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The Philadelphia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society Established in 1936
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Railfan Pictures of the Week - 04/29/2012
| Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad Bethlehem Branch Hatfield PA April 10 2012 |
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Since operation of the Lansdale Cluster passed from CSX to PNRR last August, the new owners have been working on the line, trying to drum up new business. The track has been upgraded to Class 1 standards, meaning the limitations on haz-mat cars and passenger operations have been lifted. Recently the daily L160 job, which had been following a somewhat unpredictable schedule, started following the routine of the old CSX B738, with an early morning start and frequent runs up the branch to service whichever customer had called for it. Here L160 is returning from working Hatfield Warehouse, with a couple of tank cars for Crystal Soap included for later in the day. |
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| PNRR crews have taken to park cars all along the Bethlehem Industrial, in the distance between Eighth Street and Schwab Road, between Cannon Avenue and Eighth Street, and just south of Cannon Avenue. The standard operating procedure for interchange with CSX has been for PNRR to leave the outbounds on the leased track (the Bethlehem Industrial between Eighth Street and Schwab). CSX C746 would bring the inbounds on the Bethlehem Running Track (which L160 is on now), couple up to the outbounds and head back to Woodbourne, all in less than an hour. C746 frequently runs light up to Lansdale and just brings cars back, and sometimes, when C746 only has a half dozen or so cars, they will leave them in the yard. |
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| A serious blow to PNRR's hopes came early in April when one of their best customers, Jet Plastica in Hatfield, announced the plant would be shutting down by June. Here 8211 drifts down to the plant to pull a car. |
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| Fortunately local news reports say a new owner has acquired Jet and will continue operations. So PNRR dodged a bullet for now, and hopefully things will continue looking up on the line. |
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All pictures April 10 2012 Copyright © 2012 John P. Almeida Photographs for personal use only. All rights reserved by original owner of image. Reproduction or redistribution in any form without express written permission is prohibited. |
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Last Updated April 29, 2012
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