to get in {not really worth it} and one fee to ride an electric overhead wire trolley.

I would aslo second, third fourth going to Strasburg in SE Pa. and visiting the RAilroad musum of PA! Strasburg only runs steam trains really and has a GREAT noon shop tour not to be missed!

[MP173]

Could always tour Dunder Mifflen while in Scranton.

Ed

[henry6]

Yeah, but that's just one of those "paper" companies.  But if you go to Scranton, follow the signs!.

[jumper]

Starucca and Tunkhannock viaducts and the Starucca hotel (old overnight stop on Erie NY to Chicago run are definitly worth the short drive off I81 east and west to see. Not far north of Scranton. As mentioned the trolley museum is good as is the Lackawanna coal mine tour. Strasburg is excellent, probably not too busy when you are going. Lots of other activities nearby. New Hope and Ivyland steam RR is near Harrisburg. East Broadtop is a good narrow gauge steam ride and also has a great trolley ride/museum. You can do the rr museum in Altoona, Horseshoe curve and he Gallitzin tunnels in a day. Lots of things to do for those not interested in the trains. Plus some neat roads to drive. Heading north you can see the Kinzua viaduct. Pretty impressive structure for its day. The small Wannamaker kempton and Southern is near Allentown and the Reading and Northern? sometimes runs steam through Mauch Chunk/Jim Thorpe. Diesel other times. History from coal mining to the Molly McGuires is interesting here as is the old gravity rail line.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Good points - but the NH&I is about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia and roughly 100 miles east of Harrisburg; the EBT is about 75 miles west. 

The real problem is that there's so much and it's so spread out, some hard choices have to be made to select and prioritize what to see and hence where to go. 

- Paul North.