Quarry near Bridgeport

In 1962, while driving to the Bridgeport engine facility, I passed a huge stone quarry somewhere nearby..... can anyone help me on exactly where this was and if it is still in operation?

There's actually a couple of them in the general area. The one closest to Bridgeport was in Swedeland, just west of River Road, Rt 23 near the turnpike overpasses. This quarry was served by the Reading mainline at one time but the remains of all trackage were removed several years ago when the Philadelphia Inquirer printing plant was built. I don't believe this quarry is active any longer. The other sizeable quarry in the area is at Corsons, which is southeast of Conshohocken along Joshua Road. This quarry is still very active and was served by the Reading Plymouth branch.

Two others are the Henderson quarry along Route 202 and the P&W (SEPTA Route 100) just west of Bridgeport, and the Cedar Hollow (Devault) quarry visible from the Turnpike west of Valley Forge. They're all defunct.

All I remember is that it was huge. very, very deep and visible right off the road..... drove up to a chainlink fence and took a shot....that slide is somewhere in 15,000 slides of mine..... thought this would be easier... thanks to all that are answering.

Where were you driving from to reach Bridgeport?

We came in from New Jersey to shoot the Reading roundhouse and engine facility............

You took the Penna. Turnpike? It's the only direct route from NJ that goes by a quarry; for the others, you would have been prowling around. It's the Henderson quarry, right alongside the old US 202 on which you backtracked to Bridgeport. The quarry is still there, full of water. Go look at it on maps.google.com and choose the sattelite view.

Just saw it on the satellite photo... thanks out there.

Hello,

The Quarry that you might be talking of is the old Bridgeport Quarry located on Rt. 23 which is next to the old Bridgeport Locomotive Shops and Round house, This quarry is now out of order.

Len.

glennk419 wrote:The one closest to Bridgeport was in Swedeland, just west of River Road, Rt 23 near the turnpike overpasses. This quarry was served by the Reading mainline at one time but the remains of all trackage were removed several years ago when the Philadelphia Inquirer printing plant was built.

I'm going a little off topic here, and asking if the Philadelphia Inquirer plant use rail service for delivery of paper rolls?

Yes, fortunately the Inquirer still receives rolls of newsprint via rail. I believe the plant is actually switched by the Upper Merion & Plymouth RR. You can often see several CSX and CN boxcars lined boxcars lined up behind the plants.

The one nearest to Bridgeport was a swimmin hole for our gang of local kids in the 1940's, and we called it Blacksnake Quarry. It was very deep, and the water was a clear green. There were several drownings at that place. We didn't go there often after the first drowning, and when we did we were real careful. We would always have one kid who was a strong swimmer keep an eye on everyone. That was often my best friend Jimmie Brazel, who would later to be best man at my wedding in 1960. Jimmi and I arfe still friends, and keep in touch via email.