LV through the Lehigh Gap

[walterconklin]

Hello,

Was the LV mainline through the Lehigh Gorge always single track?

Sincerely,
Walter

[frank754]

Not sure, but I do believe most of the line was double tracked, as was the CNJ. This site is really good, with a good deal of vintage pix which takes you on a tour through the area:

http://www.thebluecomet.com/lvrr.html

[walterconklin]

Hello,

Thanks for the referal link. Hard to tell, but the Lehigh Valley mainline through the Lehigh Gap looks to be single track in the picture at http://www.thebluecomet.com/lv314lehighgap.jpg. The CNJ is the track on the other side of the river, as you may know.

I am particulary interested in the portion of the LV mainline that went under the LNE trestle at the Gap.

Sincerely,
Walter

[Bethlehem Jct.]

Hello,

Was the LV mainline through the Lehigh Gorge always single track?

Sincerely,
Walter

The entire LV mainline from Jersey City to Buffalo was at one time double tracked, including 3 and 4 tracks in some areas. So that would include Lehigh Gap.

Here's a link to Scot Lawrence's map of remaining LV lines in use, which uses a map originally produced by the railroad. This is the map on the inset of Archer's book about about the LV. While Scot didn't include the legend, you can see that the mainline is shown to be double tracked.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scottychaos/LVRR_bigmap.jpg

[lvrr325]

The LV mainline was double track with ABS until after the PRR gained control, when segments were sometimes single tracked with CTC so hurriedly there are pictures where just enough of the second track is pulled up to install the new signal and the rest of the track still in place.