Effect of Beth Steel closing on Railroad

For those with inside knowledge can you tune me in to how the closing of Bethlehem Steel affected the RRs (Conrail and others) in general. From what I read the Steel was the LVRRs largest customer and they had quite an operation there even into the late 70s. Florence yard was a 24/7 operation and so was the RDG Saucon Yard. Today the Steel is a rusted hulk and casino, Florence yard is used for storage and for some reason CR spent no time tearing up Saucon yard after the Steel closed. I can remember in the early 90s driving over Saucon Yard on I-78 and it was jammed with coal hoppers.

What affect did the closing have on rail activity in the area? Card loadings? Jobs? Financially?

carajul wrote:For those with inside knowledge can you tune me in to how the closing of Bethlehem Steel affected the RRs (Conrail and others) in general. From what I read the Steel was the LVRRs largest customer and they had quite an operation there even into the late 70s. Florence yard was a 24/7 operation and so was the RDG Saucon Yard. Today the Steel is a rusted hulk and casino, Florence yard is used for storage and for some reason CR spent no time tearing up Saucon yard after the Steel closed. I can remember in the early 90s driving over Saucon Yard on I-78 and it was jammed with coal hoppers.

What affect did the closing have on rail activity in the area? Card loadings? Jobs? Financially?

Well, closing of Bethlehem Steel's Coke Works definitely spelled the end for Saucon yard. CR had stopped using the Bethlehem Branch for ore trains over a decade earlier, so the Bethlehem Branch as a through freight line was doomed way back then, before the blast furnaces closed. But, even after the Bethlehem Branch wasn't used as a through line, Saucon Yard was used to store/stage hopper cars needed for the Coke Works, which operated for a while after the blast furnaces had closed down. After the Coke plant closed, there really wasn't any logical reason to keep Saucon yard open. It's no longer connected to a through line, and even PB&NE didn't need to go down there since the Coke plant was closed. I remember always seeing many hopper cars under I-78, then*poof*, no cars. Then *poof* one track, which slowly withered away. Sad to see the roundhouse, turntable, coaling tower and power house end up how they are (or aren't).

jrevans wrote:Bethlehem Branch for ore trains over a decade earlier

I know someone who worked at Bethlehem Steel for almost 40 years. His first 30 years there the Bethlehem plant was operating. He told me that they never got ore shipments on the Bethlehem branch. The Reading initially used the Perkiomen branch via Allentown. He mentioned something about some cutoff or bypass that the Reading installed near it's namesake city and started shipping the ore via Reading and Allentown. The Pennsylvania and later Penn Central would ship the ore up the Bel-Del and interchange with the Lehigh Valley for final delivery.

He did mention that when Conrail came along they would only ship via Reading and that didn't make many in management too happy, espcially in the late '70's when the company's downhill slide got steeper and fuel costs skyrocketed.

I know someone who worked at Bethlehem Steel for almost 40 years. His first 30 years there the Bethlehem plant was operating. He told me that they never got ore shipments on the Bethlehem branch. The Reading initially used the Perkiomen branch via Allentown. He mentioned something about some cutoff or bypass that the Reading installed near it's namesake city and started shipping the ore via Reading and Allentown. The Pennsylvania and later Penn Central would ship the ore up the Bel-Del and interchange with the Lehigh Valley for final delivery.

He did mention that when Conrail came along they would only ship via Reading and that didn't make many in management too happy, espcially in the late '70's when the company's downhill slide got steeper and fuel costs skyrocketed.[/quote]


Sorry, but your friend is wrong. I recall laying in bed in the early 1970's, listening to 3 or 4 ore trains struggling up the grades south of Lansdale on many a night, when an ore boat was docked at Port Richmond. In 1974, the Reading rebuilt the westbound track specifically because of the ore traffic. The last major wreck of an ore train that I recall was circa 1977 or early 1978 (before I drove legally) at Lansdale when the slack ran into the head end just west of the station area. 2 wreck trains were called, the ex-RDG train from Abrams and the ex-LV train from Allentown. I was told by a CR engineer that after Conrail was started, many of the crews were unfamiliar with the Branch, hence the wrecks. After that last wreck, the ore traffic was routed via Reading and the Blandon Low Grade. Because only the local out of Lansdale and the Budd car ran over the track, CR had to put weld on the railhead at many of the grade crossings to allow the Budd cars to activate the signals as the rust was built up so much with so little heavy traffic on the railroad.

I have never heard of any regular operation of ore trains on the Perk. That must have been one heck of a trip with the steep grades and sharp curves.

Don't forget about the ore from Grace Mine south of Birdsboro that ran to Bethlehem. Perhaps that is the ore your friend remembers?

BuddCarToBethlehem wrote:

jrevans wrote:Bethlehem Branch for ore trains over a decade earlier

I know someone who worked at Bethlehem Steel for almost 40 years. His first 30 years there the Bethlehem plant was operating. He told me that they never got ore shipments on the Bethlehem branch. The Reading initially used the Perkiomen branch via Allentown. He mentioned something about some cutoff or bypass that the Reading installed near it's namesake city and started shipping the ore via Reading and Allentown. The Pennsylvania and later Penn Central would ship the ore up the Bel-Del and interchange with the Lehigh Valley for final delivery.

He did mention that when Conrail came along they would only ship via Reading and that didn't make many in management too happy, espcially in the late '70's when the company's downhill slide got steeper and fuel costs skyrocketed.

I have never heard of the Reading using the Perkiomen Branch for ore trains. I would love to find out more about that if true.

Everything I've read, says that during the Reading's tenure, ore which came in via boat in Philly came up the Bethlehem Branch, or via the main to Reading, and back east on the East Penn line. I've read that Bethlehem Steel preferred the shorter, less expensive route of the Bethlehem Branch, but the Reading preferred the less strenuous and more profitable longer haul of traveling the main via Reading. After Conrail took over, they discontinued freight service on the North end of the Bethlehem Branch, and gave Bethlehem Steel no other choice but the main line via Reading.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=175372
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=188536

Domestic ore (not from the ship in Philly) did not arrive via the Bethlehem Branch, and its routing depended upon its source location.

IIRC,We lost about 6 jobs right away when the steel closed in the mid 1990's at Allentown(xn). I was working the phila pools (XN to S. phila)at the time and it even caused a slow down there as we had fewer road trips with the loss of ZBB's.