Bethlehem branch questions

Hi all - newbie member's first post!

I'm here more to learn than contribute right now; and I have a couple of questions....
1) When exactly was the last regular passenger run on the Bethlehem branch north of Lansdale? I've seen different dates.
2) I am very interested in older photos of the stations along the line. Does anyone know of any good sources for these? Do any of the books published about the Reading concentrate on the stations? (It's hard to tell from the descriptions.)

Thanks! I've really enjoyed reading through the threads.
Ron Alderfer
Telford, PA

I'm not sure if these are old enough for you, but this website http://www.thebluecomet.com/rdg.html has excellent pictures of most of the Reading lines. Click on the "commuter lines" link, then "Bethlehem branch."

Thanks for the reply, and for the couple of emails I have received.

Crawling around the 'net, I also found a very beautiful architectural rendering of the Sellersville Station that the architect did in 1899. Unfortunately, it will cost me $40 to join the site to get the hi-resolution download. Better save my beer money for a while!

1) When exactly was the last regular passenger run on the Bethlehem branch north of Lansdale? I've seen different dates.


Off the top of my head, it would have been a Septa train in the early to mid 1980's


2) I am very interested in older photos of the stations along the line. Does anyone know of any good sources for these? Do any of the books published about the Reading concentrate on the stations? (It's hard to tell from the descriptions.)

There is a series of books called "Reading Railroad Station Pictorial" by Benjamin and John Bernhart. They were published in 1999.

The last scheduled passenger runs were in 1981 when Septa discontinued all diesel service. The line above Quakertown went dormant in 1986-87 when Conrail rerouted all traffic through Reading.

August 1, 1981 to be exact.

Go to the PA fan forum, there is a great thread going about the branch. When you're there, ask any of the members if they have the old threads archived, there is great info there as well.

I grew up in Perkasie, PA and remember very well the RDCs (even remember seeing a poster announcing the final run on that line) and the freight operations. Sadly, the line is a shell of its former self now but traffic is slowly picking back up.

I posted this on the PA Railfan Board but figured it was appropriate here as well:

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of a sad day in the history of Bethlehem and to a degree, the Bethlehem branch. November 18, 1995 was the date of the "last cast" at "The Steel" and marked the shutdown of the hot end of the mill. While Conrail had already diverted much of the traffic off of the branch back in the mid-80's, if Steel had survived into the post-Conrail era, things could have been much different. CSX actually explored reactivation of the branch as a direct link without NS usage rights at one point, obviously an active steel mill would have made this a much more viable project. What a difference a decade makes!

Does anyone know if the tracks at Coopersburg are still active? If not, where does freight activity cease on the line?

jfrey40535 wrote:Does anyone know if the tracks at Coopersburg are still active? If not, where does freight activity cease on the line?

There is no service north of the California Road grade crossing (between Quakertown and Shelly) where the tracks have been paved over. EPRY has used the "end of the line" for car storage on several occasions with the cars parked literally within feet of the crossing. Although the rails are still intact with the exception of two small but significant breaches, virtually every other crossing has also been paved over between that point and Hellertown.

And is that ROW still owned by SEPTA?

jfrey40535 wrote:And is that ROW still owned by SEPTA?

Yep, all the way to Hellertown.

Does anyone remember (and have pictures) of a wreck on the Bethlehem branch in 1969 or 1970. The wreck was near the Spring Valley Road crossing close to Saucon Valey Country Club. I think it was an ore train.

Russ

I decided to take 309 home from Allentown this week, and had my first chance to do some poking around the old ROW in Coopersburg and North Quakertown.

I'm amazed at how overgrown things have become, and its really a shame to see this line going to complete waste. It definitely looks like a typically abandonded SEPTA line, such as Newtown. Its unfortunate that there are no freight customers along the line that could have preserved it north of Quakertown, but at least that part of the line has hope.