Clarrification of rail lines north of Tamaqua/Hometown area

Can someone clarify the lines north of the current R&N "carbon" wye. I'm looking at Google maps and if you follow the current in-use R&N line north of the Carbon wye is S curves all over the place.

1. Follow the current in-use R&N line north at the point you can see where the Catawissa branch branched off the current in-use R&N line and went through the Lofty tunnel. But at that same point it appears as though there was another line that paralled the in-use line and went over the Lofty Tunnel, east of I-81, then paralleled the in-use line and rejoined it near Haddock St in south McAdoo. The current R&N line goes under I-81 and stays west of it all the way to McAdoo. Does anyone else see this? What was this line?

2. The current in-use line has a line that branches off and goes south under I-81 and into Delano. But before it goes under I-81 there appears to have been yet another line that paralleled it, but this line is now stub ended at I-81. Anyone see this or know what it was? If you follow this line, it goes north and looks like it crossed Rt 309. Was this the PRR that connected to the LV at Black Creek Jct?

Can anyone clarify who owned all these lines? I know north of the wye was RDG, but through Delano was LV. Did the RRs have trackage rights?
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edited by Moderator- changed I-80 to I-81 to provide better points of reference[/i]

The line that went over Lofty Tunnel parallel to the line currently in operation was the Reading's Silverbrook Branch, which served the Silverbrook Breaker on the other side of 309. Branching off of THAT line was another line, the CNJ's Audenried branch which looped around McAdoo to reach the Audenried Breaker, and was reached from Haucks via trackage rights on the Reading. The CNJ went through Haddock, crossing the main street at grade in the same location the 309 to I-81 connector crosses on bridges.

A connection was built in the 1980's by the Schuylkill-Carbon Rail Authority between the former RDG and LV lines near Lofty. Essentially, south of Lofty the R&N is on former RDG trackage, north of there it follows LV trackage. Before the R&N came to own and operate these lines they were sporadically used out to Delano from Jim Thorpe by the Panther Valley RR, to service one customer. I'm not sure if that ended with the creation of the R&N in '90, or some time before.

Micah

Quick screenshot of my GIS data: LV = purple, RDG = green, CNJ = orange: http://i50.tinypic.com/34dsb9h.jpg
A few of these lines were abandoned early, and a few minor lines are missing.

Wow, incredible the amount of trackage that existed. So basically once the coal breakers closed most of this track was redundant?

Also, does anyone know why the LV abandoned the line thru Delano so early on (I think it was torn out by 1970)? Delano was such a hopping place with the engine house, small yard, etc. Seems to have been abandoned earlier than most.

Also I don't think the Panther Valley or Carbon Cty RR ever went past Air Products. Until that wye track was put back in by R&N, I think the tracks were actually gone and the CC RR just stub ended at Air Products near the Marian High School Rd xing. I think the line was severed. You couldn't get from Jim Thorpe to Tamaqua anymore.

The R&N didn't reinstall a wye, they reinstalled ONE LEG of it, the southern leg, in 1997. The northern leg was still there. How do you suppose the R&N ran excursions to Jim Thorpe after 1991? Or the culm trains for that matter? Again, the PVAL ran out to Delano as necessary in the 1980's, using the north leg of the wye at Haucks, and the new Lofty Connection.

56-57 wrote:The line that went over Lofty Tunnel parallel to the line currently in operation was the Reading's Silverbrook Branch.
A connection was built in the 1980's by the Schuylkill-Carbon Rail Authority between the former RDG and LV lines near Lofty. Essentially, south of Lofty the R&N is on former RDG trackage, north of there it follows LV trackage.

To amplify:
The RDG's Silverbrook branch was torn up about 1973. A new connection was built in the 1980's by the Schuylkill-Carbon Rail Authority between track they relaid on the Catawissa branch end of the former RDG's Silverbrook Branch and LV lines near Lofty. Essentially, south of Lofty the R&N is on former RDG Silverbrook Branch and then Catawissa branch trackage, north of there it follows LV trackage.
Old maps will show that there were older connections between the Silverbrook Branch and the LV closer to McAdoo. Those maps also show that the Silverbrook Branch used to run East from the Lofty wye just South of the 1st grade crossing South of Lofty Tunnel. The newer route, that was torn up about 1973, that looped to the West and then over the tunnel was longer, which might have allowed easier grades.

JimBoylan wrote:. Those maps also show that the Silverbrook Branch used to run East from the Lofty wye just South of the 1st grade crossing South of Lofty Tunnel. The newer route, that was torn up about 1973, that looped to the West and then over the tunnel was longer, which might have allowed easier grades.

The newer route, looping west over the tunnel, also connected a train coming from the mines at Silverbrook to the Catawissa line heading towards Tamaqua and Philadelphia . The old connection through the old wye connected you in the other direction, towards Catawissa, so a reverse move was necessary to reach Philadelphia. Maybe that was another reason for the new route -- that the location of the customers for the coal changed (just guessing here).
JS

Why did they tear out the branch to the Silverbrook Coal place? There is still something there in present day. Nothing compared to what was there in the 1930s-40s as I saw on PennPilot. What's there today is about 10% of the size. They still may use rail service unless their output doesn't warrant it.

carajul wrote:Why did they tear out the branch to the Silverbrook Coal place? There is still something there in present day. Nothing compared to what was there in the 1930s-40s as I saw on PennPilot. What's there today is about 10% of the size. They still may use rail service unless their output doesn't warrant it.

I think there is some kind of co-gen plant (maybe built in part to heat some greenhouse operation) or similar burning waste culm from the piles, not any active mining. Just east of Route 309 by the Lofty Rd intersection. Somebody correct me and/or give the details. JS

Did some exploring today and will post some photos. Lofty tunnel is being overgrown by woods, line used by R&N in good shape, Silverbrook branch barely visible in the woods, Delano nothing left but rusty rails