Railroad Forums 

  • RDG's Bethlehem Branch

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania

Moderator: bwparker1

 #992725  by carajul
 
When did CR eliminate the Beth Branch from Phili-Bethlehem as a through freight route?
What was their reason?
After it was decommissioned as a through route was it ever used by CR again north of Hellertown?
 #992961  by glennk419
 
I believe the last traffic on the Bethlehem branch between Quakertown and Hellertown ceased in 1984. By that time, it was down to one active track with the other track being used for storage and crossing signals being taken out of and put back in service as required. I seem to recall being able to hear the transformers humming in the signal cabinets for some time after that (before the AC was removed and the system darkened), maybe as late as 1987, but there was certainly no traffic as the rails were well rusted by that point.
 #993053  by jrevans
 
carajul wrote:When did CR eliminate the Beth Branch from Phili-Bethlehem as a through freight route?
I understand that Conrail stopped through service on the line, shortly after SEPTA discontinued passenger service in 1983.
carajul wrote:What was their reason?
Conrail somehow determined that it cost them more to run trains up the Bethlehem Branch, as opposed to taking them up the RDG main line to Reading, and then over to Allentown / Bethlehem.

Bethlehem Steel liked their ore to come up the Bethlehem Branch, as it was a shorter mileage wise, meaning they paid less.

Conrail wasn't using the branch for much else, so they wanted to stop using it totally, the benefits being no maintenance costs, and getting to charge Bethlehem Steel more.
carajul wrote:After it was decommissioned as a through route was it ever used by CR again north of Hellertown?
North of Hellertown, sure. Conrail used the Saucon yard to store coal cars destined for the Bethlehem Steel coke works. There was some activity in between Iron Hill yard, CP HEM and the ex-LV line too. Conrail used the wye formed by the line to turn engines.

South of Hellertown, to Quakertown, nope.

The super thread on the Bethlehem Branch is located here:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=43
 #993068  by amtrakhogger
 
CR's other rationale for moving freight off the Bethlehem Branch were the grades. Running ore trains via Reading and the East Penn Branch took advantage of the flatter profile of the route (versus the hilly Bethlehem Branch) which most likely resulted in fuel savings. Also running via Reading meant no conflicts with scheduled passenger trains on the Bethlehem Branch south of Lansdale.
 #994024  by Bethlehem Jct.
 
I don't know how much through freight the Reading interchanged with the Lehigh Valley at Bethlehem, but once all the railroads were consolidated into one operation, the Bethlehem Branch had little potential as a through route. Like amtrakhogger mentioned, the grades are much flatter via Reading and Allentown. Although, I would like to point out that freights south of Landsdale could have avoided the frequent SEPTA passenger trains by taking the Stony Creek branch to Norristown.
 #994030  by glennk419
 
Bethlehem Jct. wrote:I don't know how much through freight the Reading interchanged with the Lehigh Valley at Bethlehem, but once all the railroads were consolidated into one operation, the Bethlehem Branch had little potential as a through route. Like amtrakhogger mentioned, the grades are much flatter via Reading and Allentown. Although, I would like to point out that freights south of Landsdale could have avoided the frequent SEPTA passenger trains by taking the Stony Creek branch to Norristown.
In Reading days, the ore trains from Port Richmond to Bethlehem virtually always took the "passenger main" due to it being a shorter route (cheaper for Beth Steel) and the fact that the Stony Creek branch had more numerous curves. The Stony Creek's primary purpose in later years was to allow a shorter route beteen Abrams, Lansdale and Saucon yards and by the time Conrail took over, it was down to one through round trip per day plus locals.
 #1073309  by trainman
 
The reason why they got rid of the saucon yard and everything is cause every time any train coming out of the saucon yard going towards philly through Hellertown they had to put it to notch 8 and hope they can make it and if they didn't get enough speed they had to back the whole train up to the end of the saucon yard and than do it all over again cause going past Hellertown and than reaching Bingen it was starting to be a steep hill for the trains to go up and those engines at the time tried to fit as many cars as they could to get the most out of the yard I know this stuff cause my step dad told me i never saw any of this cause I wasn't around at the time but he was and he lived right up from the saucon yard and heard those engines scream going up the line
 #1078005  by trackwelder
 
trainman wrote:The reason why they got rid of the saucon yard and everything is cause every time any train coming out of the saucon yard going towards philly through Hellertown they had to put it to notch 8 and hope they can make it and if they didn't get enough speed they had to back the whole train up to the end of the saucon yard and than do it all over again cause going past Hellertown and than reaching Bingen it was starting to be a steep hill for the trains to go up and those engines at the time tried to fit as many cars as they could to get the most out of the yard I know this stuff cause my step dad told me i never saw any of this cause I wasn't around at the time but he was and he lived right up from the saucon yard and heard those engines scream going up the line

periods?
 #1081330  by Jeremy Zella
 
LOL, what about helpers coming out of Saucon? Seems as though if the grade was too steep then helpers could have alleviate that...
 #1082289  by Jeremy Zella
 
I don't know what group to post this under so I thought I would start here. Last night (9/13/12) as I was driving north on the NE Ext. I passed over the Stoney Creek branch and noticed some CSX power with a rail train. Any word on what is going on? The train headed NB. It was stopped there just past the power substation.

Jeremy