Railroad Pictures from the Souderton, PA area

Here are some pictures the I took on November 16, 2003 around the Souderton, PA area of the former Reading Railroad's Bethlehem Branch railroad tracks. These tracks are owned by SEPTA, but no passenger rail traffic heads North past Lansdale on the line any more. (Too bad too!) CSX has freight rights on this line up to Telford, PA where the EPRY (East Penn Railway) takes over up to Quakertown. I was suprised at the amount of sidings here in Souderton. Although none of them are in use now, apparently they lasted pretty long in service. I wonder if a smaller railroad like the EPRY would be able to drum up more service along this part of the line? I was also suprised at the extremely poor quality of the tracks in this area. These tracks appear to be worse than any that the EPRY uses up North. Some of the ties in this area are completely broken into three pieces. Eeks. But, there are some newer looking ties in place along the tracks, so I assume that CSX is going to do some tie replacement soon. I guess that the poor drainage combined with the loaded feed cars for Moyer feeds in Telford has taken its toll on these tracks.

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souderton_1.jpg Looking North from the Cherry Lane bridge. The track usage here switches from one main to the other, probably so that they could service the sidings which are located on the Southbound main. Full size image is 162 kB	souderton_2.jpg Well, this siding isn't getting much traffic now. This went to the former Agway feed store and another industry. The tracks are now covered here with dirt. Looking South. Full size image is 207 kB	souderton_3.jpg Wow. Shades of the Penn Central. This is the worst track that I've seen in service on the Bethlehem Branch, and it's CSX teritory, not EPRY. It looks as though they are going to install some ties Full size image is 142 kB
souderton_4.jpg Looking North towards the Souderton train station. This swith leads to two sidings. One appears to have gone right next to the beer distributor and the other goes right close to the train station. Full size image is 133 kB	souderton_5.jpg Some sort of funky enclosure in the hillside by the tracks. Was this build by the railroad? And for what purpose? Full size image is 169 kB	souderton_6.jpg Looking North towards Telford, up a slight grade. That's the road crossing for Route 113/Broad Street, just past the station. There is a crossover from the Southbound to Northbound main just past t Full size image is 101 kB
souderton_7.jpg Looking South again at the bad trackage. Full size image is 159 kB	souderton_8.jpg Here's the beer distributor siding, or what's left of it. The bumper and track is still intact, but a bit grown over.... Full size image is 80 kB	souderton_9.jpg Looking North at the recently single tracked Bergy Road crossing in Souderton. That industrial siding apparently hasn't used rail service for quite some time. Full size image is 142 kB

Index created on Wed Nov 19 02:17:41 2003.
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