CONRAIL

This page will cover the balance of the Lehigh Line across New Jersey from Manville, NJ west to Easton, PA.  The Lehigh Line name comes from the fact that this was once the mainline of the Lehigh Valley Railroad.  If you missed the east end from Newark to Manville, click here.

On page one we left off at Manville, site of the junction of the former Reading line up from Philadelphia.  Today, this line from Manville west is operated by Norfolk Southern.  This line passes through one of the more scenic areas of New Jersey.

Background sound courtesy of Trainhorns.net.   It is a Conrail freight passing through the Three Bridges area.

  Rebuilt SD40 6966 leads a westbound piggyback train through Manville at the 13th Street crossing.  A neatly manicured lawn lines the right-of-way from 7th Street to 20th Street. For some current NS images, click here.

  GP35 2257 heads east at Royce Valley.  Royce Valley is the name given for the point where the railroad crosses over Route 206 in Hillsborough, NJ.  There was once a passenger station here, but it is long gone.

  3341 on TV-4 eastbound and   3320 westbound at Royce Valley.  The approach signal for Manville Jct. is here.

  5039 on a high and wide extra and   GP38 7732 on an eastbound local east of Neshanic, NJ.

    Two eastbounds at Neshanic Station.  The old CNJ depot still stands in town.

    About 3/4 mile west of Neshanic Station is the Lehigh Road grade crossing.  Both trains are westbound.

    A long set of units roll west at Higginsville Road overpass.

  6828 eastbound and   5005 on westbound Mail-9 at Three Bridges, NJ.

   5541 rolls east crossing the south branch of the Raritan River near Flemington Jct.

  5039 on PIOI (Pittsburgh-Oak Island) passes the former passenger station at Flemington Junction.  The town of Flemington was about 1 1/2 miles west of the Lehigh Valley track and a short branch was built to reach it.  A gas-electric car was once operated by the LV to accommodate travelers from downtown Flemington to the LV trains to New York and Pennsylvania.  The station is privately owned today.

  6719 also on a PIOI is passing   a set of signals located about one mile west of the station

  GP40 3331 is working a local at Flemington Jct.

  SD50 6772 rolls east at Stanton Station.  Located just off Route 31 north of Flemington, this is a good photo location.

    These images are at the grade crossing.  A short distance up a side road leads to a good location with a broad sweeping curve.

                Views from the embankment just above Stanton Station.

  One mile west of Stanton Station brings 6370 with an interesting OIPI (Oak Island-Pittsburgh) train.

A SD38 and slug (an ex Alco RS11 cut down ) and two new Septa cars enroute to Philadelphia.

  6415 with westbound SEEN (Selkirk-Enola) at Hamden in 1987.  For westbounds this point marks the beginning of the grade up to the tunnel at Pattenberg.

  SD50 6832 leads an eastbound at Lansdowne, NJ.  This is where the branches to Clinton and Pittstown join the main.  The Pittstown branch was removed years ago.

  6854 leads a Roadrailer train east between Jutland and Lansdowne. 10-23-94.

  GP40 3054 and several other units roar upgrade through the small town of Jutland with Mail-9.  12-6-87.

  6854 shown above has paused briefly at the east end of the siding at Pattenberg.  An eastbound local waits on the siding.

  6360 on PIOI rolls slowly eastward on the siding for a meet with   Conrail's Geometry Special behind 1933.

    Mail-9 and Mail-3 roll west on the main at Pattenberg on 9-11-88.

                     Some trains at Pattenberg which is at the east end of the tunnel under Jugtown Mountain.  To improve clearances for double stack service, the tunnel floor was lowered and the siding relocated east of the tunnel.  The one remaining track was then centered in the bore.

  5075 leads Mail-9 west at West Portal, NJ.  This was the west end of the siding. 5-7-89.

     Views from the I-78 overpass looking east and west respectively.

    The small town of Bloomsbury, NJ is a local favorite for photos with the small bridges providing a good vantage point.  Here eastbound Mail-8X roars upgrade toward the tunnel in the early morning light. 8-2-92.

  Mail-3 rolls downhill passing the small former Lehigh Valley depot at Bloomsbury in 1989.    6420 does likewise.

  After passing through Bloomsbury on a long straightaway, the tracks make a hard curve to the north.  GP40 3193 leads Mail-9 around the curve in the early morning on 1-29-89.

  5018 heads Mail-3 west through Stringtown, NJ.  Also 1-29-89.

  6710 on ALOI (Allentown-Oak Island) passes through Alpha enroute to Newark.  May 7, 1989.

    Mail-3 passes the new alignment at Greens Bridge in 1989.  At this point, just east of Phillipsburg, the former Jersey Central and the Lehigh Valley were side-by-side.  Conrail had operated strictly the former LV lines until the LV bridge over the Delaware River was found to be unsafe.  Conrail used the paralleling lines to its advantage by merely realigning the track from one to the other.  Moving from east to west the trains shifted from the LV over to the CNJ at Greens Bridge, passed through Phillipsburg and over the river to Easton, PA and then back over to the LV side again at Easton.  In the photos above, the rusty rail in the foreground is old LV track now no longer used.

      On Sept. 11, 1988, GP38 7913 leads ENSE (Enola-Selkirk) eastbound into Phillipsburg on the former LV line.  The double track ended just east of the bridge. 

  A former Penn Central GP30 brings JN-5 over the LV bridge on 7-18-76.

  SD40 6466 leads a high and wide extra across the LV Delaware River Bridge.  Since this bridge was built using an older type construction that was becoming unsafe, Conrail moved the main over to the newer Jersey Central Bridge. 4-17-88.

  Over to the new main on the old CNJ track, 6499 heads east in 1996.

    This is former joint CNJ-Lackawanna station and junction at Phillipsburg.  "PU" tower still stands just on the other side of the overpass.  6778 is westbound.

    Both of these trains are enroute to Washington and Dover, NJ on the old Lackawanna branch.

  A leased LMS unit rolls east past the old depot, now a railroad related museum.  May 30, 1999.

Easton to Allentown, PA.

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