Nostalgia & History > Pup parade. The little workhorses of the Lehigh Valley

Back when Class ones actually gave door to door service to their customers via rail instead of rig, most had extensive fleets of switchers. Heavy industry, or just large concentrations of customers required smaller power to negotiate the often tight environments that tracks wove their way into.Nobody worked their switcher fleet more effectively than the Lehigh Valley. They were as prominent at Sayre or Allentown, as any of the larger power of the time. Allentown area most likely was the best place because of the many customers associated in the area because of the massive steel plant in Bethlehem. My personal experience with them was mostly here, and it was easy at times to ignore them, just because they were always buzzing around . As with so much from that era, anything ignored was at ones peril. Because, as this part of TO reminds us daily, today it is history.

top...between Allentown yard and Bethlehem, theses kinds of movements were constant during the day.

middle...three pups have just crossed the Lehigh River on their way to pick up a heavy transfer run in Bethlehem.

bottom...working their way east through Allentown yard

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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top...Heavy  transfer between Bethlehem and Allentown yard.

middle...Pups on parade. Local freight going west through the lehigh River Gorge.

bottom...Coming out of Sayre to interchange with the EL at Waverly NY.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/21 03:46 by Roadjob.

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top...working Sayre yard

middle...location lost. Probably shot while waiting for something "better."

bottom...working west end of Allentown.
 

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Great locomotives for doing a bit of everything. Very basic equipment before high tech. They would just run and run. Only problem was that there were no "facilities" on these locos. Kind of tough on transfer runs and places away from some type of facility. Guess you have to use a tree.
CR

Photo two with the three working their way east is a photographic gem.
Bob

In my stupid youth years, I dismissed a lot of these because "it's just a switcher"...

Now OLDER and WISER (and take extra efforts to shoot SD40's)

Again, very nice photos Bill.  Thank you for sharing with all of us.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Fantastic shots Bill !  This practice continued well into the Conrail Era, at least in the Allentown Area. Here is a shot of 5 ex-Lehigh Valley Pups at Lehighton,PA. on the "Hazleton Man" (WJAL-20) from 8/6/83.

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The 27 SW8 "pups" did it all and 18 were equipped with a very tidy dynamic brake option.

TJY

Terrific series, my favourite is photo #2. Switchers are often overlooked,but not by you obiously! Great post.
Brian N.

perklocal Wrote:
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> Fantastic shots Bill !  This practice continued
> well into the Conrail Era, at least in the
> Allentown Area. Here is a shot of 5 ex-Lehigh
> Valley Pups at Lehighton,PA. on the "Hazleton Man"
> (WJAL-20) from 8/6/83.

And by then they kept score of engine failures. “Blue team” 3, “red ream” 1.

Posted from iPhone

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/21 09:03 by ALCO630.

icancmp193 Wrote:
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> The 27 SW8 "pups" did it all and 18 were equipped
> with a very tidy dynamic brake option.
>
> TJY

Until CR decided that db’s on a switcher was an unnecessary maintenance expense and rebuilt them without and sent them right back to coal country.

Posted from iPhone

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

Photo of LV 250 at an unkown location looks like the train is operating eastbound through Middlesex, NJ.

Agree with NYSW252 on Middlesex,NJ. MP 31

Great series's about one of the neatest SW fleet there ever was!