Allentown/Bethlehem Railfanning Information

Hello everyone. Im looking for info on good train watching locations and times. Are there any track maps or anything I should have when I go and also what days are best, or the best to go. Any info would be appreciated.

My preferred location in Bethlehem is at CP-BETHLEHEM, at the site of the old Lehigh Valley/Reading Company Union Station. This is where Route 378 crosses the Lehigh River upon the Hill-to-Hill Bridge. The station is now used by St. Luke's Hospital. Don't get your directions mixed up and head to the ornate but much smaller ex-CNJ station on the north side of the river; you won't see much rail traffic there!

The Lehigh Line runs east-west through the south side of Bethlehem, sandwiched between the decaying Bethlehem Steel property and the river. At this location you can see trains leave the ex-LVRR main line and cross the river on a single-track truss bridge to reach the former CNJ main line, which leads to Allentown Yard and beyond. It's a nice spot, although hardly "scenic". You can get close to the tracks depending on where you park in the St. Luke's lot. There is a Perkins' Restaurant just a couple hundred feet south of you and several small eateries & gas-station marts in the south side vicinity.

To reach CP-BETHLEHEM, map out the location of West Third Street and Brodhead Avenue. From this intersection, proceed north slightly past Perkins' and towards the river. The Hill-to-Hill Bridge (Route 378) will be to your left (west). Union Station is hard to miss.

Someone with more current train-watching experience will have to chime in regarding traffic patterns from day-to-day and hour-to-hour, symbols of NS freights passing CP-BETHLEHEM, radio scanner frequencies, and so forth. Have fun up there!

Mr. Gowen:

are you aware of any railfan type website that explain the layout of what railroads exist today in the Allentown/Bethlehem area, or any types of maps that are online?

Thanks is advance,
Brooks

The show in the Lehigh Valley is almost entirely Norfolk Southern, although R J Corman does maintain a repair facility there.

Probably the best place to start is the Allentown classification yard; the hump is readily visible from a series of local roads which paralell the north side of the river.

From I-78, take US 22 (the older expressway on the north side of town) to I-378 (downtown distributor) to Exit 2 (Eighth Avenue). Turn right onto Eighth, which will end at the river. The yard is further west (turn right).

The former Jersey Central mainline to Jim Thorpe and Scranton sees only 4-8 daily moves, and 2-4 of them are locals. Most of the action is on the Reading Line, which gets about 35 daily freights, with a modest peak between 6PM-2AM.

Between Macungie (about 8 miles to the west on Penna Route 100) and Reading, the NS main is almost entirely viewable from local roads. There was some discussion of this last summer, and I've posted a link.

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... ht=#450944

bwparker1 wrote:Mr. Gowen:

are you aware of any railfan type website that explain the layout of what railroads exist today in the Allentown/Bethlehem area, or any types of maps that are online?

Thanks is advance,
Brooks

http://www.railfanswelcome.com/
Try this website. It is very useful.

Thank you 2nd Trick Op and Devil.

BWP

bwparker1 wrote:Mr. Gowen:

are you aware of any railfan type website that explain the layout of what railroads exist today in the Allentown/Bethlehem area, or any types of maps that are online?

Thanks is advance,
Brooks

Brooks,

The only one which even partially met the criteria you detailed was a few pages at Mark Wurst's old "Idiot Railfan" website. As Mark has long since moved from the Northeast to the deep South, it looks as if he took those pages offline. Some useful Allentown-Bethlehem railfan data can be gleaned from http://www.frograil.com/railroad/railfan.htm. It's not quite as much as I'd prefer, but it's better than nothing.

My website covers the NS Lehigh and Reading Lines with timetable and train schedule information. It can be found at http://www.parailfan.com/ns.html

I've been working on an Allentown and Bethlehem guide and have finished the preliminary version but haven't really edited all that much. It can be found at http://parailfan.com/Guides/ns_allentown_bethlehem.html

Hope this is what you're looking for.

Nick

Here are directions to the Allentown Canal Park

From Route 22, turn onto Route 987 South (Airport Road South) and go 1.8 miles to Hanover Avenue. Turn right onto Hanover Avenue and go 0.9 mile to Albert Street . Turn right onto Albert Street and go 0.2 mile to the stop sign. Turn right at the stop sign (crossing the railroad tracks This is the area of CP HAM on the old CNJ mainline to Scranton) and go 0.4 mile (traveling along the canal which is on your right). After passing under a small train trestle, turn right crossing the bridge over the canal. You are in Allentown Canal Park.

If you turn left onto a dirt road instead of crossing the bridge over the canal you find yourself on the way into the west end of Allentown yard. There is a pull off to the left from which you can safely watch both the line to East Penn Jct and the line to Scranton.

I like to watch freight go by at CP 88, immediately next to / behind Bethlehem Steel.