Lehigh Valley Pottsville Branch (Blackwood Tunnel)

Hi All:

Can somebody please give me directions etc to the Blackwood tunnel on the Pottsville Branch?

Never knew there was a tunnel there & would like to check it out.

Also, can anybody tell me if there's anything to see at the end of the line in Blackwood? I can't seem to locate exactly where the line ended at the mine/colliery.

Any tips greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Frank

I found this great website about the LV Blackwood line a while ago.

This page has 2 pictures of the "Blackwood Tunnel", from 2013 and from 1929, but it doesn't say where it was. The 1929 picture also looks very abandoned, so I guess it is from the part of the line near Blackwood -- the part from Pottsville to Lizard Creek Junction on the main lasted to 1953.
http://onetechy.wix.com/lvrr#!gallery-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have no idea what is left in Blackwood if anything - the "timeline" on the web site says there was a big fire in 1932 destroyed much of what hadn't already been salvaged after the 1919 shutdown. But at least as of 2013 there was still the tunnel to look at, if you can find where it was.
JS
EDIT: the 1916 "special instructions" (from a LV employee timetable I assume) on the Document part of the site don't mention any tunnel or clearance issue. So perhaps the tunnel picture I referred to was from the mine entrance, not the LVRR???

On that same "Gallery 2" tab, go to page 2 of 5, and there is an annotated map of the Blackwood site (looks like the original came from PennPilot historic photos). Comparing to modern aerial photos, you can still find the curve in the LV RoW to get oriented. Looks like just about nothing left today - on google maps I see a modern truck loading facility, presumably for some coal they are stripping nearby somewhere, and that is about it.
Lots of other good pictures under that Gallery 2 tab and the "Gallery" tab. JS

I emailed back and forth with the people who made the LVRR Pottsville Division web site.
The tunnel in their pictures called the Blackwood Tunnel was the mine entrance, not the LVRR. It is located at 40.639539, -76.325947 they say. Looking at modern google map photos it still looks like something is there - so there is something to look at after all still.

Could this be the tunnel you are referring to, or do you have other info about a tunnel on the LVRR?
JS

http://onetechy.wix.com/lvrr#!gallery-2 ... gallery3=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is the tunnel in question. It didn't look like a typical railroad tunnel and I hadn't heard about there being one on the line to Blackwood.

I guess the photo in question shows the entrance to the Mine itself?

Thanks for the assist,

Frank

frankgaron2 wrote:http://onetechy.wix.com/lvrr#!gallery-2 ... gallery3=2 is the tunnel in question. It didn't look like a typical railroad tunnel and I hadn't heard about there being one on the line to Blackwood.

I guess the photo in question shows the entrance to the Mine itself?

Thanks for the assist,

Frank

Yes, the web site folks emailed back to say it was the mine entrance.

I did a quick exploration of the Pottsville area a few years ago. There is still a stone support post for the trestle near the mall parking lot on the east side of the valley. That's all I could find of the branch. I was standing on the R&N line (RDG) that the testle went over trying to recreate a pic from the Anthracite Country Color book. The RDG line is now just 1 rarely used track but in the 1950s pic in that book it was 5 tracks. Some idiot from a nearby business saw me taking pics and walked over to me and started harassing me about who I was and what I was doing and if he could help me. So I decided to leave and head to nearby Cressona Yard and get some pics. There was an R&N switcher doing some work on the few remaining tracks. A housewife from a nearby house walked down her driveway to me and again I was asked what I was doing and I was interrogated - then she orders me off her street. I told her I was on public property and the answer was "no" at which time she started screaming at me "did you just say no!?!?" and she promptly ran in her house and called the police. Two barney fife cops show up due to a report of an attempted burglar/sexual assault. Of course I cooperated. Never been back to that dump of a town again. Not with people like that. Apparently you can't even mind your own business nowadays without a problem.

Another thing I couldn't believe was the shear volume of vehicle traffic. The streets were jammed like grid lock which I thought odd for a small Penna town.