Restoration of LV Barber Branch?

Below is a link and the article which appeared on today's (Nov. 10th, 2010) Morning Call website concerning grants to local railroads. It appears that they are proposing restoration of the Lehigh Valley's Barber Branch, so that RJ Corman can reach an industrial site on South 10th Street:

http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-pennsy ... 2386.story

Local railroad projects get state funding
State announces $32.5 million in rail freight grants

By Scott Kraus, OF THE MORNING CALL
3:30 p.m. EST, November 10, 2010
Several regional rail freight projects were awarded state grants Tuesday.
Air Products and Chemicals Inc. was awarded $1.8 million to replace railroad ties, crossings, a bridge and tunnel lining, raise track and relocate obstructions in Carbon and Luzerne counties.
In Lehigh County, the Allentown Economic Development Corporation earned $1.4 million to restore an abandoned rail line connecting 80 acres of industrially zoned land near South 10th Street to an existing Allentown rail line operated by Kentucky-based rail freight company R.J. Corman.
The hope is that the extension will help existing manufacturers in the area, and lead to future industrial development.
"It helps R.J. Corman and helps urban economic development for urban manufacturing," said Scott Unger, executive director of the development corporation. The total project cost is estimated at $2 million, and AEDC is seeking matching dollars.
The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority was awarded $1.3 million to acquire track to allow for the growth of existing and new rail traffic for the Marcellus Shale industry, as well as remove salt and corrosion on bridge downspouts and a rail bridge in Northampton and Monroe counties.
Allentown-based Scot Lubricants of PA was awarded $352,800 to construct three new spurs to serve a new facility the company hopes to open later this year in Northampton Borough at the former Ponderosa Fibers building.
"We've been trying to get it for a couple of years," said Tim Fritz, Scot Lubricants' president.
The state Department of Community and Economic Development estimates the grants—$32.5 million statewide — will create as many as 2,500 jobs.

You have got to be kidding me!!!

RJ Corman just tore that line out a few years ago. Completely obliterated it!!! Now they want to re lay the rails? I walked the line in the mid-90s. It was intact but completely overgrown. There is only one industry left that could use rail. The Mack Truck factory, Barber Quary, and 20+ other industrial rail businesses are now all condos.

I was surprised by this, too. So you can make money by abandoning a rail line and selling it for scrap and then bill the government to rebuild it for you.

Of course, I'm a little bitter because Mr. Rendell gave a competitor (D&I Silica) $700,000 for rail improvements at a time when profit margins for frac sand are approaching a record set back in 2004-2005.

I am in the wrong business...or I'm in the wrong company in the right business.

Rendell is great at giving away OUR money to the wrong folks. He recently gave the New York Yankees a TON of money to renovate PNC Field in Lackawanna County. The same Yankees that can field a $220 million ballclub!

I'm so glad he'll soon be working his sportscasting job full time!

From looking at old and modern maps, I am confused about how the restored trackage will tie into the existing NS main line (or secondary trackage) in Allentown. Maybe I am missing something

It seems the original LV Barber branch ran along the south side of Little Lehigh Creek and north of the Mack property. East of the Mack property it crossed the creek right at Lehigh St and then ran through US Steel/American Wire to cross Jordan Creek to get to the mainline. But those bridges are long gone as well and the American Wire site has been redeveloped w/o tracks.

The Reading had a spur to Mack truck, in the middle of the property, (a few hundred feet south of the Creek and LV, but parallel to them there). The Reading spur came off the Reading line into downtown Allentown near the old wye just south of where Jordan Creek and Little Lehigh Creek come together. The leg of the wye it connected to is now gone. It did not cross any creek but crossed Lehigh St on a bridge, which is now gone.

Probably the Reading and LV tracks connected though Mack Truck. The Reading ended there I think but at one time the LV Barber branch went a mile or so farther.

Which connection is the last one which was used, and how will the new connection be made? Maybe RJ Corman wants it tied into its existing trackage. Should we be referring to this restoration as the LV Barber branch or actually as a Reading spur?

JS

EDIT: It seems the LV may have had another route from Mack Truck to the main besides going through American Steel north of the creek and crossing the creek at Lehigh St. There might have been a track that hugged the south side of the creek east of Lehigh St. , crossing the old CNJ/Reading passenger main, and then crossing Jordan Creek (Little Lehigh Ck?) 100 feet east of the CNJ/Reading to tie into the LV passenger main. The remains of the this bridge over the creek are still there. So maybe this is what is coming back... I re-read the article and it said it will connect to existing Corman track, which this would do.

The barber branch did not connect to the LV main. It connected to the LV passenger loop track, just shy of Union St. The LV passenger loop is still intact and used by RJ Cormon. All the bridges are still in place. However as you pointed out, just over the creek the entire area that was Mack Truck is now completely redeveloped with MLK drive and condos. So if they rebuild the barber branch they will have to re-align the row.

The LV and CNJ/RDG (Allentown Terminal RR) had loop tracks thru A'town that crossed each other on a diamond ontop of Union St. The barber branch crossed all of this too. A tower, known as Union St tower, controlled all of this. After psgr service was gone the CNJ loop was abandoned but the LV remained as a bypass for apollo piggy back trains around A'town yard. Don't know when the barber was taken oos, but probably mid-1980s.

Union St Tower was torn down in 1971 but you can still see the square cement foundation off to the side of Union St to this day. In later years the only reason the tower remained manned was to control the crossing gates at Union st which were still manually operated, for when the Appolos came racing thru.

Not being from the area originally, was the area north of MLK Drive (where the Parkettes and River bend Apartments now are) part of Mack trucks as well? Or was Mack just in the area around S. 10th St? There is an old RR bridge visible from MLK Drive near the Parkettes building over the Little Lehigh -- was that another branch off the Barber?

The barber was officially taken out of service (or abandoned, I wish I had the newsletter with me that has this listed) in 1994..

As for Apollos bypassing Allentown yard on the LV's passenger loop, the only thing the Loop bypassed was the LV main.. A'town yard is still on the other side of the river..

If the bridge in question over the Little Lehigh is a timber pile trestle, than that carried the barber branch itself.. The end of the branch still has a few lengths of rail in it, covered with large monument stones at a headstone (pretty sure they're headstones) company on Hamilton St. at the bottom of the hill below St. Luke's Allentown hospital..

-Micah

The barber branch may have been abandoned in 1994 but I walked it that year and it was in the middle of the woods with trees growing thru it. So it must have been taken oos 20+ years earlier. I sent RJ Cormon an email a few years ago and they told me they were trying to sell the row to the city of A'town and then very nasty told me to mind my own business.

Take a look at the Penn Pilot images of the area. Where the little wooden trestle is that now dead ends at MLK that carried the branch. It was solid factories in that area decades ago.

There is still a 4 track yard in some warehouse along the creek. Track is still in place and there are around 6 stranded flat cars parked there. The wooden track elevation/trestle thing is still in place in Fountain Park too. I had a VHS video of the local running to the barber quarry in the late 60s and the train ducked under these willow trees...they are still there to this day.

I know the LV kept the passenger loop in place for Apollos to bypass 'something'. Don't know what. Maybe the main got bottlenecked or something. The LV main didn't go into A'town yard but to East Penn Jct.

I'm going to explore the area in December. A'town isn't the safest place anymore either, especially in the old industrial area. In years past I'd go railfanning with a camera and bottle of water. Now I also pring a can of peper spray and a .45 caliber pistol too. Sad, but a sign of the times.

That yard and stranded flatcars all belong to Traylor Engineering Co. They have a critter and use the flats to move products around the plant..

If you look on the 'other' website (railfan.net), you can see pics of the barber branch in use thru 1990 or 1991.. But obviously not all of it.. At least out to Traylor..

-Micah

Can you give us a link on Railfan? I couldn't find the photos from '91.

Did Taylor stop using rail service or did CR tell them buzz off?

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... 1288908817

here ya go!

-micah

Found the pics. Amazing. I think Taylor would be a viable customer. Don't know why they stopped serving them and ripped the rails out. I also enjoyed the photos of the West End branch.

With the salaries paid to today's train crews, track maint, and the cost of diesel fuel, I can't see how branch lines like this that sporatically deliver a box car here and there can ever be financially viable to the rr.