Today I visited Easton and Phillipsburg to witness the flooding. I've never seen anything like that before in person. Downtown Easton was closed off due to flooding and the water had just about risen to the bottom of the green "free" suspension bridge. Every once in a while you could hear a loud bang when a piece of junk heading downstream at about 20 MPH hit the bridge.
I walked across the old Lehigh bridge from the remains of the old trainstation in Easton over to Phillipsburg. While crossing, a Norfolk Southern east bound freight train passed. The engineer sounded his horn as a warning, but we exchanged waves as he went past. There were about a half dozen other folks on the bridge and no sign of railroad police at the time. Some of the locals told me that the bridge is one of the main thoroughfares across the river, even for bicycle traffic.
That was the first time I had ever been up there - it was impressive, both the bridge and the flooding. I also managed to get through a hole in the fence and cross the old CNJ bridge in Easton. There's a chainlink fence gate at either end. Although it was fenced off, it looked like the line might have been used in recent history. Does anyone know what or who may cross that bridge and run up the Lehigh River on the CNJ side?
Then I hiked back to my truck and drove over the Phillipsburg. The low roads there were blocked off as well due to flooding. This was about 1 PM this afternoon. The water at that point was about a foot lower than the parking lot at the Bel - Del train station/restaurant. The rescue guys told me that the river is expected to crest at 1 AM Monday morning and rise another 8 - 10 feet.
I walked the Bel - Del ROW north as far as TYCO - I was surprised at what good shape it was in. There was a lot of chicken feed between the ties; it looks like they have a poultry customer north of P'burg. While walking the ROW a south bound high-railer past and the guys waved, but didn't slow down or seem pissed that I was there. I think they were inspecting the ROW for flood damage.
Then I drove north along the ROW on River Road eventually up through Harmony with a side excursion to the river front houses at Harmony Station. Many of the houses were already evacuated, but there were a few families still in the process of moving out. They seemed okay with the whole experience and obviously knew the drill.
The ROW up there is in great shape. In fact, I'll bet it is better now than when it belonged to the PRR. The rails and ties looked fairly new and the ballast looked freshly cleaned and graded. Who runs/owns that line now? They're' doing a great job whoever they are.
I had to turn around north of Harmony because the raod was flooded. There was a whole line of traffic following me and when I turned around I was trying to warm them, but they kept right on driving. When I looked in my rear view mirror I saw they met the same fate as me and were following me back, thinking "now I get it".
The Jersey side was flooded pretty bad, but the PA side was actually much worse. By around mid-night tonight things should be very interesting over there.
I walked across the old Lehigh bridge from the remains of the old trainstation in Easton over to Phillipsburg. While crossing, a Norfolk Southern east bound freight train passed. The engineer sounded his horn as a warning, but we exchanged waves as he went past. There were about a half dozen other folks on the bridge and no sign of railroad police at the time. Some of the locals told me that the bridge is one of the main thoroughfares across the river, even for bicycle traffic.
That was the first time I had ever been up there - it was impressive, both the bridge and the flooding. I also managed to get through a hole in the fence and cross the old CNJ bridge in Easton. There's a chainlink fence gate at either end. Although it was fenced off, it looked like the line might have been used in recent history. Does anyone know what or who may cross that bridge and run up the Lehigh River on the CNJ side?
Then I hiked back to my truck and drove over the Phillipsburg. The low roads there were blocked off as well due to flooding. This was about 1 PM this afternoon. The water at that point was about a foot lower than the parking lot at the Bel - Del train station/restaurant. The rescue guys told me that the river is expected to crest at 1 AM Monday morning and rise another 8 - 10 feet.
I walked the Bel - Del ROW north as far as TYCO - I was surprised at what good shape it was in. There was a lot of chicken feed between the ties; it looks like they have a poultry customer north of P'burg. While walking the ROW a south bound high-railer past and the guys waved, but didn't slow down or seem pissed that I was there. I think they were inspecting the ROW for flood damage.
Then I drove north along the ROW on River Road eventually up through Harmony with a side excursion to the river front houses at Harmony Station. Many of the houses were already evacuated, but there were a few families still in the process of moving out. They seemed okay with the whole experience and obviously knew the drill.
The ROW up there is in great shape. In fact, I'll bet it is better now than when it belonged to the PRR. The rails and ties looked fairly new and the ballast looked freshly cleaned and graded. Who runs/owns that line now? They're' doing a great job whoever they are.
I had to turn around north of Harmony because the raod was flooded. There was a whole line of traffic following me and when I turned around I was trying to warm them, but they kept right on driving. When I looked in my rear view mirror I saw they met the same fate as me and were following me back, thinking "now I get it".
The Jersey side was flooded pretty bad, but the PA side was actually much worse. By around mid-night tonight things should be very interesting over there.
Last edited by CGRLCDR on Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
