Up to the early 1950's, you pretty much drove over tracks wherever you went in Allentown. While the trolleys moved the people, the Lehigh Valley Railroad freight cars moved the materials in and out of our factories. Shown above, the Lehigh Valley Transit trolley moves across the former steel Hamilton Street Bridge. The huge UGI gas tank can be seen on Union Street. While the trolleys gave way to buses by 1953, the freight rail spurs would tarry on for two more decades.
reprinted from December 29. 2010
There is something comforting and warming about seeing a trolley photo from the past. I’m not quite sure how to express this, but I’m old enough to have lived it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my greatest pleasures was riding the St. Charles Streetcar in New Orleans through that city’s Garden District. I believe it still operates. Absolutely amazing experience.
Now the focus of the kids running our economic development swamp is not how to get people from Allentown to Bethlehem; rather it is how can we get New Yorkers home from their jobs in New York City.
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