• Rail Traffic in the Slate Belt (Bangor PA area)

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania

Moderator: bwparker1

  by jonnhrr
 
I just moved to the "Slate Belt" and noticed there are tracks going through Bangor PA that seem to still be active.
I was curious as to what traffic there is on this line and when would be the best time to see a train.
  by pdtrains
 
The track that runs north-south on the east side of Bangor is old Lackawanna, and i believe L&NE before that.

Today its NS...its the "back road" to the poconos and scranton via the DL, which operates the old DL&W from slateford jct to Scranton.

Maybe about 10 years ago, it was pretty active as a thru route from the NS system to Scranton. There were also coal trains to the Portland powerplanr, before it stopped using coal.

Today thru traffic comes into scranton one of the other three thru routes into town.....so idk if there are anymore regular trains thru Bangor. If there are any local industries getting carloads, it would be via a local from Allentown, probably 1 day a week, or as needed.

The L&NE used to come into Bangor from Pen Argyl...but i think those tracks are gone. The NS may still operate to Penn Argyl...IDK...

I tried to find an accurate PennDOT rr map on the web, but no luck. There might be one on Railroad.net here.
  by R36 Combine Coach
 
PennDOT's Northampton County map shows detail, might also refer to the NJDOT Warren County map.

Both PennDOT and NJDOT seem to suggest the NS line is a severed stub south of Bangor, unless the bridge to the Bel-Del is still active. There is also a stub south of Portland that is the original Lackawanna Main Line (the bridge is
no longer in use).
  by pdtrains
 
The bridge to the BelDel at martins creek is in, and used to serve the big flour milling plant just south of martins creek on what was old LNE trackage... I believe u can still get to stroudsburg from allentown via the LHR/BelDel/lackawanna
  by R36 Combine Coach
 
Apparently still the case. NS on the Bel-Del connects the the Lehigh Valley Line at Phillipsburg.

That makes two through routes between Lehigh Valley and Scranton, the other the RBMN via Jim Thrope.