Eastern Railroad Discussion > Coal on the Lehigh & New England

The Lehigh & New England Railroad was a Class 1 railroad that operated from 1895 to 1961 in between Campbell Hall, NY and the Anthracite region of Eastern PA. Its two major sources of traffic were anthracite coal and cement. All that remains today of active LNE trackage is what is now known as the NS Cement Secondary, a 22.6 mile branch line between Bethlehem and Uhlers, PA. The line still meanders through the "cement belt" of Northampton County, PA, but many of the large cement plants along the line no longer ship by rail. Back in the Conrail era, one of the larger operations known as Hercules Cement in Stockertown, used to receive unit coal trains. But this ceased back in the late 1980s, and since then the line has been served by a single Allentown based local freight, which handles a variety of freight customers in various industrial parks, as well as a small amount of cement traffic. But back in 2012, one of the cement companies decided to start using coal for their operation near the old LNE yard in Tadmore, PA. Since then, NS routes a sporadic 504 coal train to this customer. Often, these trains run up the Cement Secondary at night, as to not interfere with the local. But this morning was an exception, as I heard a 504 coal train getting a track authority to follow the H75 local up the branch out of Allentown Yard. I only had time to document this at one location before heading to work, but it was quite exciting to witness a 104 car unit coal train rumble up the old LNE main, just like the old days! The images were taken at Steuben, PA.

Enjoy!

Jon

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There's a company that trans loads at the old Tadmor yard then the coal is trucked to the various plants. They take 33 cars at a time then the hoppers travel back in freight service.

Posted from iPhone

Great shot, Jon! Glad to see this traffic still exists regardless of its sporadic nature.

any idea where it was loaded?

tom

Looks like they loaded at Federal 2 Mine.

Great catch!
Dan

Posted from iPhone

The LNE is one of my favorites. My first train trip was over the LNE in 1958. It was from Philadelphia to Penn Argyl and then to Tamaqua and back to Philly via the Reading.

Doug Rowland
Philadelphia, PA

Thanks for the pictures. When I visited that line a few years ago, it looked like good roadbed and modern track.

Of course the diversion of cement business from rail to truck was the "last straw" that caused parent company Lehigh Coal & Navigation to decide to shut down the L&NE.

Still wish that NS had done an L&NE heritage unit.

Tim

Nice Jon! Only nit was the coal on the L&NE originated from Arlington Yard just east of Tamaqua, remnants are still there serviced by R&N. Then east across the huge long gone bridge in the Lehigh Gap then across the L&NE mainline towards New England. While some coal would have traveled the opposite direction on what is now the Cement Secondary the Lion's Share went north. The Secondary was a very heavily used interchange with traffic to/from the CNJ at Allentown Yard and Tadmor Yard which was a "rider" hump yard!
Good to see the coal traffic returned.
Thanks for the post.
Gonut



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/14 06:59 by Gonut1.

There are footings for the L&NE Delaware River bridge still visible in Portland PA. Just north of the footbridge, should be visible this time of year with the foliage diminished.

Don't know if it's still there, but the round house in Hauto was being used as a truck facility a few years ago.

Most of the L&NE ROW (and the NYS&W which the L&NE operated over via trackage rights) from the Delaware River to Pine Island, NY is still very visible today, thanks to the use of cinder ballast which has kept vegetation to a minimum. The NYS&W portion is a state owned trail and some parts north of Swartswood Jct. are also trails but some are private property with some owners not so welcoming.

By contrast, the somewhat parallel Lehigh & Hudson River is difficult to find in many places as it had rock ballast, much of which Conrail reclaimed when they abandoned the portion from Belvidere, NJ to just south of Sparta Jct. Much of it has returned to nature.

Tim

thanks! I was wondering what loadout puts those 2 heap loads in.

twl


03wrxguy Wrote:
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>Looks like they loaded at Federal 2 Mine.

Could have and should have if a dedicated campaign with lot of signatures and support plus justification had been forwarded to the right people. That is how the Monongahela happened. Just sporadic crying on the internet doesn't do it.
RWJ


>
> Still wish that NS had done an L&NE heritage
> unit.
>
> Tim

LV95032 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Could have and should have if a dedicated campaign
> with lot of signatures and support plus
> justification had been forwarded to the right
> people. That is how the Monongahela happened. Just
> sporadic crying on the internet doesn't do it.
> RWJ
>
>
> >
> > Still wish that NS had done an L&NE heritage
> > unit.
> >
> > Tim

Sorry, but I spoke directly with the man at the top and his adviser for the historic input on the schemes selected. They felt that L&NE had been gone way too long to be considered and that the parts that NS currently runs were represented by the CNJ locomotive.

are there historically significant L&NE locomotives still in existence which could be restored or repainted?

An individual bought and restored / painted an ancient NYO&W switcher. Leased it for use on the NYS&W for several years. It might be on the Delaware & Ulster now