LV Pottsville Branch

[nomis]

Wondering if anyone has information on the LV Pottsville Branch?

I've searched on here and also in google and have yet to find any real information about the line other than old Topo maps showing the line from Pottsville towards Bowmanstown (Lizzard Creek Jct.). I have been able to track the old ROW from 895 & Rauschs rd to 309 & LimeKiln Rd by both driving back roads and satellite. I'm curious about the line and have only seen it for the past 25 years before i tried to figure out the details about the line.

TOPO from 1911 of SE Schuylkill Co, New Ringgold & East Brunswick area
http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.a ... g&state=PA (1.8mb image)

Picture from one of the Indian Run Creek bridge near Rene Mont.
http://nomis.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=1589164

[mst145]

Here's the 1947 LV employee timetable from http://www.lvrr.com/:



The Schuylkill Haven History website has some info & photos on the trestle that was located in Cressona.
http://schuylkillhavenhistory.com/TRANSPORTATION.html

M.T.

[Bethlehem Jct.]

Wondering if anyone has information on the LV Pottsville Branch?

I've searched on here and also in google and have yet to find any real information about the line other than old Topo maps showing the line from Pottsville towards Bowmanstown (Lizzard Creek Jct.). I have been able to track the old ROW from 895 & Rauschs rd to 309 & LimeKiln Rd by both driving back roads and satellite. I'm curious about the line and have only seen it for the past 25 years before i tried to figure out the details about the line.

TOPO from 1911 of SE Schuylkill Co, New Ringgold & East Brunswick area
http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.a ... g&state=PA (1.8mb image)

Picture from one of the Indian Run Creek bridge near Rene Mont.
http://nomis.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=1589164

The line was torn up over 50 years ago, as such, it's hard to find much information regarding it. What I know about it comes pretty much from Archer's book. It was built in the 1890's to tap the southern coal fields in Schuylikill county. The primary shipper on the line was the Blackwood Colliery, which burned down in the 1950's. According to Archer, with the main shipper gone, and an aging tressel in Cressona, maintaining the line made little sense, so the LV petitioned and received permission to abandon it.

In Jan. 1930, the LV was running a daily round trip passenger train between 12th St. Pottsville and Bowmanstown. What I found interesting was that there were no mainline passenger trains that stopped in Bowmanstown. I imagine that managment wanted to discourage passenger business on the line so as to be able to dispense with what was most likely a money-losing endeavor by that point in time.

[nomis]

I just got an email directing me to a site with more info on the branch, enjoy ...
http://www.wix.com/onetechy/lvrr

... Thanks for the comments from before, it's always nice to know more about the neighborhoods that you call home.

[scottychaos]

Im still searching for a photo of my mysterious "LV Pottsville Branch Flag Stop Depot"



if anyone has any leads, please let me know!
more info:
http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychao ... index.html

Scot

[kevinwinterborne]

This may be a little late and I hope it gets read - I recently hiked from the Gordon Nagle Trail in Pottsville to Tremont. I went up and around an old railroad bridge abutment and then walked all the way back on the old rail bed. It was a rail line back in the day and is evidenced by the current satellite views even today. Walking back there I noticed no evidence of a railroad - no ties strewn about, no spikes, etc. I did find a small, rusty spike near the end near Blackwood - or what is left of it. The railbed seemed to be too narrow and bare rocks, just didn't seem like a full size (width) railbed. And, in places, the incline seemed too steep. I have an elevation profile from my GPS and I am looking at it closely now, but this seems very weird to me and my father who grew up in the area. Are there any pictures around of the bridge that went across the Gordon Nagle trail? Was this a fully size railroad? The railbed is cut through the mountain in many places and just seems too narrow. Could the ties and spikes be gone over the past 50 yrs due to deterioration, people taking them? Or did the railroad actually take that stuff away--doubtful? For some reason this roadbed and the Blackwood area really interest me - also because my dad told me that a relative lived in that town and worked at the colliery until it burnt down.

[MrBill]

There was a whole lot trackage going on back there until the 50's. Strip mining and development wiped out a lot of the grades after that. There were no fewer than 3 wyes that overlapped and connected with each other in that area. The LV had a beautiful through truss that crossed the reading's main, which might have been on the abutment you found. The best way to see the lay of the land? PENN PILOT. Probably my favorite site ever. I have learned a massive amount looking at aerials on this site. The late 1930's views are the best because the ROW's were most cleared of vegetation and commercial bulls#*t at that time. I'll try to get a pic of that bridge posted when I can. -Bill

[jadebullet2]

If you go to the town of Orwigsburg you can find the remanents of the most ornate station on the Lehigh Valley. If you turn on the road that the post office is on, and head down that road, you will come across two warehouse looking buildings, one with trucks. Make a right on to that road. Anyway, if you follow this road, you will come to a T intersection with the left arm of the T being a dirt road that goes up the mountain a short distance. Park your car somewhere and walk up this dirt road. There will be trails to your left. This is the old LVRR line to Pottsville. Be wary for people on Dirtbikers, but if you walk down the trail, and keep looking in the weeds, you will eventually find the foundation for the station.


The line was really interesting, with a giant bridge where the Cressona mall is now, that spanned the Reading, Rt 61, and the PRR. The line kept crossing over the RDG's Mine Hill and Schuylkill branch to the left of the Gordon Nagel trail. There was also a bridge that spanned the RDG and the Gordon Nagel trail where the Sheets is now.

You can see some awesome pictures of the line in the Morning Sun book, Trackside in Reading's Anthracite Country with Bruce and Arch Kantner.

[onetech2000]

Check out this new site for the LVRR Pottsville Division
www.wix.com/onetechy/lvrr

or

www.lvrr.net

Looking for photos and info to add for the site!

Jim

[RDG126]

Very lightly trafficked line; my grandfather lived on Center Avenue (PA Rte. 61) in Schuylkill Haven, and the right-of-way passed behind Ebinger Iron Works, which lay directly behind his house. He took some photographs near the end of operations, and the average train consisted of an FA-1, a goodly sized handful of mixed rolling stock, and a cab. I'll PM my mother to see if she still has these, and if so, I'll scan and post them.

As of 2003 (my last visit up that way), not much in the way of physical evidence left. Some evidence of roadbed below Union Cemetery, and a bit more on what was the approach to the aforementioned trestle across Connor's Crossing, setting on a ledge up above a gas station & strip mall on the right-hand side of Center Ave./61 going north out of Haven.