RDG Co. Bethlehem Branch

For anyone who lives in the area, the PUC is having a public hearing on the proposed PPL power line in Richland Twp. One of the rejected alternative routes for the power line was over the Bethlehem Branch ROW. Meeting is July 14th 7PM at the Springtown Volunteer Fire Company on Route 212 for anyone wishing to attend.

As a railfan (and someone who commutes on a semi-regular basis between the Lehigh Valley and Philly) I would love to see PPL build a "caternary-friendly" power line over the branch (similar to the power line over the Stoney Creek branch) so that my pipe-dream of rail service on the branch could move a small step closer to reality. As a landowner, I would like them to build in area that already is built up (let's face it, running power lines along the 309 corridor isn't exactly gonna spoil the view of one of the "massage" parlors), rather than go across people's yards. I guess I should get used to being on the losing side of such fights against the powers-that-be... I doubt I will ever be able to take a train from the Lehigh Valley to Philly or anywhere else.

Link to relevant Morning Call article here

:(It really annoys the hell outta me that Septa is letting this line go to waste. It sucks that Pa is such a useless state that likes to waste money on stupidity. When I think of how New Mexico actively pushing the Railrunner commuter rail from Albaquerqe to Santa Fe or the UTA Frontrunner Commuter rail in Salt Lake City with that line having 30 min service for a good portion of the day with expansions on the way and we have the infrastructure in and we just let it go. Its really depressing....

yeah, I agree... the fact that we don't have LV-Bethlehem or LV-NYC rail service isn't even the most annoying part... it is the fact that the service existed in the not too distant past and now the infrastructure is just wasting away. The idea that trains to Philly ran on this line during my lifetime (albeit I was too young to remember it) is frustrating.. (and you'd never know it from looking at the line). It is a sad state of affairs that transit in eastern PA was better 20 (and even 50) years ago than it is today and that millions of dollars of infrastructure have been allowed to waste away... I would like to think that perseverance will eventually pay off, but.....

Wish I could convince East Penn (or whatever they are called after they were acquired last year) into shuttling me back and forth between Quakertown and Lansdale!

jfrey40535 wrote:Atlantic City is already reporting a steep drop in gambling revenues because of gas prices and the recession. Its only a matter of time before the chicken comes home to roost.

The biggest factor in the current Atlantic City gambling revenue decline is the opening of new slots parlors in Philadelphia and Delaware.

I think only to a small extent. Remember the PA casinos are only slots at the moment, with no entertainment venues or table games. I have noticed that the parking lots at Phila Park are quite jammed. People may be choosing the PA casinos simply because they're closer, again because of higher gas prices.

planettelex wrote:yeah, I agree... the fact that we don't have LV-Bethlehem or LV-NYC rail service isn't even the most annoying part... it is the fact that the service existed in the not too distant past and now the infrastructure is just wasting away. The idea that trains to Philly ran on this line during my lifetime (albeit I was too young to remember it) is frustrating.. (and you'd never know it from looking at the line). It is a sad state of affairs that transit in eastern PA was better 20 (and even 50) years ago than it is today and that millions of dollars of infrastructure have been allowed to waste away... I would like to think that perseverance will eventually pay off, but.....

Wish I could convince East Penn (or whatever they are called after they were acquired last year) into shuttling me back and forth between Quakertown and Lansdale!

Again, its not that simple. Thanks to FRA & ADA regulations, you can't just throw a train on the tracks and pick up people anymore. Now we have to do environmental impact studies (duh, it takes cars off the road, it was a railroad before and the environment did fine, etc.) install full HLP's, cab signal systems and every other yoo-hoo gadget needed to run a passenger rail line these days.

I have a better and easier solution: we put our own track gangs together and make sure the rails are in place all the way to lansdale, then go out and buy our own gandy dancers and rail bikes

I think it would be wonderful if we could do something like the Catskill Mountain Railroad group is doing up in NY.
http://railroad.net/articles/railfanning/cmrr/index.php

They basically took an abandoned railroad and are restoring it to service with volunteers. I believe that they have some leeway with regards to operations, since they are currently not connected to the national rail system, but the organization of the group is amazing.

Ernie Hunt organizes the work outings and the railroad "officials" direct everyone on what to do. Team leaders help out others and lots of work gets done. Check out the thread showing all of the progress that they have made:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... &sk=t&sd=a

It would be awesome to slowly restore the ROW North of Quakertown in this same way. We'd of course need cooperation with SEPTA and ESPN....

Just being able to clean the brush/trees/trash from the ROW would be a start.

jfrey, I was thinking more along the lines of an ESPN cab ride for myself! ..although, it sure would be cool to ride on a rail bike from shelly to lansdale (since I won't be able to ride a train).
JimE, I imagine there are at least several of us on this board who would be willing volunteers for such a noble cause.
While I can't see Septa ever agreeing to allow a "tourist" railroad to operate on this line, I wonder what is involved with attempting to get a CMRR-like ground roots effort off the ground. I imagine it is quite a difficult effort even with cooperating authorities, and then of course raising the money to actually do it.

planettelex wrote:While I can't see Septa ever agreeing to allow a "tourist" railroad to operate on this line.

What about using the outer end of S.E.P.T.A.'s West Chester branch of the PRR? Wait, we'd have to get rid of the West Chester RR tourist operation, first.

As seen on another thread, SEPTA has collected the bids for removing the tracks in between Hilltop (MP 45.4) Hellertown (MP 53.1). I fear once the tracks come up and the trail goes in, there's not a chance left to see trains North of Shelly.

Here's the link:
http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.ph ... &sk=t&sd=a

I'm dropping a short email to SEPTA GM Joe Casey just to express my concerns. [email protected]

Joe Casey isn't going to do anything for you. If you guys really want to try and save this branch, I'd be going to the media. In this time of skyrocketing fuel prices (and its going to get much worse if you read the news), there should not be 3 active rail-trail projects on ex-SEPTA lines. If we can't afford to revive them, they should at least be preserved. I think the media would have a field day over it, but its out of SEPTA's hands. THey're not bringing the trains back, and the townships want the trails. I don't have any sympathy for communities losing their decrepit rail line that they don't want, and frankly our money is better spent in the city.

If the townships want the trails, then why is Septa paying for this DESTRUCTION of infrastructure? Let Springfield Township spend some of their speeding ticket revenue on this project if they want it that bad rather than take Septa's money which can be better spent elsewhere. Furthermore, if they feel that the rail is in good enough condition to be re-used, why not use it for restoration of the second track between Lansdale and Shelly?

The traffic on 309 is already horrendous up that way and will only continue to get worse, especially when Bethworks casino opens. It truly amazes me how short sighted these supposedly smart officials can be.

I emailed Joe Casey last night and this morning I received a phone call from somebody at SEPTA. (I didn't catch his name....)

We had a long detailed discussion about the line and the trail. Basically, Lower Saucon, Upper Saucon and Hellertown approached SEPTA about making a trail. (Later, Coopersburg joined in too.) SEPTA is open to the idea, as they want a "caretaker" for the line. He said that they are concerned about stormwater management everywhere, and after hiking the Bethlehem Branch, I know there are some drainage issues up there.

He emphasized that they know service restoration will cause their lease to be terminated and that SEPTA is not giving up rights to the line or abandoning it.

He also said that they are not talking about a paved trail, but just a bare trail. I suggested that they leave in one track and make the other track area the trail. To that idea he said that the townships wouldn't like the issues that would cause for maintenance and the tripping hazard.

He also mentioned that he met with AdamC the other day to discuss this same thing.

Since he was concerned about a "caretaker" I floated the idea of a volunteer railfan group to cut trees and clear the ROW. He didn't know about that, because of liabilities, but he didn't dismiss it either. I told him I could probably round up some people with chainsaws and cutters and clear the ROW North of Quakertown. I didn't really get a response to that one.

I also noted SEPTA's reduction of service, as opposed to expansion. He noted that they are going to expand service to Wawa and with the new source of dedicated funding, are going to look elsewhere too. He also mentioned another rail line that is being used as a trail, but I wasn't familiar with the name that he used.

When I questioned rail removal on a non-abandoned railroad, he said they consulted with their legal council and saw no problems. He said that since they are state chartered (like PADOT) they have some extra leeway. I told him I'm pretty sure that they are still a railroad and governed by the STB on matters like this.

He was a nice guy, but my next step is to write a letter to the STB....

For what it's worth, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Morning Call this morning.... we'll see if they bother to publish any of it.

I definately think the best thing for this situation is to get the media involved. They would love a good story about Septa paying to tear apart a rail line and put a bike trail in instead of actually spending the money and bring the railroad back.With todays high oil prices and search for travel alternatives it doesnt make sense what Septa is doing

Update:

Two weeks ago, I called the STB and eventually somebody (Tom Brugman) called me back. We talked for a while about my concerns and he said to email him the information and his staff would look into it. Last week I emailed him the info and today I received a call from somebody else at the STB (Brian O'Boyle, who I believe is a lawyer).

Basically, I gave him some information and he said that they don't have any record of the line being abandoned, but at the same time, it doesn't seem to show up on any of their maps showing active rail lines. Because the STB only came into existence in 1995 after the ICC was abolished, they don't have easy access to older records, except via microfiche (ugh!). An interesting point that he made, is that since if the line was abandoned, but the tracks were never removed, the abandonment was never consummated. Usually there is a period of time that they must follow through on the abandonment (like NS had to keep filing extensions on the BB by Union Station when the county kept stalling), but he did say it's possible that in the old days, there might not have been a time limit. Interesting though.

Since he was having trouble getting information, he asked if he could contact SEPTA to see if they have any information and I said sure. I told him how I thought it sounded fishy when I questioned the SEPTA guy about following STB abandonment procedures and he said that their lawyers said they didn't need to follow them since they were a government agency.... I'm not being secretive about contacting the STB, as I even told SETPA that I'd be doing so. If SETPA has evidence of abandonment, then so be it.

Mr. O'Boyle asked if the rail removal had started already and I told him that I didn't know. I said that I believe SEPTA had received bids, but I was not aware if they had issued a winner yet. He related some stories related to the high price of scrap and thieves stealing lots of railroad stuff.

Oh, Mr. O'Boyle questioned my intent/interest in the matter and I expressed how I hate to see our national railroad infrastructure torn up as it's unlikely to be replaced once gone. I also mentioned how there is a group attempting to restore commuter rail to a point just below where SEPTA wants to remove the tracks.