A little grainy, but here are one of the two
experimentally painted units at Bethelehem. October 1973.LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD
This page will cover the Lehigh Valley in the Bethlehem-Allentown terminal area. This facility had always been owned by the Jersey Central. As part of a major restructuring, the CNJ terminated all of their operations in the State of Pennsylvania on April 1, 1972. The Lehigh Valley's own track and associated yards were across the Lehigh River from the CNJ's. After the LV assumed control of the CNJ property, the LV closed their smaller yards at Easton, Richards and Calypso. The traditional LV main was thereafter used primarily by any train by-passing the Allentown Yard, such as the 'Apollo's'. Since the changeover occured prior to my first visit to the area in 1973, the images below are from late 1973 to the very early Conrail years of 1976 and 1977.
A little grainy, but here are one of the two
experimentally painted units at Bethelehem. October 1973.
216 again in front of the roundhouse. 
In the snow ( updated pic ! )
Some small SW-1 switchers, 115 and 118.
A pair of EMD switchers ride the turntable. 1973.
212 and a few of the RS-11's the LV got from the Penn
Central in early morning light.
212 again on the outside engine lead track.
RS-11 7640 next to the roundhouse. The roundhouse and pretty much
everything else is now gone.
Some RS-11 pictures from 1974 and 1975.
211 was originally a passenger unit owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Nicknamed the 'Hammerhead' it is still existent.
Ironton Railway Baldwin number 751 at the roundhouse. 1974.
The GP9's & GP18's rarely were here.
C420 408 in the yellow and gray. These units also did not frequent the
terminal.
An old passenger car now used in work and wreck train service. 1973.
637
629 under the very large old coaling tower. October 1973.
A few views of C628 number 626 in the 'Snowbird' scheme.
Number 628
C628 number 629 in white and black 
and by summer 1975 it was in Cornell red.
Unit number 631.
634 
635 
636
638 and 635 with some Chessie System units. That caboose cupola was from a
very old CNJ hack left there.
These six units together were almost as long as a
train.
The front of unit 641 reveals the blanked out nose light from its Monon days.
On the roundhouse fan.
The view from the hill overlooked a railfans paradise. Alco's galore,
scores of color schemes and rare diesels. May 1974.
This was May of 1976. The new Conrail brought
some diesels back the terminal that had disappeared and also some
unfamiliar ones. The fun didn't last long as the influx of the black Penn
Central units removed the color of the LV days.
If you are going to have a derailment, do it
right. The LV was very late in using radios and the hump engine crew was
relying on the old lineside color signals. Unbeknownst to them, a car had
derailed and the crew just kept pushing toward the hump. The result is
this 33 car stacking of old B&O coal hoppers. October 1973.
632 and another C628 come off the eastbound hump as
another cut of cars gets pushed over the hump.
On the west end of the yard, near the car shops.
GP9 303 leads a trio of GP38's on a westbound out of
the yard.
255 and 271 work the smaller westbound hump lead.
628 brings train NE-87 into the yard off the L & S.
Train NE-1 had stopped to pick up three more units, all C-420's and to make a pick up in the yard. In this sequence, the units swing around the runaround track and move past 'R' tower and back onto their train. Pulling finally, they must pause to allow a wreck train to depart ahead of it. A reminder to anyone that was not around prior to 1980. Conrail reconfigured the entire west end of the yard, changing much of what you see in these pictures.
The wreck train with 640 is headed to the White Haven tunnel to clean up a
derailment. November 23, 1975.
The wreck train passes under Hamilton Street.
NE-1 at 'WK' just out of Allentown. 'WK' is
the point in which the old Allentown Terminal crossed back over the river from
downtown Allentown. It was used largely for passenger trains.
Compare the last image to this photo from the gingerb.com, "Black Diamonds to Tidewater" website: http://www.gingerb.com/CNJ%20Allentown%20WK%20Interlocking%20Tower.jpg
To continue on toward Lehighton and the mountains, click here.
