Rail activity in the cement region

Just to clarify, the end of track is not at Stockertown but rather at Uhlers, which is two miles to the east. In the L&NE days the line ran all the way to Martins Creek, but at some point they tore out the section between Uhlers and Sandts Eddy. The portion just south of Martins Creek is still used to access the ConAgra grain mill.

You can't really blame the railroads for the loss of cement traffic. Most cement traffic is relatively a short-distance haul so it's simply more logical to haul it by truck. Granted, railroads could probably try going for the long haul business, but that would still only account for a small portion of the cement produced. As much as I'd like to see all the cement mills shipping by rail the reality is that's never going to happen again.

The line from Uhlers to Martin's Creek was abandoned and removed by the CNJ in the 70s I think. I can't figure out why they removed such a short section and thus severing the portland secondary making it a dead end route from A'town. You can still see a mile or so where the ROW was but after that it's been obliterated with new housing developments.

The bridge that carried the N&B over Rt. 512 was recentley removed.

Keystone cement in south Bath along Rt 512 has a 4 track yard out front. Last year there were no cars spotted on it but the rails were very shiny and there were around 10 cars on their spur. Their office told me that they still ship by rail but only long haul and the RRs customer service was so piss poor and their rates sky high that they just gave up on rail. Obviously if they get an order of cement that has to go to Texas they aren't going to ship in trucks, but in the tri state area trucks are cheaper.

I guess when Keystone stopped the majority of shipping by rail that's when the N&B called it quits. Both sides of Keystone were, until the mid-70s, a large rail yard. Now just 1 spur.

Bath Yard, Tadmor Yard, the DL&W line, the yards out in front of each cement mill... all long gone. There was also another big cement mill when you cross E Main St in Bath at the end of town. Long gone.

In Bath on E Main St as you leave town to the east by the brown apartments you cross the single track portland secondary track. The Bath Yard actually crossed here and the xing was 8 tracks.

[quote="carajul"]The line from Uhlers to Martin's Creek was abandoned and removed by the CNJ in the 70s I think. I can't figure out why they removed such a short section and thus severing the portland secondary making it a dead end route from A'town. You can still see a mile or so where the ROW was but after that it's been obliterated with new housing developments.

I'm a relatively newcomer to the discussion and have posted very little on RR.net but thought I could add something.

Actually it makes sense about the abandonment. The Sandt's Eddy cement plant was closed, Alpha was serviced by the Erie Lackawanna. Why would the LNE Railway need that trackage, with 2 large trestles (Mud Run & Upper Mud Run or Lower Mud Run, I forget) plus the steep grade leaving the Delaware River valley? The LNE Rwy. interchanged with the EL at several spots, mostly Nazareth area. Dixie had the plant at Uhlers already so it made sense to leave the line in to there. The line from Alpha to Sandt's Eddy was actually removed circa 1973 and put back in circa 1976 when ConAgra bought that mill.

Remember, the cement regions had several railroads in the 1970's like the Erie Lackawanna, Lehigh & New England Rwy., Northampton & Bath, Lehigh Valley, even Penn Central crossed the Delaware at Martins Creek. After the CNJ pulled out of PA in 1972, the L&NE was still their line until the Lehigh Valley was designated the operator until Conrail in 1976. After 1976, thats when the consolidations began. The Portland Secondary wasn't even thought of back then as the EL main was still used, the B&P still had locomotives assigned to Bangor, stuff like that.

M Robinson

And remember that pre-Conrail, unit coal movements for Keystone and Atlas ran over several lines just to get these plants. Coal came up the LV's E&N Branch and was then interchanged with the EL B&P Branch at Belfast Junction. The EL then took the coal to Bath Junction where the N&B picked it up and delivered it to either Keystone or Atlas. Coal for Hercules mostly came in via the CNJ/L&NE Railway.

mrobinson wrote: Actually it makes sense about the abandonment. The Sandt's Eddy cement plant was closed, Alpha was serviced by the Erie Lackawanna. Why would the LNE Railway need that trackage, with 2 large trestles (Mud Run & Upper Mud Run or Lower Mud Run, I forget) plus the steep grade leaving the Delaware River valley? The LNE Rwy. interchanged with the EL at several spots, mostly Nazareth area. Dixie had the plant at Uhlers already so it made sense to leave the line in to there.

Exactly. Uhlers-Martins Creek trackage was abandoned in 1969 although interestingly Martins Creek still appeared in the L&NE Ry. timetables even after that year.

Have recall of a photo being published in one of the rail enthusiast magazines of a Alco RS2/3 painted a LVRR-like scheme at a cement plant in Pennsylvania.

Anyone recall where this unit was located and what became of it? There is no mention of the unit in Reed's industrial locomotive book.

That would have been Horwith 1546, in the 80's painted a Tuscan Red with end stripes. Now NDC (Northampton Development Co.) 1546, in black and yellow. A CNJ RS3 given a V12-567 by Conrail, so now it's an RS3m, or a DeWitt Geep, if you will. NDC operates on the last mile of the Northampton and Bath Railroad, in Northampton between NS and the Horwith Trucking/NDC property (a monstrous former cement mill).

Micah

Thank you for the information.

Funny how small the world is...

I have material associated (on the periphery) with my frac sand that I need to bring to the cement mills. Does anyone know what sort of infrastructure is in place at any of the mills for unloading railcars?

Thank you!

I just got the new book on the cement region and it says that a place called"Chapman" is still busy. Anybody know exactly where Chapman is and what is going on there that makes it a busy place? Thanks again

There used to be quarries in Chapmans, but I'm pretty sure they are all closed now and that the rail to the town is gone.

I think I found the place near Bath on Bing Maps birds eye view and it does not look like the rails still go there. The book was just published so when the authors said" busy place today" maybe they are thinking of someplace else but i get the impression that there is nothing in the region that could accurately be labelled as "busy place today" but I'll settle for any rail activity with some cement buildings in the background. Must have been a gem ack in the day.

I'm thinking by Chapman they are referring to here, near Allentown: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=40.586 ... wn%2C%20PA. I think this is on the old C&F. The spur shown here: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qrxd5m ... wn%2C%20PA is the Chapman IT or RT or spur or something, I can't recall the correct name or look it up from home.

Correction: It's called Chapman Yard, and it is the old C&F Line.

That would be Chapman's alright.. Serving all of the Rtes. 100/22/78 industrial parks.. Alpo is one of their customers.. As is the brewery visible from 78 (when it's in business)...

Visited Keystone yesterday to drop off some sample materials. It is an incredible operation for anyone interested in heavy industry. They easily had 20 or 30 railcars in their yard. All coal comes in by truck and the facility is no longer able to handle inbound shipments of material.

I should be down to Essroc and Hercules by the end of the week and will post whatever I see.