Railroad Forums 

  • Lehigh & Hudson River in Belvidere?? Anyone know?

  • Discussion of the L&HR and its predecessor the Warwick Valley Railroad for the period 1860-1976 at its inclusion with ConRail
Discussion of the L&HR and its predecessor the Warwick Valley Railroad for the period 1860-1976 at its inclusion with ConRail

Moderator: David

 #658545  by Donko142
 
Good afternoon, after leving Scranton today I wanted to stop at the bed Bel shop, I went through a new area (to me). When I was going through the town of Belvidere on RT 620, I went over some railroad tracks about 1 mile before the Rt 519 intersection. The tracks where overgrown with some brush but not to bad, the rails were in as far as I could see both ways. As I looked to the East there was a yellow gondola car on a siding. I believe this was the Lehigh & Hudson River towards Great Medows, but I thought that was all ripped out in the early 80"s. Anyone got an idea ? Was this the LHR ?
Thanks for your time.
 #658653  by Marty Feldner
 
Yes, L&HR. The rails don't extend much past what you saw, in either direction.

G Tower, the L&HR's connection with the Bel Del, was about a quarter of a mile west of the overpass; their Mansfield Street station was a block east.
 #658668  by Donko142
 
So those tracks don't connect back into the main along the river at some point ?
 #658807  by Tom_E_Reynolds
 
NYS&W142Fan wrote:Hi Don,
There is another post on the L&HR Forum about the Gondola. Yes those tracks are the L&HR. Infact there are two gons there.
This gondola:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&F ... &encType=1

From this view it looks like the switch is still there:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&F ... &encType=1

Is this track OOS? or Abandoned?

From the first picture in this thread, it looks like the gondolas were on a different track?

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 88&t=58707

Is that possible? Was it double tracked at one time here?
 #659460  by David
 
Donko142 wrote:So those tracks don't connect back into the main along the river at some point ?

Yes, They still connect to the old Bel Del at the remains of G Tower.
 #659462  by David
 
The tracks are still classified at OSS. Also, after the last gondola, the first building you see that is white, I believe is the original Mansfield Station, now an office for the gas company located there. That company used to get tank cars.
 #659653  by tracker
 
Donko. I live right near there. My son was an expert on that area. He even talked to all the old timers in the area to gather info. and stories about the Bel-Del and L&HR. We watched them tear up the rest of the track in the 80s. He walked in the bushes there and found a G tower sign. I still have it. Its black and round about 20'' across. There is a yellowed big G on it with those glass reflecting balls. I took a few walks there with him in 05 & 06 when rumor was out that a rail museum wanted to occupy the site.
 #660233  by Paul Miller
 
The L&HRRy was double tracked from Mansfield Street Station to Belvidere. The station is definitely there, brought down from grade level and last time I was there, Amerigas still occupied the building. There are also remnants of the Belford and Neidermiller coal pockets near the station and gondola, and cement footings for the pump house and water tower. Along with the double tracking, there were a few sidings in Belvidere, which you can see if it isn't too overgrown yet. If you walk far enough west, the cement foundation remains of G Tower are still there as well. Would love to see a picture of the "G" sign.