railroad near wind gap pa.?

i live in wind gap pa. there was a railroad that has been abandoned since around 1900 as far as i can tell.i know it runs into jacobsburg state park and connects to the railroad that runs along the mountain to pen argyl.i have been intrigued by this for years but cant seem to find any info on it?it runs through my property.help please.?

Possibly the Lehigh and New England?

The L&NE's Saylorsburg Branch.. It ran to Lake Peponoming, mostly for the ice-trade.. Loooooong before we had mechanical refrigeration. It's been abandoned since the 1920's.

-MJK

56-57 wrote:The L&NE's Saylorsburg Branch.. It ran to Lake Peponoming, mostly for the ice-trade.. Loooooong before we had mechanical refrigeration. It's been abandoned since the 1920's.

-MJK

I think Jacobsburg park is south of the town of Wind gap. The Saylorsburg branch ran north through the gap itself to the Lake as you note.

There was a "Nazareth Branch" of the L&NE that ran south from the LNE main just west of Wind Gap, down south through what is now Jacobsburg Park, and down west of Nazerth. I think it also went out a long time ago.
See http://historical.mytopo.com/quad.cfm?q ... &series=15 and click on "Southeast" . After the page comes up click on it for a close-up.

Note running east west just north of the town of Wind Gap the L&NE had two alignments about 1/2 mile apart. The Saylorsburg branch came off the more northern (newer?) one and the Nazareth branch off the southern (older) one.

JS

There was, as of 2006, an abandoned station along that ROW in Wind Gap. I think a new Walmart was built on the site, however. The Morning Call reported Walmart's "dicovery" of the railroad station, though it was visible from the road.

thanks pumpers,i greatly appreciate your reply.ive lived on male rd all my life and was always curious about rr.it is now a ppl transmission line but also my driveway.i still find rr spikes and lots of coal ,plus there is a small bridge crossing,about 4ft wide down in the woods.thanks again.

Would this be the same line that runs down through Pen Argyl? I have not been up there in awhile, but there were remains of an old yard with and a converted round house with turntable in place. I think it was a paper recycler in the round house.

Googling around I found this --- the middle of the page has some hikers exploring down the old Nazareth branch ROW with pictures. Maybe there are some of your driveway!
http://theweirdusmessageboard.yuku.com/ ... --NJ-.html
The weirdness they refer to is all the dead land from the old zinc smelters by Palmerton.
Another site has a company report which says the line was abandoned in 1939.
JS

first pics are from palmerton zinc co.pic #91 is i believe 512s below country junction store looking north.thats how my property looks.if you would follow the tower line north to the mountain about 100 yds you would be on my property.

Here's some more information. The L&NE Nazareth Branch opened for service in 1901. It started in Wind Gap using the old "Bender's Link" (the southern and older of the two alignments at the base of the mountain) right of way between Wind Gap and Bushkill Junction. From Bushill Junction (near Rismillers)heading south, the PPL power line occupies the line heading towards Jacobsburg. At Jacobsburg, their Sobers Run hiking trail occupies a portion of the right of way. South of Jacobsburg the lines passes through Bushkill Center, Aluta, and Christian Spring before joining the L&NE Martins Creek Branch at a point near Nazareth called Northampton Junction. I read somewhere the line was taken out of service early but not offically abandoned until 1939 as it was mentioned. Despite the heavy grade, most trains to and from Pen Argyl to Martins Creek used the Bethlehem Branch between Benders Junction and Bath so the Nazareth Branch was pretty much superfluous trackage. I'm sure the few remaining customers that were located on the line by the 1930's weren't enough of a reason to keep operating the line. It is overgrown now but you can still see a lot of bridge abutments over creeks and small tributaries.

I see that the turntable in Pen Argyl is gone, but the 1/4 roundhouse is still standing.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=pen ... 8&t=h&z=19

if you look at pic #91 that is below country junction store rt512s.if you go 100yds north you will be on my property.the first pics are of palmerton zinc co.horsehead inc.it was a superfund site that was replanted years ago by jh beers .the plant side now has lots of vegetation.

Well when the he** did that happen? The table was in when Anthracite had a convention group visit the site a few years ago. The pit had been filled with dirt but the table itself was still in!

Shucks!

-MJK

Here's a link to the pictures that I took back in 2001 of the LNE facility in Pen Argyl when the turntable was still in the ground.

http://jrevans.fbody.com/pen_argyl_11162001/

From what I read online, the turntable was originally supposed to go to the Altoona Railroader's museum, but ended up at the awesome Strasburg Railroad, where it will hopefully be installed someday. (Altoona ended up with a different turntable.)

That's a much better twist to the story than I imagined.

Thanks for the info!

-MJK