• 2022 Pennsylvania Railroad Map

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania

Moderator: bwparker1

  by obsessed railfan
 
While I appreciate the time taken to produce a comprehensive map such as this, there will inevitably be numerous errors and descrepancies. I'd just like to point out that for the Lehigh Valley region, the former Lehigh Valley Railroad main line along the Lehigh River in Allentown, most recently operated by R.J. Corman Allentown Lines, has been removed several years ago as part of the city of Allentown's riverfront redevelopment project.

Perhaps most bizarre is the fact that the former CNJ main line through Bethlehem to a point near Freemansburg, including the former CNJ Minsi Trail Branch is shown as an operating switching and terminal railroad. These tracks were removed by Conrail in the early 1990s. While there was in fact an attempt to start a short line railroad on the Minsi Trail Branch to serve Just Born Candy, this never came to fruition and the line was abandoned by Conrail due to allegedly unsafe track conditions. Perhaps someone compiling the info to make this map somehow became aware of the short line attempt, and then without proper fact checking included it on this map as an operating railroad. Only a small stub of the former CNJ main survives as the NS Freemansburg Industrial Track from JU to a point east of the former CNJ Bethlehem Station.

Lehigh Valley Rail Management's line as shown on the map does not accurately depict the true route of their line. While NS and LVRB both still call the area Florence, the map appears to show Florence Yard as the location of the BethIntermodal facility. The intermodal facility is actually located further south along LVRB's line which was not accurately depicted as previously mentioned. The Lehigh Valley Railroad's Florence Yard was primarily to serve Bethlehem Steel and this yard has been gone for several decades.

The surviving stub of the former Lehigh Valley's Easton & Northern Branch in Stockertown is shown as a switching and terminal railroad which is not the case. It is simply just a stub to serve Polymer Products and is operated by Norfolk Southern off of the Cement Secondary.

The former CNJ Easton & Western Branch is shown as intact but service discontinued. This branch has been abandoned and tracks removed since 1976 and the right of way is currently part of the local trail system.

The former Lehigh & New England Allentown Branch, most recently the Allentown Industrial Track of Conrail and Norfolk Southern, is shown as an intact freight rail line. To be fair, I don't believe there ever was an official STB petition to officially discontinue service over this line, but it is completely inoperable with tracks removed in many places. I believe the last movement on the line was in 2002 and was not a revenue movement.

Other can feel free to point out any other noticeable errors they may find.
  by jrevans
 
Interesting that you have found so many discrepancies with the map.

This is a PennDOT produced map, so I would imagine that would have to be based on data that the state has from its own records. I guess those records are not correct!

It would be interesting for obsessed railfan to contact PennDOT and ask them about some of the problems.
  by ohioriverrailway
 
It also shows the Kiski Junction, which has been defunct for several years.
  by R36 Combine Coach
 
There is a 2015 edition (January 2015) between the 2009 and 2022 editions. I recall a 2014 edition (don't have
the PDF copy), but even the January 2015 edition didn't appear on the PennDOT GIS servers until late in the year
even early 2016.
  by R36 Combine Coach
 
2024 edition (June) now online, PDF file dated 5/31/2024
  by SR95
 
Always a little sobering to peruse the new map, and then compare it with the 1977 version from the Library of Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3821p.ct0 ... 88,0.581,0

I do find it curious that the old B&O Northern Sub/Knox & Kane remains on the '24 map as OOS despite being defunct for 20 years and bare of rail over its entirety for close to (more than?) a decade now, many sections long since converted to official trails. This oversight must be why the Marienville prison still has powered crossing protection, faithfully standing guard over a dirt path.
  by jrevans
 
SR95 wrote: Wed Sep 11, 2024 11:34 pm Always a little sobering to peruse the new map, and then compare it with the 1977 version from the Library of Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3821p.ct0 ... 88,0.581,0
Thanks for the 1977 PA railroad map. That was definitely interesting to see many of the lines which still existed back then.