C&F removed when?

Anyone know when the C&F was removed from it's current ending point to Catty Yard/LVMain in Hokendaqua? A buddy of mine told me Catty yard was in place and all the tracks crossing Water St were still there in the mid-80s but I don't think that's accurate. The 1971 arials show Catty Yard and Biery Yard basically dead. An in Mike Bednar's book the 1976 pics on the LV main show just the 2 track LV main and there is no yard at all.

Anyone know when Biery and Catty yard were actually torn up?

The C&F between Seiple and Catasauqua was officially abandoned in June 1982. I have no idea when the last train used this track, but it must have been sometime before then. I'm not sure when the tracks at Biery Yard were taken out, but it wouldn't surprise me if at least some of the track lasted until the 1980s.

Yard tracks still crossed Water Street in 1986. Last major reason C&F was still in was the coal used at the Saylor cement mill in Coplay. Once the coal either stopped or got re-routed over the ex-Lehigh Valley, no reason to keep the C&F in east of Mauch Chunk Rd. I forget when Saylor closed, I'm remembering 1984 or so? Giant in Egypt also used rail until the Conrail embargo. Rails removed spring 1990 from the Ironton. If I can figure out how to post pictures, I have some shots of the line after the brushcutter ran but before the rails were pulled up. Should have taken more pictures!

M Robinson

Did CR embargo the Ironton because all the cement mills were out of biz and there was nothing left to serve or did the cement mills close because CR embargoed and they could no longer ship? Which came first...chicken or egg?

I walked the Ironton a few months ago. Not one customer remains...all mills are defunct. The yard track is still in place at the mill in Egypt but the mill is defunct. It's hard to belive that CR just completely erased the Ironton, LV, C&F, LNE! Even the CNJ ran over the Leigh River bridge to connect to the Ironton at Coplay. The single track went right thru people's backyards and then there was a 4 track yard in the middle of the woods along side the Ironton and LV main by the river.

And yes, POST THOSE PICS!

Here is an arial image of Biery Yard and the C&F, LV, et al in 1971. Looks like the party was pretty much over by this date. No activity in Biery or on the Ironton. The LV and CNJ across the river were both still double track. The C&F also looks oos, at least the yard anyway.
The wye track from the C&F up to the Ironton is long gone but you can still make it out. The connector track from the C&F to Biery Yard is still there though.

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carajul wrote:Did CR embargo the Ironton because all the cement mills were out of biz and there was nothing left to serve or did the cement mills close because CR embargoed and they could no longer ship? Which came first...chicken or egg?

I walked the Ironton a few months ago. Not one customer remains...all mills are defunct. The yard track is still in place at the mill in Egypt but the mill is defunct. It's hard to belive that CR just completely erased the Ironton, LV, C&F, LNE! Even the CNJ ran over the Leigh River bridge to connect to the Ironton at Coplay. The single track went right thru people's backyards and then there was a 4 track yard in the middle of the woods along side the Ironton and LV main by the river.

And yes, POST THOSE PICS!

A lot of those plants were outmoded w/ minimal quarry life. Any significant and more importantly more affordable to process plants were re-built to comply w/ the emissions standards. Most of the plants were shot and had limited material to quarry and couldn't supply enough to pay the cost of updating.

I just followed the C&F to where it ends at Mauch Chunk Rd. The row past the end of track has been turned into residential street and drive ways of new houses that still follow the row! It doesn't look like any of the businesses at the end of the C&F use rail anymore. Spurs everywhere but track empty and rusty.

I have Mike Bednar's book, "Railroaders In The Lehigh River Valley" and there are a few photos of the last railtrains on that section of the old LV. First railtrain was 11/17/86 and the final one was about one month later. Photos are on pages 55-56.

Hope this helps,
Charlie

There is a pic taken in 1969 of the LVRR main in Catty in Railpace mag. The spur to the RDG and spur to the IRR crossed each other on a diamond (as you can see in the photo above). In this 1969 pic the spur to the RDG is obviously oos...totally rusted. But the spur to the IRR into Biery Yard is shiny.

So there is no track at all left on the Whitehall (west) side of the Lehigh River? Is the LV main gone, too? NS still uses the ex-CNJ on the east side from Allentown Yard to Lehighton where it meets the ex-LV which is gone south of that point. I rode behind NKP 765 on that line last year. We went from near south side Bethlehem at the old piggyback yard (ex-LV side) to Pittston and return with a stop at Jim Thorpe on the return. We went through CP Burn and crossed Auburn St. in Allentown then reversed into the yard to head north toward Lehighton.

We had a short discussion about the LV on the west side of the river recently: viewtopic.php?f=130&t=162241" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In short, the LV freight main in Allentown is being ripped up for real estate development and a trail. Not sure if everything north of there (Whitehall...) is being ripped up too, or just isolated. Give it a few years and it will be one continuous trail (between the LV, CNJ, and canal towpaths) all the way to Wilkes Barre, starting almost down in Philly. It almost is now. http://delawareandlehigh.org/map/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; The south half of the Allentown passenger main (from the RJ Corman yard just north of the station down to the mainline) is still there. JS