Glenn wrote:From Google Maps, the rails appear to be in place as far as and onto the bridge over N. Reading Road. There is a large industry on Spring Street just past the bridge and adjacent to the ROW which obviously was once served by the railroad as the loading platforms are still in place and would certainly be a potential customer.
I remember talking to an East Penn employee a few years ago and they said that the Boyertown Foundry (there by the YMCA) was against using rail service, but for the life I me, I can't remember the reason that he told me... Maybe a new railroad would help?
SemperFidelis wrote:Last I heard, a few weeks ago now, there won't be any track to Mr. Martin's Quarry until an agreement can be reached with the very hostile leadership of Walmart.
There's probably more barriers than just traversing Walmart's parking lot entrance road, but it's probably not good to proceed with the other items until you can get permission to cross there.
I took a bunch of pictures there last fall (the Walmart parking lot / former ROW) and I swear it looked like they did a lot of earth moving in that area, as to my untrained eye, the former ROW to the North, seemed a lot lower than where it follows the pole line behind the car dealership. Hopefully it's just an optical illusion, as if they really changed the grading there, restoring the railroad would require riding the track elevation to the North too.
I like that the former ROW goes through my church's property just North of there, and since pointing that out to my three year old son, every Sunday he tells me "train tracks used to go there daddy!".
JimE
[url=
https://web.archive.org/web/20141029052 ... rains.html[/url] - (Actually, that server doesn't exist any more, so I point to the web archive version....)