In order to gain access to trackage rights on the Jersey Central, the Lehigh and Hudson River had to build a bridge over the Delaware River between Phillipsburg, NJ, and Easton, PA. This connector was thirteen miles from the L&HR's southern terminus in Belvidere, NJ. Just over 1000 feet long, the track between the PRR in Phillipsburg and the CNJ in Easton completed a vital link to New England. The Alphabet Route (NKP/W&LE/P&WV/WM/RDG/CNJ/L&HR/NH) was an aggressive attempt by the participating companies to compete with the larger northeastern roads for New England traffic, and the trains were among the hottest on each road.
The 1974 fire that rendered the NH bridge in Poughkeepsie, NY unusable killed what was left of this traffic, and reduced the L&HR to a local switching road. By 1979, most traffic over the Easton bridge no longer made it to former L&HR tracks. Instead, most trains crossed back into Pennsylvania via the PRR bridge at Martin's Creek and served former EL trackage that was otherwise isolated due to the closing of sections of the former DL&W main line.
Here a train from the former EL in Portland heads toward Allentown.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
