Use of LVRR main after CR

When did CR cut back on the use of the LVRR main north of A'town? I know it was put oos in 1984-ish and track removed. But in the late 70s and early 80s Lehighton interlocking was still in place, as were the 4 tracks of the LVRR. I can't see why as it was just redundant duplicate trackage. I can't figure out why CR didn't just abandon it immediately in '76. Both lines left A'town, split apart along the river, then came back together at Lehighton. Makes no sense. I spoke to a buddy who said they ran a passenger trip up the LV main from A'town in the early 80s and several of the grade xings were paved over and they just ran over them!

That passenger run was a Railtours-Inc deadhead equipment move with the 972 and train, taking everything back to Jim Thorpe from Reading.. That year, 1983, the RCT&HS and RTI ran excursions commemorating the 150th birthday of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.. The trip back to JT was run on the then out-of-service LV main. The crossing at Slatington had already been paved over, the Conrail pilot wasn't aware and the train with through the blacktop at something greater than 15 m.p.h. More like 55 m.p.h. from what I've been told. (Embellishments are possible).

Regarding why the LV main was abandoned, it made more sense to keep the line that fed traffic from the north directly into Allentown Yard. Also, there were more customers on the former CNJ side than on the LV side.

Micah

The LV used it as a bypass, it took traffic levels to drop off to where a bypass of the CNJ side was no longer needed. Also I think some changes were made to make it easier to use the CNJ side and still bypass Allentown yard -

carajul wrote:When did CR cut back on the use of the LVRR main north of A'town? I know it was put oos in 1984-ish and track removed. But in the late 70s and early 80s Lehighton interlocking was still in place, as were the 4 tracks of the LVRR. I can't see why as it was just redundant duplicate trackage. I can't figure out why CR didn't just abandon it immediately in '76. Both lines left A'town, split apart along the river, then came back together at Lehighton. Makes no sense. I spoke to a buddy who said they ran a passenger trip up the LV main from A'town in the early 80s and several of the grade xings were paved over and they just ran over them!

CR tended to be slow and methodical about making changes after C-Day, to prevent the fiascos like lost trains that plagued PC. Let's not forget that CR also continued to use for the Lackawanna main until 1979 and the Panhandle Line until the early '80s, only to abandon each of them as traffic levels fell during the recession. I also think the continued decline of manufacturing in the Northeast may have factored into CR's decision to abandon that section of LV, as traffic levels no longer warranted two routes into Allentown.

lvrr325 wrote:The LV used it as a bypass, it took traffic levels to drop off to where a bypass of the CNJ side was no longer needed. Also I think some changes were made to make it easier to use the CNJ side and still bypass Allentown yard -

The LV wouldn't run the Apollo or Mercury TOFC/COFC trains thru A'town yard, not when there was a 60 m.p.h. main on the other side of the river. On C-Day, those trains were given to the D&H, and Conrail had little interest in providing the competition with a speedy route to the NYC metro area.. They continued running on the LV main until it was taken out of service..

In the early or mid 1990's, CP Rail was interested in buying the r.o.w. from CR in order to relay the track and have their own route, as well as to again, bypass the slow, congested Allentown Yard.. Again, CR wasn't interested in furthering the interests of the competition..

MJK

as cool as conrail was to railfan, the further you get away from it, the more you start to understand how they had a monopoly in the business aspect of it.