Nostalgia & History > Bouncing around the Valley. Just another great road's flag gone

There was just not enough time to fully enjoy the Lehigh Valley. I was totally invested in the EL during the early 70s, with WM and D&H close behind. There was a ticking time bomb in the Northeast, and while no one believed Conrail would get off the ground on time, there was still the dread that it would....and in the end did unfortunately. The good news is that the Valley, EL, and D&H were generally close to each other at some point or another. I relied on other fans telling me what was to be expected on the Valley on any given trip. The road was hard to ignore from a fan's perspective. It had umpteen paint schemes, double track main, great scenery,decent action, and most of all Alcos! Lots of them. Valley people were generally tolerant of us fans in places like Sayre and Allentown, but, as you got closer to Oak Island and the Jersy/NYC complex, the attitude got progressively more hostile. Nature of the area for sure, but it made shooting an adventure, I once drove right into Oak Island wearing a white hard hat. Drove around the engine terminal like I was the boss of bosses, secretly photographing anything I could, turned around and drove out. I never even thought about walking around the yard. The Valley was definitely surplus, but for the fan it was a gift. Here's a few presents today.

A few shots around Sayre. Hard to find another road where all the power in the engine terminal could be all Alcos.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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top...Sayre yard looking east

middle...westbound coming into Sayre

bottom...eastbound just east of Sayre

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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top...Cool spot was at Lehighton Pa. This westbound is coming off of connecting track between CNJ and Valley mains. Former CNJ main is the bridge above

middle...Attacking the grade east of the Scranto/WilkeBarre areas, this train will also have 2 C628s pushing to Solomon's Gap

bottom...last new power were the U23Bs. Not there long but the Valley worked them hard.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Had to give the EMDs of the Valley some love as well. This is the HOT Apollo 2 coming out of the Lehigh River Gorge. 

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/21 06:08 by Roadjob.

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The beauty of B&W at its finest.

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

Really nice work!  Great scenes.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

Wonderful set !
Gary

Great coverage as always Bill, well done ! I've always liked how the LV liked to keep similar models together in their locomotive consists. You show several examples of that above with the U23Bs, C628s, and GP9/18s.

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

Love these views, love the Alcos, and love the LV, another great series. It really was a unique road...

JG

Bill - really enjoyed your post on the LV.  You were right about the ticking time bomb in the Northeast, and there just wasn't enough time to adequately cover the railroads going into Conrail.  At the same time, the Western Maryland was being absorbed into Chessie System, the GG1's on the NEC were in their last years, and the very appealing pre-Conrail D&H would look very different in the post-Conrail world.  It was a race against time, and while we might win some of the battles, time would ultimately win.  Had to laugh at your Oak Island story.  The LV was generally railfan friendly, even giving releases for the shops at Sayre until close to the end, but Oak Island seemed to be the exception, as you noted.  I never went there in pre-Conrail days, but heard stories that the special agents at Oak Island were not friendly to fans.  Of course, given the area, that is not surprising.  Thanks for a most interesting post.  

Steve Salamon
Valley City, OH

 

 

Super black and white photos of the LV. Looking at these, LV could stand for "Loving Views" because of the great memories these bring back.
Bob