Where Red Diesels Roam to Lehighton Northampton
Catasauqua IRN
W. Catasauqua
CNJ- Central Railroad of New Jersey CP- Canadian Pacific CR- Conrail IRN- Ironton LHR- Lehigh & Hudson River LNE- Lehigh & New England LV- Lehigh Valley NS- Norfolk Southern PBNE- Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England
RDG- Reading RJCN- R.J. Corman
to Uhlers Stoke Park
Fullerton Allen Jct. Freemansburg v
ALLENTOWN 12th Street
Barber Quarry
LV Linden St. LNE Sta. Allentown Yard CP HAM CP BURN to Reading CP ALLEN 0 East Penn Jct. 1 MILES Hellertown
Illustration by Otto M. Vondrak, with thanks to Jim Rowland Not all routes shown. Not an official map. ©2012 Carstens Publications, Inc.
2 PBNE Iron Hill N BETHLEHEM Steel City Bethlehem Steel
two main lines, one on each side of the river between Allentown and Lehigh- ton, did not escape the attention of its corporate planners. Thus in 1986, Con- rail abandoned and removed the rail along the LV’s one time main line from Lehighton as far south as West Cata- sauqua, a village in Whitehall Town- ship. The Tarkett Corporation, a man- ufacturer of flooring, became the northernmost remaining customer. Conrail established an intermodal yard/piggyback terminal north of Lin- den Street accessed from the West End branch. The Gordon Street Yard, as the facility was known, was cramped and could not possibly serve the ever ex- panding intermodal market. Reaching it for drop-off or pick-up required in- convenient, time-consuming moves by main line trains. By 1984, Conrail es- tablished a new intermodal facility along the main line between Allentown and Bethlehem and downgraded the Gordon Street yard. Conrail also aban- doned the West End branch beyond the Gordon Street yard. SEPTA’s limited passenger service to Allentown terminated at a “station” on the West End branch at a site just north of Union Street. Calling the grav- elled driveway and parking area lead- ing to a bare concrete platform a “sta- tion” would be most generous. With low ridership, service ended in 1979.
OPPOSITE: Red diesels make a comeback now that R.J. Corman operates the former Allentown Cluster. The Tilghman Street bridge provides this overview looking southwest on the morning of July 8, 2000. The 1713 has a cut of flatcars loaded with pipes to deliver. The remains of Lehigh Structural Steel are in the foreground. ABOVE: Conrail is a little more than a month away as Lehigh Valley SW8 262 leads a cut of piggyback cars through East Penn Junction on February 29, 1976. This is the location where R.J. Corman interchanges with Norfolk Southern today.
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