Be advised Musikfest is in Bethlehem from this Fri. 05 Aug. through & incl. Sun. 14 Aug. Hotel B has its own parking, but some of the venues are in the street out front, so vehicle access could be difficult. Might be noisy until 11 PM or so - also a lot of fun, if you like that kind of thing.
NS main there is on the south side of the Lehigh River - lot of roadwork on the south end of the Rt. 378 bridge, so I don’t know if that one is walkable or not. The RR bridge across the River is used only by
Yes, we discovered Musicfest…and the massive increase in room rates associated with it. The lovely wife wanted HB, and she usually gets what she wants. Plus this is a homecoming for her and visiting her father is important.
So, why my fascination with this area? Particularly for someone who has never been there? About 2 years ago there was a one day sale of a man who was a model railroader and railfan. I had known him for 30 years and picked up a couple of books. At the end of the day I went back and his wife told me to take anything I wanted. My son had helped her with yard chores, etc. and I had pitched in. Well, I ended up taking a huge box of Morning Sun books and magazines. In return we helped her move things and I discarded items to recycling.
Several of the books dealt with LV, EL, Allentown, etc. Plus there were Antracite Historical Society magazines, The Diamond (EL) magazines, etc. The collection, plus my wife’s connection with Bethlehem is making this quite an anticipated trip.
So, without going nuts on her (she is quite a sport) we will probably run up to Jim Thorpe and the Gorge one day. If there is any local flavor up there (shortlines, etc) that would be good to know.
I will probably take my ultra lite rod and throw a few jigs or spinners to see what happens.
The Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum at Strasburg is an absolute must see if you’re within 100 miles of it. While you’re in the neighborhood, take a look at the Strasburg Rail Road right across the street and the Toy Train Museum a little ways down the road…
Jim Thorpe can be good for a family - once you find all-day parking (can be tough during the week, ask at the Visitor’s Center in the old CNJ train station at the square in the heart of downtown). You can stay there and study the equipment in detail; rest of family can roam the streets and little shops, a few restaurants, etc. Walking up and down the hills to them and the Asa Packer Mansion can be a little bit of exercise, too. See: http://www.jimthorpe.org/directions.php
Drive up to Summit Hill and look for the markers and remnants of the former Gravity Railroad there and along the way.
Back at Bethlehem: From the bottom of the hill in the MusikFest area, take the street west that’s closest to the railroad. “Follow your nose” about 2+ miles to stay close to the railroad and the Lehigh River, and you’ll get to the NS Allentown yard, and the unique opportunity to view the hump from up close - stone parking area on the other side of the road.
Reading & Northern Railroad System Map - looks like R&N owns the tracks to Scranton, not NS, but NS and CP must have trackage rights of some sort: http://www.readingnorthern.com/map.shtml
If you hike/ bike the trail north from Glen Onoko, portions of it run along the base of a stone retaining wall, on top of which is the LGSRy’s track. You can get a unique view there of the underside of the cars and locomotives as they pass by overhead at 10 - 15 MPH.
Good outfit for local info on renting bikes, boats, and a shuttle for the same, etc. - maybe some info on fishing, too - is Blue Mountain Sports - see:
Thanks for the numerous links. This area looks like a dream for me: 1. Trains 2. Biking, 3. Possible fishing 4. Great scenery.
Cannot wait - heading out tomorrow morning.
The Reading and Northern looks like a well run operation. Gonna attempt a sales call on them while out that way.
Does anyone know when R&N runs into Lehighton to interchange? Also, it appears the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway will be running when we are there. Is that the same line which CP, NS and R&N runs? Are freight operations banned during the time of the passenger trains?
No idea on the R&N’s schedule, and couldn’t find anything in “the usual places”. Check this one from 2 years ago for some more info about the Bethlehem-Allentown area, though:
It’s the same line as in the tracks on the same R-O-W and are parallel and less than 30 ft. apart, but a better description would be parallel independent main tracks. I believe that freights can and do run while the passenger operations are underway - that’s one reason it ends just short of Penn Haven Jct., as I understand it, because the lines cross each other there (not real confident, though). See this abstract from the NS timetable, pages 3 and 4 of 4: http://www.parailfan.com/NS/lehigh_line_tt.pdf I’m not aware of any ‘curfew’ on the freight operations.
Most mornings I hear a southbound CP or NS freight passing through Northampton - Catasauqua in the 7 - 7:30 AM time frame; occasionally another around noon. Other than that, seems random to me.
To go north to Jim Thorpe from Bethlehem, instead of the PA Turnpike NorthEast Extension (I-476), I recommend picking up PA Rt. 145 (a/k/a N. 7th St. in Allentown, & MacArthur Rd. for a few miles above that) either from Rt. 22 West, or via a bunch of local roads through East Allentown and “Catty”, N. Catty, and Northampton, depending on how adventurous you are. Alternatively, getting to Rt. 145 just before Egypt (!) via Rt. 329 through Northampton and Cementon isn’t hard either, and you’ll cross the NS Lehigh Line at Northampton and go near the following rail-trails: 1) Nor-Bath; 2) D&L (ex-LVRR); 3) Ironton. It’s a fairly scenic ride northwards, and you’ll catch glimpses of the
If you are in the area of HB, let me know by PM and I will buy you a cup of coffee in appreciation of all the help and the conversation all these years.
We drove to Lewisburg, Pa on Wednesday, then after a campus tour of Bucknell University, proceeded south to Sunbury. Old PRR signals are still in existance on the line. Headed east to Jim Thorpe, Pa and crossed tracks several times, but saw no trains. My guess and it is only a guess is that most of the lines are the Reading and Northern.
Jim Thorpe absolutely is a WOW spot. Geographically it is simply amazing. The Lehigh River carves an incredible gorge thru the area. The LVGR runs a train, which was the only train I saw all day. The train is powered by a R&N GP50 type with several cars.
Drove up to Flagstaff Park and attempted to recreate the panoramic view of Jim Thorpe, as depicted in Trackside around Allentown 1947 - 1968 by Arthur Angstadt, but the trees restricted the view of the railroads. The view was spectacular.
I would have enjoyed snooping around Packerton and Lehighton, but the wife was really anxious to see her father.
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:
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.
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 w
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!
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.
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.