Tag: Bethlehem PA

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.

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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.

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