These pictures were taken on a ROW hike that occured on Feb 16, 2002. We started in Bethlehem at the Union Station and hiked the Bethlehem Branch down to Center Valley. This page has a few of the digital pictures that I took. The condition of the line on this segment of ROW was varied. From the Iron Hill yard, down to Saucon yard, the tracks were completely gone in some places. The tracks from Bethlehem Union station up to Iron Hill yard are beat! The top of the rail is spalled in some places, and the ballast was bad. There was a string of old C&I hoppers stored on the tracks here, by the still active HEM signal. Now, as of October 2002, NS has decomissioned the tracks in this area, in preparation for their sale to the city of Bethlehem, who wants to make a walking path.... There is a section of rail removed in front of the Union Station, and another section removed by the HEM signal. Bye, bye passenger rail in Bethlehem. See my page here for more information.
South of I-78 is where SEPTA ownership takes over, and from there South, there are always tracks present. Around Hellertown, the track on the West side (the Southbound main?) has its fish plates unbolted for about a mile. It's like Conrail was going to remove the track or something. There are some dead trees laying across the tracks in a few places, and almost all of the lineside telephone poles are rotted and falling. About all of the signals are vandalized, along with their lineside cabinets. We did get a funky effect walking towards Hellertown, when the sun reflected off of a still present lens in a high signal, causing it to look as though the signal was powered and lit.
Around Center Valley, the slab-sided "McMansion" houses are build close to the tracks, and one enterprising landowner has created a nice stone garden wall next to / on the ROW. There are a few partial washouts, due to poor drainage, and LOTS of vegetation on the tracks. The ties are bad, as can be expected, but the general shape of the ROW doesn't look to bad. There are some steel barricades placed across the tracks at the North and South boundaries of one township. I guess this is to keep ATVs and snowmobiles off of the tracks. There is a cut around Bingen where the Reading did some beautiful stonework on a retaining wall, and nice small details all around. It's a shame to see the line rotting as it is.
The ROW cut in Center Valley for access to the athletic fields is quite painful to see, and that is where we ended the hike.
Someday I'll add more pictures and put them in the right order here....
Clicking on thumbnail opens the full sized image in the current window.
Clicking on "Full size image is nnnk" text opens the full sized image in a new window.
 bethlehem_union_station.jpg Here is a picture of the Bethlehem Union Station. Full size image is 67 kB  bethlehem_union_station2.jpg Here is another shot of the Bethlehem Union station, from a different side. Full size image is 82 kB  brownfield_iron_hill_yard.jpg An eerie picture of the Iron Hill yard. The Bethlehem Branch tracks are on the left. Full size image is 162 kB  saucon_coaling_tower.jpg Here is a shot of the coaling tower in Saucon yard. Full size image is 66 kB  saucon_coaling_tower2.jpg Here is another shot of the coaling tower. Full size image is 73 kB  saucon_power_house.jpg Here is a shot of the Saucon yard power house / back shop. This building was torn down, sometime in 2002. Full size image is 106 kB  saucon_roundhouse.jpg Here's a picture of the roundhouse, which is being used by a business. Full size image is 97 kB  saucon_turntable.jpg Here is the turntable which was removed and donated to the RCT&HS. At this time, it was still at Saucon yard, but it has now been moved offsite. Full size image is 61 kB  where_we_left_off.jpg Here is the painful ROW breach at Center Valley. The PUC application says that a bridge will be built if rail service is restored, but it just goes as a negative mark in the chances of service restoration. Full size image is 139 kB  writing_on_rail.jpg South of I-78 in Hellertown is where SEPTA ownership takes over again. At this location, the following is written on the rail. "DO NOT TOUCH, THIS TK STAYS ALL THE WAY TO SEPTA -->" Full size image is 217 kB  iron_hill_signal_1.jpg Here is the signal bridge over the Bethlehem Branch in the Iron Hill yard. It is one of the few Reading signal bridges still remaining. Full size image is 133 kB  iron_hill_signal_2.jpg Here is a closeup of the signal head. Full size image is 37 kB |
Index created on Tue Apr 16 11:45:06 2002 and modified on 01/21/2003.
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