1920 Reading railroad fill on the Catasauqua and Fogelsville railroad. Lehigh county PA.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Hello everyone. In this video we take a look at the enormous Reading railroad fill and tunnels.
This is originally the Catasaqua and Fogelsville railroad. There once stood an enormous iron bridge here that was built by the C&F. Eventually the Philadelphia and Reading would take a lease out on this line and as trains became increasingly heavier a new crossing over the Jordan creek would be required. This is was you see now. The Reading dumped slag in this area starting in 1916 and continued this till 1919 creating a fill and then constructing the tunnels we see today.
Another neat thing about the area is that the Lehigh Valley Transit Company had tracks running through the road tunnel. Let’s take a walk and I’ll tell you what I read. Thank you for watching.1/19/25
I grew up near by there at the top of huckleberry road I knew about the iron bridge before but I love seeing those old construction photos, thanks for the video.
Absolutely my pleasure. Thank you for watching Jason.
I have lived within walking distance of the tunnels since 1976 and at one point many years ago did a bit of research myself. It's my understanding that at the time the Iron Bridge was built that for a period of time it was the longest span in the USA for an iron bridge. Further the bridge is still there according to what I learned and it is simply buried in the fill up to the road bed.
Good morning. I have heard both of these facts. The Reading was doing this quite a lot. I recently hiked a bit of the former Catawissa railroad and there were many bridges simply covered over with fills. One of them is eroded away so much that the original span is once again exposed.
Hearing that you live with walking distance has me curious about something else in the area. If you continue up Iron Bridge rd. before you get to the covered bridge there are remains of the old LV Transit trolley bridge going across the Jordan. Would this happen to be on or near your property?
@@kevinsalsbury2118 Yes it's just a little further away and I have always wondered why there was a bridge there. Now I know. Thanks!
Very cool - Railroads were so plentyful up in that region, all chasing the coal, ore, cement and steel business. Great stuff.
Thank you Patrick. I could spend the rest of my life doing this and still not cover everything.
Great documentary! Keeping history alive!
Thank you kindly. If they would have taught this in high school I would have done quite well lol.
@ me too! Would have gone a long way to making class interesting!
Kevin,
This was one of our playgrounds when we were alot younger. Yes, we crawled through the small tunnel on top of the road span. I just can’t remember other than metal racks in there. I’m suspecting they were support of utility lines. We used to wade in the Jordan creek under Cedar Crest Blvd and it was just a great place to cool off and explore that area. The large plant east of Cedar Crest Blvd. was home to Trojan Powder Co. and during the summer months they occasionally shot off powder. It sounded like cannons going off. But the big thrill of that area, was riding our bikes down the big hill on Cedar Crest Blvd. We all attended the Troxell School nearby. Thanx for the memories.
Thank you very much for sharing this with me. I really enjoy hearing about the great times people have had a various places I have visited. Now that the line is not running this far down I want to climb up and see what is up there.
When I was younger we had a spot in Bucks County under the Reading Newton branch. This was in Tamanend park. There is a great three tunnel culvert with a nice drop off. We would swim there as youngsters. Good times.
Thank you for doing this Kevin - I was sorry to hear that rail service stopped last summer. I often heard the engine horn in the distance, but it pains me that rails continue to disappear. The Lehigh Valley has become absolutely littered with semi-truck traffic and that continues to expand. Why can’t we get expanded rail use instead of trucks. It is not uncommon that trucks outnumber passenger vehicles on the highways and now even local roads.
Good evening Bob. I’m in complete agreement with you. I work in Fogelsville so I see the incredible amount of trucks that you speak of. The Catasauqua and Fogelsville still serves a ton of industry in the Iron Run industrial area but over by Nestle where I work they do nothing. They have tracks in the area but I’ve yet to see any switching done. It’s a bummer.
It has to do with costs and transit time. The problem is if we go through a period where trucks can provide a better “deal” and the rails are torn up, they never come back. My company always looks at both options for long distance and rail can save money, it is the last few miles where trucks have the advantage. I assume that this is oftentimes because the trucks can deliver more frequent, and smaller loads. That is just a high-level explanation. For example, 300 roles of sheet metal will be delivered by rail all the time. But if I order a spool of wire on Amazon it comes on an Amazon truck. For those examples in the middle….. we all wish it was still rail, but once it’s gone it’s gone.
Another great location sir. You are lucky in a way. The locations close to you are much more scenic than my locals. 👍
Thank you Gregg. I definitely live in a great area if you’re into this stuff.
That little tounel is where the wire went through for the power for the trolley
That’s exactly what I was thinking but I wasn’t sure. Thank you very much!
Quite the construction. And another interesting video... And story.
If they ever have to replace that it's going to cost a bundle.
Thank you Samuel. The line is temporarily dormant. If service is not restored then I don’t know what the future holds for it. I believe a structure like this isn’t going anywhere soon though.
Thank you Kevin.
You’re very welcome Nick.
FYI. Would be informative if you would put a small map representatioin on your videos showing us where you are. .02 Thanx for all you expose here in our region, so rich in rr history.
You’re absolutely correct. Sometimes I post map pictures in the community section of the channel. I forget this time. My apologies.
Very interesting history. Marvelous construction.
Must confess that I was a bit distracted by the creative graffiti on the walls.
I've watched some videos of the old Pennsylvania inter-urban trolleys. Fascinating stuff, indeed.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you. The trolleys are such a neat topic. Only around for a little while but they left a lasting history.
Judging from the two trucks involved the construction picture, I’d say the construction date was no later than 1925 and likely earlier. Truck and car technology really advanced rapidly from 1925 on these trucks would have been really outdated by 1930.
Kevin, you have got to get your hands on a set of the small spiral bound books covering railroads and trolleys in the Lehigh River Valley. They turn up at every train show and you can still get brand new copies from the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society. One of them goes into detail on the Crane Iron Works in Catty and the railroads that serviced it.
Good evening Bob. I was just on the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society site the other day. I could drain my bank account there if it wouldn’t cost me my marriage lol. I’m putting this on the list for sure. Thank you for everything you provide Bob. It is greatly appreciated.
I’m pretty sure those trucks are 1918 at the latest.
Plank roads were actually made from longitudinally sawed logs laid flat side up from left to right across the roadway. Kept wheels from sinking into mud until they rotted out. “Corduroy” roads were likely unsawed log roads. Rough ride!
Thank you very much. Sounds like a pain. I can imagine the heavy ore carts were chewing those roads up pretty quickly.
Looking at the construction scene it is possible that part of that bridge was left in place to stabilize such a fill. One has to wonder how many tons of Earth and Cinders Etc were placed in there is it almost appears to be three or four tracks wide when you're underneath in the tunnel section but probably is only one or two tracks today at best. On an old section of Soo lLine where a location called High Bridge WI exists they gradually filled in between the pilings of a virtual Forest that was used. Sadly in the last decade they had several substantial washouts and the Canadian National embargoed it and the size of it is mesmerizing from the adjacent Highway. When you look at the construction photos with all the clean Stone and concrete versus today 100 years later it has aged pretty well. Far and away it's got to be the truck with the roof extension which no doubt is for the crew to install the wiring for the streetcar. Truly a great scene with a really great history
Hi Paul. The Reading was doing this all over the place but I guess all the roads were. This is around the same time the DL&W was building all there viaducts. Money must have been good for the various roads and I would assume concrete made things easier and cheaper.
It took close to four years to fill this particular area. I should have seen if there is a number of cubic yards dumped to fill. I bet it’s a high number.
Cool video! You know, the LVT trolley still lives on today kind of in a way. SEPTA's Norristown Hi-speed Line ( the old P&W trolley company) was the same line the LVT used to get to 69th Street in Philadelphia. I can remember riding that line as a kid when I visited my cousins down there, those trolleys really flew along those stops through suburban Philly.
Good morning Nick. When I was born we lived in Northeast Philadelphia. Up at the end of Castor avenue there was a trolley turn around that I was always fascinated with. I also remember tracks in the Mayfair section. Can’t remember if I actually rode the trolley or if it was all busses by that point.
@@kevinsalsbury2118 Hi Kevin! I always thought that you were from Philly, I could tell by the slight accent. I spent a lot of time on the Main Line as a kid, since all my cousins were down there. Used to love going to the Devon and Villanova train stations to watch the Penn Central commuter trains and freights and later SEPTA. Yeah, there are still some trolley routes left in Philly, but it's all over in the Great Northeast. Take care!
Lol. Yeah I haven’t lived there for decades but some words still come out funny.
@@kevinsalsbury2118 I live in Mayfair. Castor Ave. and Frankford Ave. both have trackless trolleys, and to my knowledge have never had busses. My guess is that they went from trolleys right to trackless trolleys.
Yes! The busses that have the poles coming out of them. Blue sparks shooting out once in a while. Trackless trolleys. Thank you.
Lehigh Valley transit is Lanta in modern time. That might have been the Greenwald line that serviced. A gentleman named Doug Peter's fom Emmaus is like a transit historian and could probably help you out with more info as to that area.
Good evening Fred. Do you know how this gentleman could be reached?
It is amazing how much they were able to do without electricity or machines
Couldn’t agree more Bill.
Neat video, as always! What do you suppose the things sticking up out of the ice on the opposite side at 7:45 are? I wouldn't expect them to be the remains of any falsework from construction, which would probably be long gone.
Shawn you have a great eye. I saw those the week before and completely forgot to mention it in this video. While I’m not one hundred percent certain I do believe it is the framing from the construction. I’m going back to check out a trolley bridge right down the road from here. I’ll go back and check.
@ , thanks for the compliment! Sometimes I notice too much! 😄
Cool idea for modeling.Out BH.
Fascinating. Sad to see people using it as a dumping ground for old tires.
Unfortunately John this is all to common place at most of the locations I visit.
@@kevinsalsbury2118A combination of laziness, selfishness, and apathy is the cause.
Well said.
Looked like an 18 in that diamond to me.
Good morning Christine. It is very possible it is an 18. They started filling the area in 1916 so by 1918 there could have been some concrete in place. Thank you and have a wonderful day.
You might want to check out a few Eric Sloane books as he writes and illustrates about things like plank roads and how they were built back in the day
Haven’t heard from you in a while. Got a new phone so the picture should be a whole lot better. Thank you for the lead. I will certainly use it.
Interesting video. The only thing is you left a "u" out of Catasauqua in the title 🤦♂
Sorry and thank you. Just fixed it.
Contact Reading Company Technical and Historical Society on line. They likely have the plans for this structure and maybe even the names of the employees who built it.
Good morning John. I am actually a contributing member of the RCTHS. I don’t know why I don’t take advantage of that more often. You are right though. If anyone has that kind of information it would be them. Thank you John.
Have you seen any remnants of the Lehigh Valley Transit Co. ?
Yes. There is an old trolley bridge that crosses Trout Creek up in Emerald PA. You can get to by driving there or you can park in Slatington and walk the Slate Heritage trail to it. There is also bridge remains right down the road from this location Crossing the Jordan Creek. I just received a tip about this one and will be checking it out soon.
Yeah man you have to get up there and see what that is for sure. We have to know buddy. Be carful though, might be a doorway to another dimension. You don’t want to come out on Uranus.
It might be a tunnel to another country such as Mai Wang!.🙄
That would really screw up the space time continuum lol.
I paused the video on my phone n I zoomed in on my phone it looks like that part got chipped away by the weather couldn't see any date in the diamond
Good evening Daniel. The consensus is 1920 which makes sense because they were filling the area between 1916 through 1919.
@kevinsalsbury2118 It would be cool if they have a historic train ride on that line or have passenger rail service on that line instead of just abandoning the line most abandoned lines n old rail beds that don't have rails anymore are historic especially the abandoned train stations alone old rail lines that don't have rails anymore n is overgrown it's ashame how they let something historic like that just rot away n disappear wish they would fix that up like they do with classic cars n historic buildings that's in some neighborhoods what's wrong with the steam train era they're the ones that helped build America back then n this is how we treat them beautiful machines how sad 😔
Good morning Daniel. I agree with you completely. This line is not completely abandoned yet. There is a lot of industrial switching going to the southwest. That being said this would be a fun line to do an excursion on. Especially steam!
@kevinsalsbury2118 yes it would