Kulp, Randolph L., ed. Railroads in the Lehigh River
Valley, Lehigh Valley Chapter
National Railway Historical Society, 1962
Catasauqua
And Fogelsville Railroad
Lehigh
And New England Railroad Company
pp. 33 - 34
The
Ironton Railroad Company, chartered June 3, 1859, inaugurated service on May 24,
1860, from Hokendauqua to hematite iron ore beds at Ironton, a distance of five
and one-half miles, and several limestone quarries enroute. Between Hokendauqua
and Coplay the railroad operated trains over Lehigh Valley Railroad Company's
track. A three and one-half mile branch reached Orefield and Siegersville
terminus from a point near Ironton -in 1862. The railroad added Coplay-Hokendauqua
trackage in 1865.
Erection
of a portland cement producing mill north of Coplay by David O. Saylor in 1871
provided a product which favorably influenced the railroad's fortunes. Cement
produced by mills built at Coplay, Egypt, and Ormrod replaced revenues lost
when iron ore beds closed gradually between 1891 and 1906.
Thomas
Iron Company acquired The Ironton Railroad Company on February 1, 1882, and
centered all operations in Hokendauqua . During 1884 The Central Railroad
Company of New Jersey established an interchange with The Ironton Railroad
Company via the Northampton-Coplay bridge which spanned Lehigh River and Lehigh
Valley Railroad Company's main line. On December 4, 1917, The Ironton Railroad
Company absorbed Thomas Railroad, a route originally built from the iron
furnaces at Hokendauqua to interchanges with Lehigh Valley Railroad Company and
Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad in West Catasauqua. The consolidation of
trackage increased The Ironton Railroad Company's total mileage to twelve and
one-half miles.
Passenger
service, one daily round trip scheduled between Hokendauqua and Siegersville,
commenced on November, 1, 1898, but ended in 1921. The steam train could not
compete successfully with Lehigh Valley Transit Company's frequent paralleling
street railway service.
In
1907 The Ironton Railroad Company built a large yard between West Catasauqua and
Hokendauqua and a new route which connected the yard and original route at a
junction located mid-way between Coplay and Egypt. The new construction
increased total mileage to slightly less than fourteen miles.
Western
Pennsylvania's iron industry, benefiting from its proximity to bituminous coal
fields and an abundant high grade iron ore supply, gradually undersold eastern
Pennsylvania's iron products and eventually dominated the industry. Accordingly,
Thomas Iron Company's 1914 stockholder's report listed The Ironton Railroad
Company as the only subsidiary which produced a profit. An attempt to
revitalize Lehigh Valley area's iron industry failed in the 1920's.
In
September, 1925, after Interstate Commerce Commission's approval had been
granted, Lehigh Valley Railroad Company and Reading Company, the present
owners, commenced operation of The Ironton Railroad Company. Both companies had
jointly purchased the property from Thomas Iron Company in November, 1923.
Between 1923 and dieselization of motive power, Reading Company transferred
seven "Long John" and four camelback steam locomotives from its
roster to The Ironton Railroad Company's roster.
The
Ironton Railroad Company commenced dieselization in October, 1948, and
completed the program in 1949. During the interval two new 1000 horsepower
Baldwin diesel-electric locomotives replaced the four former Reading Company
camelback type locomotives. Reading Company's West Catasauqua yard switcher,
during both steam and diesel-electric operations from 1925 until cessation of
switching services in November, 1961, used The Ironton Railroad Company's
service and storage facilities at Hokendauqua .
In
winter, 1955-1956, The Ironton Railroad Company abandoned and removed trackage
from a point near Ironton to Siegersville. Motor truck competition,
construction of Pennsyvania's Northeast Turnpike, and lack of a major industry
caused discontinuance of service over the branch from which many carloads of
Lehigh County potatoes had moved to domestic markets. In 1911 Trexler Game
Preserve's personnel unloaded the first herds of deer and buffalo at
Siegersville station.
CATASAUQUA
AND FOGELSVILLE RAILROAD
pp. 69 - 70
Catasauqua
and Fogelsville Railroad, sponsored jointly by Thomas Iron Company of
Hokendauqua and Crane Iron Company of Catasauqua, had been incorporated on
April 5, 1853, as a plank road to connect the iron furnaces with nearby iron
ore and limestone deposits. An amendment to the charter dated April 20, 1854,
allowed the construction of a railroad.
Nine
miles of track built westward from West Catasauqua, the junction of privately
owned tracks extending from both iron companies, opened to Rupp's Station via
"iron bridge" on July 14, 1857. Trackage, originally projected toward
a junction with the proposed Allentown Railroad, reached Trexlertown in 1860,
Alburtis and a connection with East Pennsylvania Railroad in 1864, and
Rittenhouse Gap in 1865. Other short branches, added at intervals, accommodated
farm product shipments, reached new iron ore beds, and served Lehigh Portland
Cement Company's plant at Fogelsville. Passenger trains operated between
Alburtis and West Catasauqua until September 29, 1935.
The
"iron bridge", one thousand, one hundred and sixty-five feet in
length and one hundred and four feet above Jordan River bed, spanned the valley
near Troxells in South Whitehall Township north of Allentown. The eleven
one-hundred foot spans created an engineering masterpiece. Later, use of
heavier locomotives and cars rendered the spindly structure obsolete. Beginning
in summer, 1916, and continuing until 1919, The Philadelphia and Reading
Railway Company conducted a project which completely covered the iron structure
with more than three hundred thousand tons of slag, gravel, and factory ash.
Track crews laid new heavier rail on top of the huge fill.
Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad Company leased Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad on
December 8, 1893, and on August 10, 1944, Reading Company absorbed the property
into the main organization.
LEHIGH AND NEW ENGLAND RAILROAD
COMPANY
pp. 86 - 89
Receivers
sold Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie and Boston Railroad on December 14, 1894, to
new owners who incorporated on April 2, 1895, as Lehigh and New England
Railroad Company. After Lehigh Valley Railroad Company and New York,
Susquehanna and Western Railroad Company surrendered respective leases acquired
during receivership, Lehigh and New England Railroad Company commenced
operation of its property effective January 1, 1897.
The
new company chartered Pochuck Railroad, a trackage-only system, on April 19,
1897, and built a route four and four-tenths miles in length extending from the
main line to stone quarries near New York-New Jersey boundary. During the same year
the railroad built its own route from Benders to Pen Argyl and discontinued
operation over Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad's track between both points.
Trackage expansion in the Lehigh Valley area between 1902 and 1904 included
Wind Gap-Nazareth-Martins Creek, Bath-Christian Springs, and a branch near
Johnsonville in Upper Mount Bethel Township.
Lehigh
Coal and Navigation Company gained control of Lehigh and New England Railroad
Company on May 9, 1904, and in December, 1904, Lehigh and New England Railroad
Company absorbed the navigation company's Lehigh and Delaware Railroad, a
merger of Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad and Wind Gap and Delaware Railroad
accomplished a few months previous. The Central Railroad Company of New
Jersey's lease of Lehigh and Delaware Railroad through predecessors remained in
effect until March 4, 1905. Circa 1905 the Lehigh and New England Railroad
abandoned trackage between Benders and a point west of Wind Gap and
incorporated original Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad's Benders-Pen Argyl
trackage into the main line.
The
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company gained control of Central New
England Railroad in 1904 and planned a large classification yard at Maybrook,
New York. After the yard had been completed in 1912, Lehigh and New England
Railroad Company's freight trains commenced and terminated in Maybrook Yard.
Opening
of the main line extension from Danielsville to Tamaqua on July 24, 1912,
provided direct service to Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's breakers in
southern anthracite coal field. Acquisition of Panther Creek Railroad,
organized from Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's standard gauge mine
railroads which had been established as early as 1840, added trackage from
Tamaqua through Coaldale and Lansford to Hauto and from Lansford to Summit Hill
effective December 14, 1913. The short Lehigh Gap Palmerton spur opened to an
interchange with Chestnut Ridge Railway Company in April, 1914, and
Hauto-Nesquehoning extension opened in 1915. As the result of new construction
the railroad re-classified, Danielsville-Slatington trackage as a branch line.
The
Catasauqua Branch, opened on April 1, 1914, included new track construction and
purchase of Crane Railroad, chartered on July 28, 1905, as successor to Crane
Iron Company's plant railroad. Crane Railroad trackage extended eastward from
interchanges with Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company and Lehigh Valley
Railroad Company in West Catasauqua across Lehigh Valley Railroad Company's
main line, Lehigh River, The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey's main
line, and Lehigh Canal; through iron works property; and through a tunnel bored
underneath Catasauqua to a limestone quarry and cinder dump in Kurtz's Valley.
Crane Railroad surveyed but never built an extension to Bath; however, Lehigh
and New England Railroad Company's Catasauqua Branch followed the proposed
route to effect a connection with Crane Railroad trackage.
During
winter, 1905, Crane Railroad offered passenger service when Crane Iron Company
dismantled their wooden bridge across Lehigh River and isolated Lehigh Valley
Railroad Company's Catasauqua station in West Catasauqua. Pedestrians and
public vehicles as well as plant railroad trains and horse drawn teams had used
the bridge. In its place the iron company constructed a single track steel
railroad bridge. A shuttle train consist composed of a Crane Railroad
locomotive and a Lehigh Valley Railroad Company combination car transported
passengers and baggage between Front Street, Catasauqua, and the station to
meet all trains. Horse drawn vehicles traveling over Race Street Bridge
replaced the train on September 15, 1906, and maintained accommodations until
the more convenient Pine Street Bridge, another public structure, had been
completed.
Lehigh
and New England Railroad Company opened the Allentown Branch from Bethlehem to
Allentown's east end on May 1, 1919. The trackage spurred growth of a
semi-industrial area along the right of way.
Abandonment
of trackage from a point near Danielsville to Hower slate quarries in 1918
marked an early discontinuance of service for Lehigh and New England Railroad
Company in the Lehigh Valley area. Between 1928 and 1935 trackage abandonments
included Danielsville-Slatington; Wind Gap-Saylors Lake; Nazareth Branch
between Nazareth and Wind Gap; and part of Pochuck Rai'lroad. During and after
World War II trackage abandonments included Hauto-Nesquehoning; Lansford-Summit
Hill; remainder of Pochuck Railroad; Pen Argyl-Wind Gap, or the remainder of
Nazareth Branch; Bangor Branch; and the branch from a point north of Bangor to
a point near Johnsonville.
Lehigh
and New England Railroad Company first defected from steam locomotive operation
in 1926 with purchase of a Brill gas-electric combination motor car for service
between towns in the Panther Valley area and Tamaqua and acquired another
similar car in 1928 for service between Swartswood, New Jersey, and Goshen, New
York. Meanwhile, passenger service between Bethlehem and Pen Argyl remained a
steam locomotive operation. Discontinuance of gas-electric car service in 1937
induced the sale of both cars to Southern New York Railway on December 14,
1939. Bethlehem-Pen Argyl passenger service ended in 1938. Passenger service in
more prosperous days had extended from Slatington, Pennsylvania, to Campbell
Hall, New York; from Nazareth to Bath; and from Allentown and Bethlehem to
Bangor.
On
March 2, 1927, Interstate Commerce Commission rejected Reading Company's plan
to lease Lehigh and New England Railroad Company for nine hundred and
ninety-nine years.
Purchase
of a 650 horsepower diesel-electric switching locomotive from United States
Army on February 27, 1947, for assignment at Martins Creek interchange,
inaugurated the dieselization program which concluded with the retirement of
all remaining steam locomotives effective December 20, 1949.
Decline
of anthracite coal and cement shipments, main sources of revenue, influenced Lehigh
and New England Railroad Company's decision in 1961 to either abandon or sell
all rail lines and discontinue operating rights wth railroads in New Jersey and
New York. All connecting companies immediately revealed interest in the
property, but Lehigh and New England Railroad Company sold Hauto - Tamaqua
trackage, Bethlehem - Bath - Nazareth - Martins Creek trackage, and Allentown-Bethlehem
branch to The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey and sold Pen Argyl-Wind Gap
trackage to Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Company.
The
Central Railroad Company of New Jersey formed a subsidiary, Lehigh and New
England Railway Company, to operate the trackage connecting Bethlehem, Bath,
Martins Creek, and Allentown. Effective October 31, 1961, Lehigh and New
England Railroad Company ceased operation, and purchasing companies assumed
ownership of properties and commenced operations on November 1, 1961.
In
January, 1962, Lehigh and New England Railway Company purchased four and
four-tenths miles of Catasauqua Branch trackage extending from Crane Junction,
south of Bath, to a manufacturing plant west of Schoenersville and several
hundred feet of industrial trackage in Catasauqua.
Removal
of abandoned track commenced in spring-summer, 1962, at Catasauqua and Tamaqua
in Pennsylvania and Pine Island in New York.
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