EPRY in Telford

On Thursday, I took lunch at about 1pm and was heading to grab a cheesesteak at J's in Telford, when I stumbled across the EPRY doing some switching. Apparently, the EPRY 3153 had brought down a string of cars from Quakertown, and was setting them on the interchange track in Telford, for CSX to later take South. I'm sure that the string of "mexican" gondola in the train were cars that the EPRY was storing up around Quakertown, but I'm not sure about the others. Either way, it was good to see that many cars, as there are usually just four or five cars on the EPRY trains. After tying down the train on the interchange track, the crew headed South and parked the locomotive just North of County Line Road. Sure enough, they went and got some "beans" at the Towne restaurant (a great place to eat, by the way) which is just across the tracks from the former Telford train station.

Here is the webpage with my pictures:

http://jrevans.fbody.com/Telford_03112004/

And here's one of the thumbnails:


JimE

Thanks, Jim, for the pictures.

Do you what is happening to the former L&NE yard? Has Walmart began construction?

Chris

thebigham wrote:Thanks, Jim, for the pictures.

Do you what is happening to the former L&NE yard? Has Walmart began construction?

Chris

I have no idea, Chris. I've been checking the morning call newspaper website for info on that area, but I'm not familiar enough with the area to know if they are talking about the former L&NE facilities or not, since they don't seem to reference it as former railroad property.

Here's the link to the morning call Lehighton area news:
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/lehighton/

JimE
http://jrevans.fbody.com/trains.html

Jim -
Great photos...I really have to get up to Telford.
-Charlie

Urban D Kaye wrote:Jim -
Great photos...I really have to get up to Telford.
-Charlie

Thanks for the compliment, Charlie.

There really isn't much to visit in Telford, but it's a neat little town with train tracks, and the LVT also used to run through here.

jrevans wrote:There really isn't much to visit in Telford, but it's a neat little town with train tracks, and the LVT also used to run through here.

Yeh, I was up there last winter taking pix of RDG stations...got a nice shot of the depot and freight house. Never seen any action there though.

Odd you should mention LVT...I've been asking around as to what remains of the ROW and have been told much of it is now usd as a power line cut. Is this also true in Telford?

I've notice in the last few weeks that the EPRY activity has increased.
Last week they ran down to Telford between 5:00 & 6:00pm twice.
Also the number of cars interchanged has seemed to increase. Yesterday (Mon.) on my way to work, there were 6 cars sitting on the Telford siding including 3 box cars and I think a tank car and two covered hoppers. When I passed again around 10:00am they were gone. That must have been the run that Jim Evans heard.
In the past if they interchanged three cars it was a lot.
Is this the additional business from Atlas Roofing?
Also, I noticed that there has been some fill dumped next to the crossing at the north end of the Telford siding and south of RT309. Is this maybe to build the siding for Shelly Lumber that has been mentioned in past posts?
The increased traffic may help to spur some interest in reconnecting the line to Bethelehem. To do that we may need to incent a big rail customer to build a plant between Quakertown and Bethelehem along the Bethlehem Branch.
Any econonomic development people listening?
Bill

trackhiker wrote:I've notice in the last few weeks that the EPRY activity has increased.
Last week they ran down to Telford between 5:00 & 6:00pm twice.
Also the number of cars interchanged has seemed to increase. Yesterday (Mon.) on my way to work, there were 6 cars sitting on the Telford siding including 3 box cars and I think a tank car and two covered hoppers. When I passed again around 10:00am they were gone. That must have been the run that Jim Evans heard.

Yeah, that must have been the train that I heard at 8:40am. I'm glad to hear that traffic is picking up.

In the past if they interchanged three cars it was a lot.
Is this the additional business from Atlas Roofing?

I don't really know. The pictures that I got the other week showed that EPRY was moving some of their stored cars off-line. Something has to account for the traffic. Either way, it's a good thing.

Also, I noticed that there has been some fill dumped next to the crossing at the north end of the Telford siding and south of RT309. Is this maybe to build the siding for Shelly Lumber that has been mentioned in past posts?

The person on the Lansdale yahoo list mentioned that the Atlas plant as next to the Shelly's building up in Quakertown. I don't know where either of those places are, but I seem to recall that the new Shelly's lumber distribution place is going to be up by Quakertown.

They were dumping dirt there the year before too, so I don't know if it's railroad related or just the farmer doing it. Mabye they are putting in a trash train siding into the BFI trash transfer facility that it right in that area. That'd be pretty cool.

The increased traffic may help to spur some interest in reconnecting the line to Bethelehem. To do that we may need to incent a big rail customer to build a plant between Quakertown and Bethelehem along the Bethlehem Branch.

I agree that it would take a BIG customer on the line, or else some strange need for the through route to repoen the entire branch. I wish that the concrete type plant right by the tracks in Coopersburg would decide that they need rail service. That'd be awesome.

Any econonomic development people listening?
Bill

Not here. I'm merely an engineer.

This past Friday, March 26th, I noticed the former Conrail EPRY engine sitting light just north of Clymer Ave. in Sellersville.
It appeared to be broken down as it was not running.
Fri. was a busy day for me and I had no time to investigate as I had to get to CT to pick up my daughter from school and was running late.
It was gone on Sat. morning.
Anyone have any info as to why it was there?
Jim E, did you get any pictures?
Bill

trackhiker wrote:This past Friday, March 26th, I noticed the former Conrail EPRY engine sitting light just north of Clymer Ave. in Sellersville.
It appeared to be broken down as it was not running.
Fri. was a busy day for me and I had no time to investigate as I had to get to CT to pick up my daughter from school and was running late.
It was gone on Sat. morning.
Anyone have any info as to why it was there?
Jim E, did you get any pictures?
Bill

&nbsp Hmmm. I didn't know that it was there, as I rarely go over Clymer Avenue. I don't know why it would be there, and if it was not running, chances are that something was up, since they rarely shut it down. Then again, maybe they were waiting for a pickup later in the day and decided to park it there, instead of bringing it back up to Quakertown.

&nbsp I saw it parked at FiberMark on Saturday when I was up in Quakertown. I finally did some exploring and found out where Atlas roofing is. (it's across the tracks from the old brick factory.) Atlas had a green boxcar on the South side of the building, but I didn't see any other cars on the other side of the building.

&nbsp I still haven't found the Shelly Lumber facility though. It's said to be right next to Atlas, but I didn't see it. Unless, it's across the tracks at the old brick factory, I couldn't find it. I'll have to explore the other side next time.

Sorry to hear that you had to drive to CT.

Jim:
Sorry I wasn't able to give you a heads up about the engine in Sellersville.
I think one of the EPRY employees lives near where the engine was parked. I've seen an EPRY maintenance truck parked in front of a house on Grove Circle that backs up to the Bethlehem Branch.
Maybe your theory about them waiting for a pickup in Telford is correct.
Bill

I posted an old question about what line( if there was one) that ran from allentown to quakertown . I noticed telegraph poles and what appeared to be
a rail bed paralelling 309(my imagination) I didnt get back before the new railroad forums started.

I believe that what you saw belonged to the Lehigh Valley Transit Company, a traction company that ran from Philadelphia to Allentown, quiting business about 1951 or so.

Jim:
I think that the line that you saw is actually the Bethlehem Branch.
You didn't mention what section of Rt.309 you were referring to, but the RDG Bethlehem Branch parallels 309 very closely just south of Coopersburg to around Mine Rd. north of Quakertown.
If my memory serves me right, the station closest to Coopersburg was named Center Valley which was just about 1 block east of Rt.309 on Station Ave. just before Rt.378 branches off of Rt.309 heading north.
I wasn't around in '51 so I'm not sure of the path the Lehigh Valley Trolley took.
Bill