Easton & Northern Branch

[charlie6017]

Those pups were definitely work-horses. I'm not sure if you have any of the "Railfanning with the
Bednars" DVDs, but one of them has video of the pups hauling a train up the E&N (I think it was coal).

Those pups were in "notch-8" and not going too fast.......exactly as it was planned! Of course they were
also right at home on the M&H branch, too!

I know there are a couple still surviving today, but I think the dynamics were removed by Conrail.

Charlie

[LV124]

Folks -

Well, it appears that re-starting this topic has produced results. I love it!

I want to share with you information I received, today (8/21/13), from Jim Kerner: Treadwell was bought by Bethlehem Corporation (not Bethlehem STEEL - it's actually two separate, unrelated corporations; they just shared the same name). Bethlehem Corp. only bought portions of Treadwell's property (buildings), but not the whole plant property or Treadwell's assets. Treadwell did continue to make their products (cement, sugar and rolling mills using commercial castings produced in electric steel furnaces), but they were in a severe state of decline when Bethlehem Corp. moved in. A lot of their business was lost to Pollack and in the 1960s & 1970s, Treadwell was down to making structural steel & shipping that out by truck. He also mentioned that the CNJ's W&E Branch, in fact, did not have a spur into Treadwell (as has been posted in other locations). The CNJ went by Treadwell, but did not physically go into Treadwell.

Also, John Evans on the [email protected] posted this neat information today (8/21/13) so I'm to quote him here (& give him the credit):

Joe,

Hopefully I can answer some of your questions regarding the E&N.

Victor Balata Belting received raw materials and shipped finished product in boxcars

Raimo of Easton was a scrap yard and shipped scrap metal in gondolas.

Dixie Cup received paper in boxcars (primarily GB&W cars in the 1970's) and shipped finished product in boxcars. I believe they also received wax in tank cars as many of the paper cups they produced were wax coated.

Schaible's Bakery received flour in airslide covered hoppers if memory serves me correct.

Leone Brothers was another bakery but was not rail served. They were located nearer to center city Easton. They were probably served by a team track located at Northampton Street near Schaible's Bakery. Possibly bagged flour that was then trucked to their location.

The Easton Express was today's Express-Times newspaper and received newsprint.

Easton Iron & Metal is a scrap yard and received no loads but shipped scrap metal in gondolas.

Hummel Lumber received lumber in boxcars but was not receiving coal by the 70's.

Binney & Smith did receive wax by tank car as well as other materials by boxcar. They also received raw material by covered hopper at their Lower Mill. Not sure exactly what it was but assume it was used in the manufacture of either chalk or modeling clay both of which were also manufactured here. They shipped product out in boxcars.

WIS BANG that you refer to was a friend of mine and we grew up less than a block from each other. I believe his reference to Transogram Toys was misinterpreted. Transogram was not on the E&N but was directly rail served on the Southside Industrial Branch. They probably received raw materials and definitely shipped out finished product in boxcars.

Likewise his reference to Stahley TV & Appliance probably refers to boxcars being unloaded on the team tracks in LV's Easton yard, not on the E&N, since Stahley was located only about two blocks from the Easton station and yard.

The two coal trestles he references are, again, probably on the Southside Industrial Branch. One, Easton Coal and Lumber, had a large concrete unloading trestle and would have been located close to the lumber yard as he references. The other was probably Aerni & Hitzel fuel.

The coal trestle he references at 13th St. still stands. It is also a concrete trestle and was originally part of C. K. Williams fuel company.

One coal dealer seldom mentioned on the E&N was Kepler's Fuel Co.'s coal yard in West Easton. It was located between Ridge St. and Palmer St. in West Easton and was actually the first customer on the E&N west of Easton located a few blocks before Victor Balata.

Hope this helps

John Evans
Easton, PA

Again, really neat to see this stuff. I hope this is helping others out. I'll post more as I receive more information.

[JhnZ33]

The same scene of the pups on the E&N branch also appears in Short Lines & Branch Lines Volume 1. There is also other footage on the E&N branch on the Short Lines DVD as well

[LV124]

JhnZ33 -

Yeah, I'd like to get those DVDs, plus the "Railfanning with the Bednars" series too. I didn't find out about these series until just recently.

That's the one thing I like about Mike Bednar: he includes the "human side" of railroading by explaining who is on what train (or working the tower; repairing the track; working on the signal system, etc.), as opposed to just showing another train rolling by a location. For someone who is a professional railroader, like myself, we appreciate this touch because it's not all about the machines.

Does anyone know Mike has been doing since his stroke back in 2006? I understand he made a recovery from prior posts, but I hadn't seen anything since.

Joe Walder

[LV124]

Charlie -

Yeah, I agree with you on the sights & sounds of those SW8s working the grade.

CR did indeed disconnect the dynamic brake on the SW8s (& most of the GP7s & GP9s as they went through the shops over their final years of operation on CR).

I saw a post somewhere, that someone while working as an Engineer on CR, was running ex-SW8s on the Chemical Coast & saw that the wiring appeared to still be hooked-up to the dynamic brake & decided to see if he could go into dynamic to find out if it still worked. He said he waited the 10 seconds between power & dynamic, went into "set-up" & then advanced the dynamic brake "throttle" & then saw a flash, heard a loud bang & smoke with the ground relay tripped. After getting back into power, he decided not to try that again. That's pretty funny. I've had engines with a grid fires (looks like a lot of sparklers going off), but not one that had flash, smoke, & a bang.

Needless to say, not long after that CR disconnected the dynamic, but in a lot of cases left the housing still on the SW8. Some of the GP7s & GP9s, CR just plated-over the housing.

Joe Walder

[scottychaos]

Those pups were definitely work-horses. I'm not sure if you have any of the "Railfanning with the
Bednars" DVDs, but one of them has video of the pups hauling a train up the E&N (I think it was coal).

Those pups were in "notch-8" and not going too fast.......exactly as it was planned! Of course they were
also right at home on the M&H branch, too!

I know there are a couple still surviving today, but I think the dynamics were removed by Conrail.

Charlie

A total of 17 LV SW8's still survive today, out of a total of 27 on the LV roster:

http://www.frontiernet.net/~scottychaos ... tives.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Of the 27 total SW8's, Numbers 250 - 276,
Eighteen were dynamic brake and MU-equipped, 256-273.
Of the seventeen total survivors today, Eleven are from the dynamic brake and MU-equipped group.

Probably none of them still have dynamic brakes..yes, Conrail removed them..
photos show they have plates over the brake intakes..

LV 262 then:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/lv/lv262n.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LV 262 now:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 18&nseq=43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can clearly see the difference in the dynamic brake grill area. (on the long hood right in front of the cab)
The air intakes on the side of the hood have been plated over, and the single fan on the roof has also been removed.

Scot

[LV124]

Scot -

I wish the ARHS would put out that SW8 dynamic brake kit again for the Proto (Walther's) SW8. I was going to buy them when they came out, but unfortunately, forgot about it.

I'm just glad to know my LV connection is still running: SW900M 124 (on the Landisville RR as their 8651, ex-Delaware Coast Line RR/CR 8651). I worked on the DCLR back in the 1980s-1990s & I was around when the DCLR put the 8651 back in service (it was sent to the PB&NE in Bethlehem). It was one of two units that CR painted blue by hand-rolling the paint. The cool thing is that the blue was peeling off & you could clearly see Cornell Red & black stripes coming through. Landisville was the one that painted it that Chessie-inspired paint scheme.

This unit got me interested in the LV.

[wis bang]

LV124, John was right on the money when he clarified my old post. In the 60's there was a ton of rail activity all around Easton and it was largely gone by the early 70's. I would love to see the customer list for the entire E & N, Bushkill and South Side branches. I remember my grandfather and father telling stories of steam-power on the E & N and the effort required to get up and over everything spanned by the bridge over the Lehigh river. Dad remembered cab rides after delivering Pappy's lunch where they backed across to P'burg to get a running start! My grandfather's stories of wheel slipping steam engines on that bridge were amazing.

[LV124]

wis bang -

Yeah, I'm glad John cleared that up because I got a little bit confused. I saw that Glen Larimer (ARHS) wants to put all of the information that you've supplied (& others) on the LV Modelers' page on the ARHS's website. They're in the process of updating the website & apparently they want to focus on various LV rail lines' industries. That's pretty cool that they're doing that.

I always believe that shared information here can help out researchers/modelers everywhere.

[jcepler1]

My great great grandfather owned a scrap metal yard in the early 1900s. We think it was the predecessor to Easton Iron and Metal. I don't understand how it was served by the railroad. If the tracks are now the Karl Stirner arts trail, then it would be on the wrong side of the creek. Was there a bridge in the vicinity?

[carajul]

The "Karl Stirner Arts Trail" was a branch off the E&N that went eastward along side/under the Rt 22 S-curves. It did go over a narrow bridge over the Bushkill Creek. This bridge is still there burried in the woods. This branch of the E&N went over the bridge, served the scrap metal business (which was huge and on both sides of Bushkill Dr) then continued east right alongside Bushkill Dr where there were coal docks. I believe this part of the line was abandoned in 1978. I read that up until the late 1960s it was so busy the LV would send a crew once a day just to serve this section.

I walked it in 1996 and the tracks had just been lifted with piles of ties, spikes, and plates laying everywhere. Once Lafayette college and others switched to oil from coal, the branch was done.

The Pfizer plant was and could still be a viable customer with tank cars, but CR chased them away in the 80s. The last customer was Mack Printing (since out of biz) who CR chased away in 2001 after a storm damaged the tracks, and shortly after the tracks were removed. They got boxcars of paper rolls once a week.

When CR got wind that there was interest in starting a short line, CR sold a plot of land to Northhampton Farm Bureau, who build a building over the row severing it forever.

I've heard conflicting stories of why the branch was abandoned from the south/LV main. Some say CR condemed the bridge after finding it unsafe (even though it's still standing) and Mike Bednar's books say the side of the mountain washed out in the early 80s taking the tracks with it. Once the two biggest customers, Dixie Cups and Crayola moved north to Forks, PA the line was finished.