As a Railroader it always breaks my heart to see sidings and tracks being abandoned, I have had to straight rail too many switches and remove tracks from service that will never see a train again, like I said hard to watch but you make an excellent video but on the plus side I've had to put a few switches back in when a companies want to start using rail service again I hope that Trend continues LOL
Hi Ian. Thank you for reaching out. I love hearing a railroaders point of view. There are quite a few sidings in this area that are not being used. Fortunately most of them only require a switch to be reactivated. Well probably track work too. It's neat watching the switching everyday. You guys are awesome and the work you do apriciated more than you know. Have a nice evening sir.
I live about a mile away from there. I almost never see a freight train in operation when we go by the tracks. But, over 24 years ago we got stopped by a few trains in Chapman on Memorial Rd. and Ruppsville Rd. at night. I wonder if the blue Conrail caboose is still in the Chapman yard. NS took over some Conrail lines including most tracks in the Lehigh Valley in 1998-1999. Conrail originally started April 1, 1976 and the Fogelsville branch used to be Reading Company.
Good morning sir. I have the fortune of working on Snowdrift rd. I catch the switching operations that go on Monday thru Friday. Always lots of box cars. To the best of my knowledge they run two trains a day. All the freight is parked at the small yard in Alburtis and then is brought up to Foglesville. They keep the empties at Chapmans yard until they are taken back to Alburtis. The caboose you speak of is no longer at Chapmans unfortunately. I go up there from time to time to look at the build dates on the rolling stock. I believe they run one train during the day and another one at night. Have a great day.
I sort of remember the cement silos being dynamited back around 1976. Maybe someone has a more precise date. The old cement plant had a huge paved area and radio controlled model aircraft hobbyists used to meet there to fly their planes. I doubt that they had permission from anyone but the cement plant had shut down and the grounds were just a ruin. The C&F of course once ran through to Catty and there was an interchange there with the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh & New England. The L&NE crossed the river on their own bridge. The C&F also once went a little past Fogelsville to the iron furnace (I forget the name but it’s a park now) but finding any traces would be near impossible now. I think that the iron furnace shut down around 1920.
Good morning Bob. I'm just learning about the Lehigh Cement plant and I've worked in this industrial park for over a decade. It's amazing what hides right in front of you. Someone else mentioned the model airplane club. That is really cool. The furnace in Alburtis was the Lock Ridge furnace. Part of the Thomas Iron Works. The park is amazing with lots of preserved remains. You can still find railroad ties from the ore spur that left the Iron Works and headed south to where Bear Creek Ski area is. Not to be confused with the Bear Creek in Luzerne County. The Catasaqua and Foglesville is a fun railroad to study.
@@kevinsalsbury2118 I worked for Air Products at an office in the industrial park in the 1970’s. They leased space there while the new office building on the T-Town campus was being built. I also knew the guy whose family sold the farm that became much of Iron Run. He had verbal permission to hunt there until it was developed but of course that evaporated quickly as the industrial park was very rapidly developed. After 50 years living in the valley I’m in Chester County now. Lots of abandoned railroads around here: PRR main up the Schuylkill. PRR branch Phoenixville to Devault (serviced Devault quarry) RDG branch Phoenixville to Lionville through Kimberton Short lived Del River & Lancaster RR Kimberton to St. Peter’s (lasted 10 years) Wilmington & Northern RDG line - Birdsboro to Wilmington Spur of the W&N from Elverson to St. Peter’s I could go on . . .
Hi Samantha. I believe the Lehigh and New England had a tunnel in Catasaqua. Someone else mentioned this a while back. I'm going to have to check this out. Thanks 😊
Nice! Love your explorations! I grew up near Hazleton but haven’t been up in a while to NE PA so thanks for all your doing to capture the railroad history
Hi Kerry. I think the same thing. Quite a few sidings siting unused. There must be underlying issues that I'm not aware of. The company I work for uses rail to bring products from the west coast but they are intermodel so the railboxes get picked up by trucks in a yard.
Good morning. I love the rail history in Allentown. I've been wanting to do a couple videos on the Barber branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad. The wooden trestle in the parkway was part of this branch and it's always fascinated me. Any good suggestions? Thank you and have a wonderful day.
@@kevinsalsbury2118 Beyond the wooden trestle it serviced a fertilizer plant that I was told stank to high heaven when it was operating. I’m 77 and the info was given to me many years ago by a guy who was elderly back then. After the fertilizer plant the line terminated in a small quarry. I’ve fished with my kids from the trestle and the concrete ruins of an industrial facility are/were visible just west of the trestle. That’s about all I know about the Barber branch. I have no clue where there might be an abandoned quarry off the parkway somewhere. In 2006 I met a 94 year old who I was later told had once worked in the fertilizer factory. If I had known when I was talking to him I would have asked him about it. Obviously, he’s no longer with us.
Thank you Bob. I think that this line ran to Hamilton Street to serve what I believe was Wentz memorials. They made head stones there and I think union terrace park may have been a quarry at one time. There is a bridge by parketts that was part of the Barber as well. Thanks again.
@@kevinsalsbury2118 It actually crossed Hamilton St . The quarry is on the other side of street from Union Terrace . Where Parkettes is where the wire mill was . At one point it had it's own branch . Traylor Engineering off of 10th had it's own yard and switcher .
Most of those Cryotrans reefers have a the name of a person or place stenciled on the plug door up high! Kind of a unique thing to look for! I’d love to know the process they used to determine what car got what name. One would guess they’re employee names and plant locations.
Tom that is to cool. No pun intended. I'm going to start checking this out. I'm always looking for build dates on rolling stock so this will be a new thing to look for. Thank you and have a great day!
@@kevinsalsbury2118 Kind of like the CP rolling stock that’s lettered “Canadian Pacific” on the “L” side, and “Canadien Pacific” on the “R” side! I think they still do that.
I worked there about 38 years ago. They have different sections of the facility, which are just giant freezers kept at different temperatures. They are very big sections and workers use forklifts to move around pallets of various foods, stored 4 or 5 pallets high, and about 6 pallets deep per rack. The section I worked in was kept at 30 degrees BELOW Zero: Ice Cream; Sides of Beef; Turkish Gamehens; Mrs. Smith Pie Crusts etc.
I love your videos but can you please stop using your phone and get a real camera. The videos are always blurry and fuzzy and even a little shaky. You can get a good camera cheap these days. Smartphones just don't take good video. We are spoiled with videos online these days where even a kid with a camera can look professional which makes the quality look worse. We all would appreciate it.
Good morning Dan. You are absolutely correct about the quality of the videos I make. No one notices it more than I. It is frustrating, unfortunately this is the best I can do. I'm just doing this for fun and it's more enjoyable for me if I can share It with someone. I am sorry and completely agree with everything you've said.
Kevin- your videos are PERFECT just the way they are!!! Don’t change!!!! Maybe the spoiled brat who wrote this is willing to pony up and buy you the camera he wants you to use
As a Railroader it always breaks my heart to see sidings and tracks being abandoned, I have had to straight rail too many switches and remove tracks from service that will never see a train again, like I said hard to watch but you make an excellent video but on the plus side I've had to put a few switches back in when a companies want to start using rail service again I hope that Trend continues LOL
Hi Ian. Thank you for reaching out. I love hearing a railroaders point of view. There are quite a few sidings in this area that are not being used. Fortunately most of them only require a switch to be reactivated. Well probably track work too. It's neat watching the switching everyday. You guys are awesome and the work you do apriciated more than you know. Have a nice evening sir.
That’s a good sign 🚂🙏🏻
Thank you for posting material from the present-day rail scene in the LV area.
Absolutely my pleasure sir. I work right next to this line so I get to see them do some switching fairly often.
You were VERY close to where I live. In fact, I drove past this area at least twice today.
I work right on the other side of tracks. I'm always watching them switch out the buildings around me. When I'm on break of course.
Hi Kevin, great filming of the rail spurs in that area! Very enjoyable video like always!👍
Thank you Dave!
I live about a mile away from there. I almost never see a freight train in operation when we go by the tracks. But, over 24 years ago we got stopped by a few trains in Chapman on Memorial Rd. and Ruppsville Rd. at night. I wonder if the blue Conrail caboose is still in the Chapman yard. NS took over some Conrail lines including most tracks in the Lehigh Valley in 1998-1999. Conrail originally started April 1, 1976 and the Fogelsville branch used to be Reading Company.
Good morning sir. I have the fortune
of working on Snowdrift rd. I catch the switching operations that go on Monday thru Friday. Always lots of box cars. To the best of my knowledge they run two trains a day. All the freight is parked at the small yard in Alburtis and then is brought up to Foglesville. They keep the empties at Chapmans yard until they are taken back to Alburtis. The caboose you speak of is no longer at Chapmans unfortunately. I go up there from time to time to look at the build dates on the rolling stock.
I believe they run one train during the day and another one at night. Have a great day.
I sort of remember the cement silos being dynamited back around 1976. Maybe someone has a more precise date. The old cement plant had a huge paved area and radio controlled model aircraft hobbyists used to meet there to fly their planes. I doubt that they had permission from anyone but the cement plant had shut down and the grounds were just a ruin.
The C&F of course once ran through to Catty and there was an interchange there with the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh & New England. The L&NE crossed the river on their own bridge.
The C&F also once went a little past Fogelsville to the iron furnace (I forget the name but it’s a park now) but finding any traces would be near impossible now. I think that the iron furnace shut down around 1920.
Good morning Bob. I'm just learning about the Lehigh Cement plant and I've worked in this industrial park for over a decade. It's amazing what hides right in front of you. Someone else mentioned the model airplane club. That is really cool. The furnace in Alburtis was the Lock Ridge furnace. Part of the Thomas Iron Works. The park is amazing with lots of preserved remains. You can still find railroad ties from the ore spur that left the Iron Works and headed south to where Bear Creek Ski area is. Not to be confused with the Bear Creek in Luzerne County. The Catasaqua and Foglesville is a fun railroad to study.
@@kevinsalsbury2118
I worked for Air Products at an office in the industrial park in the 1970’s. They leased space there while the new office building on the T-Town campus was being built.
I also knew the guy whose family sold the farm that became much of Iron Run. He had verbal permission to hunt there until it was developed but of course that evaporated quickly as the industrial park was very rapidly developed.
After 50 years living in the valley I’m in Chester County now. Lots of abandoned railroads around here:
PRR main up the Schuylkill.
PRR branch Phoenixville to Devault (serviced Devault quarry)
RDG branch Phoenixville to Lionville through Kimberton
Short lived Del River & Lancaster RR Kimberton to St. Peter’s (lasted 10 years)
Wilmington & Northern RDG line - Birdsboro to Wilmington
Spur of the W&N from Elverson to St. Peter’s
I could go on . . .
Did they fill in a tunnel in Catasauqua?
Hi Samantha. I believe the Lehigh and New England had a tunnel in Catasaqua. Someone else mentioned this a while back. I'm going to have to check this out. Thanks 😊
@@kevinsalsbury2118 Thanks 👋
Nice! Love your explorations! I grew up near Hazleton but haven’t been up in a while to NE PA so thanks for all your doing to capture the railroad history
Thank you Brian! You need to take a road trip this summer and check out your old stomping grounds.
There is a channel DD Explores that a woman from Hazelton has. She goes to a lot of old RR places.
I love DD! She had great videos.
It's amazing these companies don't want rail service, imagine how much money they wpuld save.
Hi Kerry. I think the same thing. Quite a few sidings siting unused. There must be underlying issues that I'm not aware of. The company I work for uses rail to bring products from the west coast but they are intermodel so the railboxes get picked up by trucks in a yard.
Liked the video, thumbs up
Thank you Barbara.
This great . I could show you some cool abandoned rails in Allentown .
Good morning. I love the rail history in Allentown. I've been wanting to do a couple videos on the Barber branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad. The wooden trestle in the parkway was part of this branch and it's always fascinated me. Any good suggestions? Thank you and have a wonderful day.
@@kevinsalsbury2118 If you start at Kline's Island you can walk most of it with a few small detours to the end pretty much .
@@kevinsalsbury2118 Beyond the wooden trestle it serviced a fertilizer plant that I was told stank to high heaven when it was operating. I’m 77 and the info was given to me many years ago by a guy who was elderly back then. After the fertilizer plant the line terminated in a small quarry. I’ve fished with my kids from the trestle and the concrete ruins of an industrial facility are/were visible just west of the trestle. That’s about all I know about the Barber branch. I have no clue where there might be an abandoned quarry off the parkway somewhere.
In 2006 I met a 94 year old who I was later told had once worked in the fertilizer factory. If I had known when I was talking to him I would have asked him about it. Obviously, he’s no longer with us.
Thank you Bob. I think that this line ran to Hamilton Street to serve what I believe was Wentz memorials. They made head stones there and I think union terrace park may have been a quarry at one time. There is a bridge by parketts that was part of the Barber as well. Thanks again.
@@kevinsalsbury2118 It actually crossed Hamilton St . The quarry is on the other side of street from Union Terrace . Where Parkettes is where the wire mill was . At one point it had it's own branch . Traylor Engineering off of 10th had it's own yard and switcher .
Thanks for the info.
Glad you're enjoying these my friend.
Very interesting and thanks for sharing
Absolutely my pleasure Stanton. Thank you for watching.
Two thumbs up buddy.
Thank you John!!
Most of those Cryotrans reefers have a the name of a person or place stenciled on the plug door up high! Kind of a unique thing to look for! I’d love to know the process they used to determine what car got what name. One would guess they’re employee names and plant locations.
Tom that is to cool. No pun intended. I'm going to start checking this out. I'm always looking for build dates on rolling stock so this will be a new thing to look for. Thank you and have a great day!
@@kevinsalsbury2118 Kind of like the CP rolling stock that’s lettered “Canadian Pacific” on the “L” side, and “Canadien Pacific” on the “R” side! I think they still do that.
Great informative video
Thank you James!!
That is what Branchline railroads look like.
Cold storage, is that a grocery store warehouse ?
I worked there about 38 years ago. They have different sections of the facility, which are just giant freezers kept at different temperatures. They are very big sections and workers use forklifts to move around pallets of various foods, stored 4 or 5 pallets high, and about 6 pallets deep per rack. The section I worked in was kept at 30 degrees BELOW Zero: Ice Cream; Sides of Beef; Turkish Gamehens; Mrs. Smith Pie Crusts etc.
Perfect description. Thank you.
I always wondered what cold storage was. Sat outside the enterance to the Holland Tunnel many years seeing that big brick building on the Jersey side.
I love your videos but can you please stop using your phone and get a real camera. The videos are always blurry and fuzzy and even a little shaky. You can get a good camera cheap these days. Smartphones just don't take good video. We are spoiled with videos online these days where even a kid with a camera can look professional which makes the quality look worse. We all would appreciate it.
Good morning Dan. You are absolutely correct about the quality of the videos I make. No one notices it more than I. It is frustrating, unfortunately this is the best I can do. I'm just doing this for fun and it's more enjoyable for me if I can share It with someone. I am sorry and completely agree with everything you've said.
Kevin- your videos are PERFECT just the way they are!!!
Don’t change!!!!
Maybe the spoiled brat who wrote this is willing to pony up and buy you the camera he wants you to use
Thank you Steve! If I were to get a better camera odds are I'd drop it on the first take 😆
@@kevinsalsbury2118 instead; drop the chalupa on the commenter
Lol chalupa. My first job was at Taco Bell. 1995 right outside of Reading.