When the Lehigh and New England Railroad went out of business in 1961, the Erie Lackawanna’s Bangor and Portland branch gained some mileage by assuming operation of a short branch between Pen Argyl and Wind Gap, in order to maintain rail service to a coal and lumber dealer and an asbestos shingle manufacturing plant. The B&P grew a little more in 1968 when the Lehigh and New England Railway cut its operation back from Martin’s Creek to Uhlers as a result of the closure of Alpha cement. The short segment of the abandoned trackage between Martin’s Creek and Sandt’s Eddy was taken over by the EL, to serve a grain operation in the old cement plant in Sandt’s Eddy. Here the Conrail B&P crew sets out some cars at the south end of Alpha Cement on ex-L&NE trackage.
