Tag: NS Lehigh Line

Dormant Bethlehem Steel mill backdrop for several tracks

, ,

Sitting in the shadows of the giant, and unfortunately dormant, Bethlehem Steel mill in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Norfolk Southern local H74 pauses on track 2 in River Yard, awaiting paperwork for the ‘dangerous’ loads in the train before departing for the much larger Allentown Yard, a major classification facility on the NS system. Two large General Electric C40-9W  locomotives  (#9398 & #9362) are in charge of the short ‘transfer’ run, a procedure not uncommon to see in the Bethlehem area.

As seen from left in this image: the ‘layoff’ track, used for staging empty/loaded coal trains to and from western NJ, and any other train that may need to sit for awhile; NS Lehigh Line main 1, NS Lehigh Line main 2, then River Yard tracks 5, 4, 3, and 2.

Image recorded August 7, 2010.

Dormant Bethlehem Steel mill backdrop for the many tracks of Norfolk Southern

Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.

Ethanol empties train waits to head west

, , ,

On a warm July morning, Norfolk Southern train 69Q (ethanol empties), with NS 8395 in the lead, waits patiently on the yard track at the ‘Hess crossovers’ in Port Reading, NJ, as inbound NS train 68Q (ethanol loads) brings its train northward on the main, headed towards the west siding in nearby Carteret, NJ. The South Jersey Dispatcher will then give 69Q the OK to crossover from the yard track to the main, then immediately onto the west leg of the Wye at CP-PD to connect to the Port Reading Secondary, and head westward to later join the NS Lehigh Line for the trip west.

Shortly, a local crew will climb aboard and guide the just arrived 68Q southward to the refinery for spotting. It’s not as complex as it sounds, and the crews and dispatchers keep everything moving smoothly on this often congested trackage of the CSAO Chemical Coast Secondary.

Image recorded July 30, 2010.

Ethanol empties train waits to head west

Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.

Two General Electric C40-9W’s sport pro paint job

, , ,

One of the daily eastbound intermodal trains on the Norfolk Southern Lehigh Line is train 22V, seen here in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. NS 9890 and 9964, both General Electric C40-9W’s, look much better now than they did when they were delivered in late 2004 and early 2005. With NS short of road power at the time, they were pressed into service in light gray primer only, and had the appearance of ‘ghosts’ in the pre-dawn hours of the day.

Looking much more ‘professional’ today,  they head 22V as it speeds towards northern New Jersey, passing the small Norfolk Southern River Yard just east of CP BETHLEHEM.

Image recorded July 11, 2010.

Train 22V speeds towards northern New Jersey, passing the small Norfolk Southern River Yard

Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.

Water travel precursor to modern freight transportation

, ,

In the mid-19th century, the only mode of freight transportation was a horse-drawn barge along a canal beside a main river. To get to Jersey City, NJ from Allentown, Pennsylvania, in, say, 1855, one would load their barge to be pulled across the Lehigh Canal, seen here in the foreground, eastward to Easton, Pa, and across the Delaware River, to continue across New Jersey via the Morris Canal. Quite time consuming to say the least, but this was before the advent of the automobile/truck and also the railroad.

Since railroads tend to frequently follow rivers, due to their ‘flat’ geographic profile, it is with no surprise that we find, in the 21st century, a very modern ‘iron horse’ crossing the very canal that brought freight transportation to this region some 200 years ago. On former Lehigh Valley RR trackage, Norfolk Southern 7632 (a GE ES40DC) brings NS train 19G across the rail bridge, built in 1916, and across the original canal, to start her trip west on the NS Lehigh Line.

Image recorded May 29, 2010.Norfolk Southern 7632 brings NS train 19G across the rail bridge

Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.

NS locomotive finishes doubling, crosses Lehigh Canal

, , ,

Performing one of several ‘doubling’ maneuvers (several on this day due to having to set-out 2 shop cars for repairs), Norfolk Southern train 19G crosses the Lehigh Canal at the west end of Allentown Yard, ready to make her last shove before finally assembling the train for the run west.

‘Doubling’ frequently occurs when the total train length is greater than one or more yard tracks full of a particular trains consist; a train crew would, for example, couple to the cars on track 13, then pull forward to clear the switch, and shove back pick up the cars on track 14, as both yard tracks 13 & 14 would be full of cars destined for the next major classification yard in the same direction.

Today will see an all-General Electric loco head end, with NS 7632 (ES40DC) and NS 9939 (C40-9W) handling the mainline duties, as soon as the Lehigh Line dispatcher gives them the signal at CP BURN, just a half-mile west of this location.

Image recorded May 29, 2010.

Norfolk Southern train finished doubling, crosses the Lehigh Canal

Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.