RDG Co. Bethlehem Branch

I just got this railfan catalog in the mail, titled Historic Rail (Holiday Edition 2005). It's a nice selection broken down into different rail lines so that you can easily find things from your favorite road. Lo and behold in the Reading section there is a 2 part video called Vignettes of the Reading. According to the description, there is a large amount of footage from the Bethlehem line, including shots taken in Lansdale, Allentown, Bethelehem and Perkasie. It's all old stuff, steam and first generation diesel, and also includes MU operations on the North Penn branch and some PRSL stuff too; the second volume covers the last 15 years of Reading operations in PA. If you're interested, the website for the company is www.historicrail.com, the item number is VHS RV6146C DVD-R RV6147C I plan on ordering them both, will post a review when I get them.

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!

Looks like there may be a new RR crossing installed in Quakertown someday:

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_ ... 2046.story

On Monday night, Supervisors Steve Tamburri and Rick Orloff voted in favor of granting conditional use approval to a 402-unit, age-restricted, mid-rise development along Station Road.
<snip>
Greenway also will pay for the road's extension to Station Road, which will pave the way for the construction of Front Gate.
<snip>
As part of the conditional use approval, Greenway must get permission from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a flood plain revision along Morgan Creek and approval from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority for the new railroad crossing.

Also, I see that Telford is accepting applications from businesses who want to use the train station:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 7822&rfi=6

Make an offer.
That's what businesses interested in moving into the former Telford train station or its neighboring depot building are being asked to do.
<snip>
"We have building renovation plans," said Pamela Learned, Main Streets manager. "What we're saying is tell us what kind of business you intend to have and how you intend to run it."
The highest bid may not be the winning one, she said.
"The RFP (Request for Proposal) calls for a detailed business plan because success is critical to the entire Main Streets program," Learned wrote in a press release. "Each proposal will be evaluated for viability and ability to succeed."
"They're looking for business plans to evaluate and compare," said Mark Fournier, Telford Borough manager.
Telford has a lease with SEPTA for the buildings; the borough pays no rent, but is responsible for the maintenance of the buildings. Telford plans to sublease to businesses as part of downtown revitalization plans.
<snip>
Prospective tenants can contact Learned at 215-368-1531 or [email protected] for additional information. Completed proposals should be delivered or mailed to Souderton Borough Hall, 31 W. Summit Street, Souderton, PA 18964.

Somebody should contact them with intentions to operate a passenger railroad station, but that the county needs to provide the trains to Landsale and Bethlehem.

P.S. - Anyone know when the new Shelly's lumber distribution facility in Quakertown is going to start receiving cars via EPRY?

glennk419 wrote:I was in South Bethlehem today...I took a few pictures but can't post them, I guess there's no need to add to the gloom anyway.

No, I'd like to see them. If it isn't too much trouble, please post them.

Pacobell73 wrote:

glennk419 wrote:I was in South Bethlehem today...I took a few pictures but can't post them, I guess there's no need to add to the gloom anyway.

No, I'd like to see them. If it isn't too much trouble, please post them.

Paco, I don't have a server to attach them to and I don't believe you can post pictures directly to this board. PM me with your email address and I'll be happy to send them along.

glennk419 wrote: Paco, I don't have a server to attach them to and I don't believe you can post pictures directly to this board. PM me with your email address and I'll be happy to send them along.

If you want to send them to me, I'll toss them on my website.

Thanks Jim,

Send me your email and I'll be happy to ship 'em over.

Available here:

http://jrevans.fbody.com/beth_11042005/

Thanks, Glenn!

Great pictures...shame they tend to make one ill .

There's a story in Section B of today's Intelligencer regarding county redevelopment funds, featuring pictures of the Telford passenger and freight stations. Both structures will reportedly be beneficiaries of some of the funding. The story can be found here: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/ ... 90600.html.

Now that the "addition" to the passenger station has been removed, it looks very much like its' old self, glad to see that the freight shed will receive some TLC as well. All we need now is some passenger service!

I was surfing the web, looking for Bethlehem stuff and came across some neat pictures I thought I'd share:

Here's a nice shot of the now-removed diamond in Bethlehem, taken by Dave Witty:
http://www.railimages.com/gallery/davewitty/aaz?full=1

Here is a collection of old Bethlehem area pictures:
http://www.enter.net/~ritar/album_three/index.htm

Check out some of the ones before the hill to hill bridge was built:
http://www.enter.net/~ritar/album_three ... mage39.htm
http://www.enter.net/~ritar/album_three ... mage46.htm
http://www.enter.net/~ritar/album_three ... mage47.htm
http://www.enter.net/~ritar/album_three ... mage48.htm

And for good measure, an aerial view of the "steel":
http://www.bethlehempaonline.com/steelv ... iewone.htm

Almost hard to believe it's all closed up. But, I'm sure we'll all feel better once there's a "greenway" to walk away our worries on....

I saw the EPRY heading down to Telford around 4:30 tuesday afternoon. One of the cars was an empty lumber car so Shelly's must have started deliveries at the Quakertown facility.

Saw EPRY heading north through Perkasie yesterday around 4:30. I didn't have a good view but I am pretty sure that there was at least one lumber car.
There were quite a few RailBox box cars as well. Maybe going to storage?
In any case, I didn't get a count, but the train was longer than usual for the EPRY. The traffic on the Bethlehem Branch seems to be picking up.

Not suprisingly, but it appears that the money for the trail no longer exists.

Why? Because the project was taking too long.

Check out this article in the Morning Call:

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/bethleh ... 4548.story

Here's some snippets:

Group: Slow and steady loses grants

Transportation Study finds long planning means money unspent.
By Matt Assad
Of The Morning Call

After watching millions of dollars in state grants languish with municipalities that can't seem to spend them, Lehigh Valley transportation leaders have devised a way to speed things up: Let them race each other for the loot.

The Lehigh Valley Transportation Study on Monday set a new policy that will dole out its $2.1 million in non-highway funds on a first-come-first serve basis.

The move comes after federal transportation officials deemed last month that municipalities statewide could no longer carry grant money from year to year for trail and downtown streetscape projects that didn't get done.

As part of the deal, municipal officials will have to begin construction on last year's projects by June 30, or face competing for future money to get their projects done.

That means that two dozen projects with grant requests of $6.6 million will be racing for the $2.1 million available in the Valley.

It also means that five applicants this year were cut from the list because state officials believe their projects won't get done in the next two years. Bethlehem won't get the $800,000 it wanted to develop the railroad bed through the South Side, and Nazareth, Freemansburg, Coplay and the Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem won't get the sidewalk and streetscape money they requested.

''It's first come, first served,'' said Jay McGee, a Department of Transportation program coordinator. ''This will force municipalities to take a good hard look at their projects, before they apply for this money.''

Steve Schmitt, director of the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation and a longtime advocate for enhancement grants, said that's not such a bad thing.

''Why tie up money that could be spent on projects that will actually get done,'' Schmitt said. ''I have no problem with what they are doing.''

Maybe we can petition NS to put the rails back in.