I grew up in Bethlehem Pa. we lived about half a mile from the switching yard and the turntable. Many days of my youth were spent crossing the tracks and occasionally hopping on the trains( for a short ride) before crossing over to go to the Lehigh canal and towpath. It was great fun (albeit dangerous as hell, looking back) swimming, building fires and just generally being boys. Now, I guess you’d get put on the terrorist watch list if you tried to hop a train, but back then the crew would just scold you and tell you to get lost. No such thing as Conrail cops. At least, we never saw them if there were any. Fond memories😊
It's the cars on the road that dated this video for me. These are still a lot of the large angular shaped cars (like the Chevrolet Malibu or Oldsmobile Cutlass) that were the typical American cars back then for us Europeans. (modern cars from the 2 continents look far more similar in shape and size) It makes also clear how long ago the Dash-8 model from GE came on the market, as modern locomotives still have the same wide cab and shape this model still looks modern today, although it's more than 30 years old now. The cars by comparison look outdated by todays eyes (but the same is true for railway stock and cars from the 1980's in Europe, and it's just because locomotives last so much longer than the average car)
at 4:38 was that taken in West Conshohocken because i recognize it. Wow it looked so much different in the Conrail days. I've been on the bridge hundreds of times crossing over the Harrisburg Line.
But there was graffiti all over NYC subway cars in the 70’s and 80’s. Maybe freight car tagging was more recent, like the 90’s and mostly the ghetto blacks in urban areas did it. I saw videos with NY subway trains taken in the 70’s and 80’s. Crime was bad then almost how crime is bad now in NYC. It was Mayor Giuliani in the 90’s that reduced crime and put more cops on the streets.
I remember seeing NS diesels on Conrail freight trains through Allentown and Emmaus in the early 90’s before NS bought the Conrail lines through Allentown in 1998-1999. Conrail exists as Shared Assets now in north and south NJ and a few other areas.
+Micael Trainguy hayes CSX never had any of their own trains run direct to Allentown. You could see CSX power occasionally but it was either Conrail or CP/D&H crews. CSX did run trains into Rutherford and later Enola after Rutherford closed. These were run under the old Reading/WM pool agreement. See my video "Rebels and Dutchmen" to see some of these trains. I believe these trains stopped when the split of Conrail took place.
Yes, the Reading's Perkiomen Branch. It was severed before Conrail. The north stub to Pennsburg was a subsidized operation, while a short section of the south end was retained to access the PRR at Creek, so CR locals could get to the Devault Branch. Given the slow speeds on the Perk due to grades, curvature and poor track conditions, it was actually faster to run via Reading.
I forgot there was also the Reading Bethlehem Branch. Through freight on that route became problematic when SEPTA took over the portion from Lansdale south. Which is why a good portion was abandoned subsequently.
+Uwe Voß Precision Leasing Management, a locomotive leasing company. CP had a bunch of these in their "rent a wreck" period following takeover of the D&H. They also had units from GATX. It could also stand for Paris-Lyon-Mediteranee if you were in France.
Eric B Reading Line to CP Valley Jct, Harrisburg Line (former RDG Belt) to CP Titus, Harrisburg Line (former RDG Mainline) to CP Falls, City Branch to Park Jct., CSX to former B&O East Side yard.
The GE was on the front arriving in Allentown with all 3 units facing the same way. The train reversed direction there to go to Philadelphia. Since this was a D&H train, there would have been a fee from Conrail to turn the last unit to face properly. Plus the move was time consuming as units had to be turned at Bethlehem Steel because by this time the turntable was removed at the Engine Terminal. So the unit ran backwards to Philly. It probably also ran backwards from Allentown to Binghamton the next day.
Peter Hanahoe The 90's were a very productive time for me video wise. I'm starting to dig into my archives of old films and others' videos for more to edit, as my personal videos are almost all done.
fmnut I always wanted to know what PLM was. As a kid growing up in Lebanon I saw all kinds of trains. I saw 2 PLM hooked to 2 Burlington Northern units. It was so cool to see a new name show up. I think I was 13. It just before the blizzard in 93.
@xcellken1 thank you for pointing that out i grew up in san diego, on Sundays my family went to church well along the way we crossed a spur that served a bakery or some flour milling plant, covered hoppers and occasionally boxcars were seen at the spots but all these freight cars had tags all over them this was in the early 1970s and the ATSF was the railroad.
Those shots along the Philly 30th Street Highline were amazing as well
Hello fmnut. Good transport, and and sound (horn) with many technical buildings (tunnels, bridges), in the industrial area!
I grew up in Bethlehem Pa. we lived about half a mile from the switching yard and the turntable. Many days of my youth were spent crossing the tracks and occasionally hopping on the trains( for a short ride) before crossing over to go to the Lehigh canal and towpath. It was great fun (albeit dangerous as hell, looking back) swimming, building fires and just generally being boys. Now, I guess you’d get put on the terrorist watch list if you tried to hop a train, but back then the crew would just scold you and tell you to get lost. No such thing as Conrail cops. At least, we never saw them if there were any. Fond memories😊
It's the cars on the road that dated this video for me.
These are still a lot of the large angular shaped cars (like the Chevrolet Malibu or Oldsmobile Cutlass) that were the typical American cars back then for us Europeans. (modern cars from the 2 continents look far more similar in shape and size)
It makes also clear how long ago the Dash-8 model from GE came on the market, as modern locomotives still have the same wide cab and shape this model still looks modern today, although it's more than 30 years old now. The cars by comparison look outdated by todays eyes (but the same is true for railway stock and cars from the 1980's in Europe, and it's just because locomotives last so much longer than the average car)
at 4:38 was that taken in West Conshohocken because i recognize it. Wow it looked so much different in the Conrail days. I've been on the bridge hundreds of times crossing over the Harrisburg Line.
@4:28 Was that OJ's Bronco speeding down the left lane? :) ... Great video as always!
Nice to see whole trains without any graffiti on the cars, makes you realise just how recent that phenomena is.
But there was graffiti all over NYC subway cars in the 70’s and 80’s. Maybe freight car tagging was more recent, like the 90’s and mostly the ghetto blacks in urban areas did it. I saw videos with NY subway trains taken in the 70’s and 80’s. Crime was bad then almost how crime is bad now in NYC. It was Mayor Giuliani in the 90’s that reduced crime and put more cops on the streets.
I remember seeing NS diesels on Conrail freight trains through Allentown and Emmaus in the early 90’s before NS bought the Conrail lines through Allentown in 1998-1999. Conrail exists as Shared Assets now in north and south NJ and a few other areas.
Excellent video.
hey did csx ever have trains run up to Harrisburg and Allentown
+Micael Trainguy hayes CSX never had any of their own trains run direct to Allentown. You could see CSX power occasionally but it was either Conrail or CP/D&H crews. CSX did run trains into Rutherford and later Enola after Rutherford closed. These were run under the old Reading/WM pool agreement. See my video "Rebels and Dutchmen" to see some of these trains. I believe these trains stopped when the split of Conrail took place.
Love this. Thanks for sharing!
What is on the hood of 6640 at 7:02. Looks like plastic bag full of something. (I thought it was a cat scratching the window until it got close!! lol)
Luke Roman looks like someone's lunch in a plastic grocery bag
There was once a more direct route although much less flat.
Yes, the Reading's Perkiomen Branch. It was severed before Conrail. The north stub to Pennsburg was a subsidized operation, while a short section of the south end was retained to access the PRR at Creek, so CR locals could get to the Devault Branch. Given the slow speeds on the Perk due to grades, curvature and poor track conditions, it was actually faster to run via Reading.
I forgot there was also the Reading Bethlehem Branch. Through freight on that route became problematic when SEPTA took over the portion from Lansdale south. Which is why a good portion was abandoned subsequently.
Also I've been to Abrams Yard many times as well and in the Conrail days it was different. It's all NS now.
PLM? What for a railroad is/was that?
+Uwe Voß Precision Leasing Management, a locomotive leasing company. CP had a bunch of these in their "rent a wreck" period following takeover of the D&H. They also had units from GATX. It could also stand for Paris-Lyon-Mediteranee if you were in France.
What route did the D&H train take to go from Allentown to Philly?
Eric B Reading Line to CP Valley Jct, Harrisburg Line (former RDG Belt) to CP Titus, Harrisburg Line (former RDG Mainline) to CP Falls, City Branch to Park Jct., CSX to former B&O East Side yard.
Why the first locomotive goes in reverse???
The GE was on the front arriving in Allentown with all 3 units facing the same way. The train reversed direction there to go to Philadelphia. Since this was a D&H train, there would have been a fee from Conrail to turn the last unit to face properly. Plus the move was time consuming as units had to be turned at Bethlehem Steel because by this time the turntable was removed at the Engine Terminal. So the unit ran backwards to Philly. It probably also ran backwards from Allentown to Binghamton the next day.
Also it was an NS unit with dual controls, so the engineer could run from the correct side to see signals.
I used to just take 309
where do you keep finding this stuff ???
Peter Hanahoe The 90's were a very productive time for me video wise. I'm starting to dig into my archives of old films and others' videos for more to edit, as my personal videos are almost all done.
What is the PLM
+Micael Trainguy hayes Read comment below. Precision Leasing Management.
fmnut I always wanted to know what PLM was. As a kid growing up in Lebanon I saw all kinds of trains. I saw 2 PLM hooked to 2 Burlington Northern units. It was so cool to see a new name show up. I think I was 13. It just before the blizzard in 93.
This 1996
Nice
That line still run
+Eric (ericondefense) Yes, the Allentown to Reading, PA portion goes right near my house. All the lines shown on the video are still in use.
***** oh ok. Its gotta be a main line
+Eric (ericondefense) most definitely. on my patch there are about 40 trains a day. going to Philadelphia there are about 20.
***** oh wow thats alot of trains
+Eric (ericondefense) yes. do a search on NS Reading Line. some of the videos show just one one day's activity.
Note the lack of graffiti
@xcellken1 thank you for pointing that out i grew up in san diego, on Sundays my family went to church well along the way we crossed a spur that served a bakery or some flour milling plant, covered hoppers and occasionally boxcars were seen at the spots but all these freight cars had tags all over them this was in the early 1970s and the ATSF was the railroad.
We’ll done. It’s not an easy territory to follow trains.