Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS H76 @ Bethlehem (PA)

One of the benefits of working in a hobby store that carried railroad books is that it allowed me to review what books came in and check out the photography. One book, whose title I cannot recall, in particular caught my eye with its cover photo. That scene was of Bethlehem Steel's facility in Bethlehem (PA) which showed a CR train heading east past what is now known as SteelStacks. On Saturday at 9:59AM NS H76 is seen going to Portland, PA in a image that was taken from the Minsi Trail Bridge. H76's leader was NS 9112 with five diesels trailing. Despite some overcast skies I plan to return when there is more sunshine than there was on this trip.

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I like this spot. It's a great place to spend some time on a Spring morning.  Keep an eye out for the resident Bald Eagles and Ospreys after their arrival in a month or so.

I've driven across that bridge several times and have always wanted to photograph from it, but it seems logistically challenging.   Where do you park, and did you need a ladder to shoot over the fence?  Any other insights or recommendatoins on how to best photograph from there?

Nice shot !
It'll take the D-L a half dozen trips with 5 engines to get that over the hill.

rfprr

sscannella Wrote:
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> I've driven across that bridge several times and
> have always wanted to photograph from it, but it
> seems logistically challenging.   Where do you
> park, and did you need a ladder to shoot over the
> fence?  Any other insights or recommendatoins on
> how to best photograph from there

Drive across the bridge to the first street on the north side by the athletic field. Turn left and park. Walk back across the bridge toward the casino. There are strategic holes in the fence one can use to take photos.

Sam - I saw that park that Birdman mentioned and the entrance was gated.

Nice shot!!

Great photo! We lived in bethlehem for almost 5 years and I drove that bridge daily to get to work and never walked out one to take a photo. I may just have to do that on one of my next days off!!
Dan

Posted from iPhone

power needed for Bangor - Mt Bethel grade

The book is "Steel mill railroad facilities and equipment" by Steve Timko.
Softcover book put out by Morning Sun.

Thanks for the great picture, and for your effort in finding the location.

Looks like a lot ofgrain cars, they'll be a drag on the way uphill.

Edited to add:  I've noticed that NS power desk prefers to err on the side of over powering a train, esp on single track lines.  For a run to Slateford, etc with lots of lumber, grain, LPG, etc a break down would be a serious problem.  Better to avoid the problem in the first place, if you can.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/17 08:29 by Lackawanna484.

The EL handled that grade with 4 F units for years.  All that power is not needed.  but anyway...How much of that train is for Con Agra, and how much for DL?

Everyone was wondering if the NS was going to drop the portland interchange in favor of scranton.  I guess not.  That's a huge amount of traffic for the DL, compared to the the 15 or so cars that I remember typically....  Any story behind the large train?

What you see is what you get.   Lots of sand for fracing for Carbondale, grain for the mill at Mt. Pocono, and other miscellaneous freight.   The interchange has been heavy lately with the DL.  50 - 100 cars is more the norm nowadays.  There is no way Taylor yard, in its current configuration, can handle that now.  Plus, NS is now interchanging more with the Luzerne and Susquehanna, with all that traffic coming out of Taylor.

pdt Wrote:
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> The EL handled that grade with 4 F units for
> years.  All that power is not needed.  but
> anyway...How much of that train is for Con Agra,
> and how much for DL?
>
> Everyone was wondering if the NS was going to drop
> the portland interchange in favor of scranton.  I
> guess not.  That's a huge amount of traffic for
> the DL, compared to the the 15 or so cars that I
> remember typically....  Any story behind the
> large train?

Au contraire!!! I believe the H76 had around 85 cars yesterday. All that power is needed to get up the grade out of Bangor. When the local only gets two or three engines, they often have to double the train from Bangor to Portland. If they have power trouble or a set of engines with no sand, it's not uncommon for them to stall.

Chad Tyk

Posted from Android

chadtyk Wrote:
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> Au contraire!!! I believe the H76 had around 85
> cars yesterday. All that power is needed to get
> up the grade out of Bangor. When the local only
> gets two or three engines, they often have to
> double the train from Bangor to Portland. If they
> have power trouble or a set of engines with no
> sand, it's not uncommon for them to stall.
>
> Chad Tyk
>
>with 85 cars I can believe it.  Spcly with sand and grain..those cars are 125+  tons each loaded.  All that stuff used to inerchange in scranton.   As for no sand...Yea that happens, and of course u stall with no sand.   100 cars at 100 tons a car is 10,000 tons..and if u want 1.5 hp/ton...well that's 4 units, plus one for the no confidence in our road power factor.  During the EL days, I'm guessing the tonnage was a lot lighter.

When does H76 leave the yard anyway these days...and what days does it go to portland.  It used to be a 4pm or later job...and IIRC, some days were just to ConAgra, and wednesdays they switched the BelDel in Belvidere.  Just wondering.  Wud love to get pix on the bridges over the delaware

Is there enough frac sand business to run an NS sand train to Scranton, and drop that at Bridge 60, etc? Or does the interchange have to happen in Taylor Yard?  Allentown to Slateford to Scranton to Jesup sems the long way around for something which may originate in Wisconsin.

(Not that there's anything wrong with four or five big Alco motors hauling this cargo up the mountains, in what was pusher grade country in DL&W times)