Bethlehem Union Station to be vacant, again.

Apparently St. Luke's Hospital has outgrown the building and will be moving to a location on Third Street later this year. As much as it sucks to see the building vacated, I suspect the new location will be better for their patients.
St. Luke's clinics pulling out of Bethlehem's Union Station

While the article says that St. Luke's bought the building in 2008, it also erroneously identifies the end of passenger service as 1978. Not trusting the Morning Call, I did a quick search of the Northampton County Assessor's site. St. Luke's does indeed own the building.

Very interesting. I wonder what St. Lukes will use the building for now.

Maybe it can be a treatment center for those with railroad addictions.

Hopefully the nicely restored building will still be maintained and it's new use will bring enough people around to keep it from being vandalized.

Fortunately, the conditions that allowed the station to be vandalized so badly between '61 and the mid '90's don't exist anymore. The former 2nd Street ramp was an easy access route to the building's roof and it also concealed trespassers on the ground. The stairs that led from the Hill-to-Hill Bridge's sidewalk to the end of the Reading platform are long gone too. Plus, the old Johnson Machinery building is now a residential complex, as opposed to being vacant. Throw in the modern alarm system that I'm nearly certain is installed and it'd be tough for anyone to do much more than throw rocks at the windows from a distance.
Still, since the hospital owns the building, and appears to have paid a hefty sum for it, I suspect they'll do something with it as opposed to letting it lie dormant.

Wasn't there supposed to be a small museum, or historical section in the building?
I was never inside to see, but I recall reading something about that, and seeing about picture of a "To the trains" sign when St. Lukes opened it up.

I already have a real estate agent pursuing the building through Saint Luke's. If it manages to fall into my company's hands, I'll be sure to have it be a railfan friendly location.

SemperFidelis wrote:I already have a real estate agent pursuing the building through Saint Luke's. If it manages to fall into my company's hands, I'll be sure to have it be a railfan friendly location.

I'll help you uncover the dirt from the tracks that they buried by the signal.

I was thinking the same thing. I doubt my wife would entertain the idea, but it would be nice to park a few F units there, just in case I should have a sudden need to speed across the Lehigh Valley.

I was at the station in the early 1990s before St Lukes restored it. It was nothing but a cement shell. Nothing inside. Looked like an army bunker. Just debris on the ground. Ceiling/second floor had collapsed onto the ground. Literally nothing left.

The underground tunnel was still there, albiet boarded over with ply wood. The painted sign "cross to westbound reading company trains" was also still there.

I didn't realize it but just behind the station and the Applebees (or Perkins or whatever restaurant is there now) was a large coach yard.

When I was there looking at the station a set of Conrail locos ran light up the Bethlehem Branch. Thought I'd see that scene forever. Then Beth Steel closed. The branch came out shortly thereafter.

The former Mayor and I had a nice, cool headed talk about ripping up that rail line at the Democratic Club when I lived in Bethlehem. Apparently my concerns were outweighed by the needs of the two or three people I've ever seen on that trail.

On the bright side, if I were to open a meth lab up the hill, my couriers on their BMX bikes would have much better access to the South Side district.

I'm heading down this weekend to view the property as well as the Flatiron for consideration as local headquarters for our operations. If we end up with Bethlehem Union Station, I'll let everyone know and we'll put some benches out front for the photobugs who start sweating if a train goes by without a few dozen shots.

Question... What really happened to the tunnel that went under the tracks from underneath the original 2nd Street ramp to the outer platform? Lou Pektor had a hand in the renovation, and I know a few local bankers who won't do business with him based on past dealings with him...

I was told by a guy who worked in the contruction crew that it was filled and sealed, but with what? Hopefully, not old railroad ties and what little balast remained! He was a second-hand source.

I have a picture of the platforms and the neighboring yard, but can't figure out how to upload it to this site. I don't use flickr so I can't link it. If I ever figure out how to upload it, I will. Until then I hope this link will help:

http://data.cei.psu.edu/pennpilot/era19 ... v_6_76.jpg

It's from 1939, you can see the 2nd & 3rd Sts. ramps with the tracks and platforms inbetween, and a short stretch of Brodhead north of 3rd St., The fuel company is on the northwest corner of the intersection.

Also the now closed Perkins site was a fuel company. Petricceli, or something like that, Fuel. Shortly before they closed one of their fuel tanks caught fire. I remember the fire department didn't use ladders, they just stood on the 3rd St. ramp sidewalk.

BuddCarToBethlehem wrote:Question... What happened to the tunnel that went under the tracks from underneath the original 2nd Street ramp to the outer platform? Lou Pektor had a hand in the renovation, and I know a few local bankers who won't do business with him based on past dealings with him...

I was told by a guy who worked in the contruction crew that it was filled and sealed, but with what? Hopefully, not old railroad ties and what little balast remained! He was a second-hand source.

The tunnel end that I knew of was filled it in with concrete. Look at the first picture on my webpage here:
http://jrevans.fbody.com/beth_10052002/
I had put my camera under the metal stairwell covering and took a photo of the former tunnel entrance.

I assume that it the entire tunnel was filled, as it would probably be a pain to build a form to just fill the top in. Then again, concrete can be expensive, so maybe the whole tunnel wasn't filled, but I bet it was.

I have more photos that I took back then if you're interesting in something specific, I can try to find the time to look for it.

Which entrance did you photograph? I remember the one closest to the station had a locked gate and a foul order emanating at times, but that was back in the '80's

BuddCarToBethlehem wrote:Which entrance did you photograph? I remember the one closest to the station had a locked gate and a foul order emanating at times, but that was back in the '80's

If I recall correctly, that was the entrance farthest away from the station, on the other side of the tracks.

SemperFidelis wrote:The former Mayor and I had a nice, cool headed talk about ripping up that rail line at the Democratic Club when I lived in Bethlehem. Apparently my concerns were outweighed by the needs of the two or three people I've ever seen on that trail.

On the bright side, if I were to open a meth lab up the hill, my couriers on their BMX bikes would have much better access to the South Side district.

I'm heading down this weekend to view the property as well as the Flatiron for consideration as local headquarters for our operations. If we end up with Bethlehem Union Station, I'll let everyone know and we'll put some benches out front for the photobugs who start sweating if a train goes by without a few dozen shots.

luckily meth labs are setting up shop in suburbs and country towns. needless to say the city would benefit far more from restored train service to philaselphia than from a trail but at least the riw us intact no?

Suburban Station wrote:

SemperFidelis wrote: On the bright side, if I were to open a meth lab up the hill, my couriers on their BMX bikes would have much better access to the South Side district.

luckily meth labs are setting up shop in suburbs and country towns.

Besides, now that I think about it his couriers on their BMX bikes would probabally stop at that STUPID skate park along the trail and never make their deliveries!