One of the challenges faced by The Lehigh Valley Transit Company was keeping the tracks cleared of snow during long winters. Special cars were constructed with huge plows for that purpose, plus some regular passenger cars had small plows mounted on the front for continuous cleanup. Shown above is a special plow car stored at the Fairview Yard.
The trolley system required much more infrastructure than later buses. Shown here is track intersection being constructed in center city Bethlehem. Corresponding electric lines would have to be constructed overhead to power the cars. For your viewing pleasure, here is an introduction to an available video by Gerhard Salomon on the service in Easton.
More information on The Rockhill Trolley Museum
reprinted from May 2010
We can still ride trolleys in America. They are an integral part of many cities, just not here. My favorite trolley ride ever was the St. Charles Streetcar running the length of the Garden District in New Orleans. A classic treasure still part of the regular city transportation system. The Streetcar Named Desire!
ReplyDeleteToronto has a fantastic street car system that has been modernized and expanded over the years. The government there continuously invested in the system, the city grew around it, and ridership remains strong.
ReplyDeleteAt one time decades ago Allentown had the best street car trolley system in the Mid-Atlantic Region....Those who know, say it was the whole East Coast.....I only arrived in the Lehigh Valley 61 years ago, so that was before my time....PJF
ReplyDeleteMichael, Thanks for sharing the story on the Trolley Car system in the Lehigh Valley. Back in the day… that was how people traveled between Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and even Philadelphia. Plus all the little communities in between. My late uncle Gerhard Salomon was the official/ unofficial spokesperson on public transportation via trolley cars.
ReplyDeleteMany stories were shared between my uncle and retired motormen from the LVT ( Lehigh Valley Transit) the previous name of LANTA.
As a young man in his early twenties, Gerhard made friends with many motormen, who in turn allowed him to run/ control the trolleys on there routes around the Lehigh Valley. Saturday nights were filled with speedy trips down to Philadelphia and back to Allentown on the 1030 Liberty Bell Limited. Lots of stories of the motormen sitting back on the Limited with their Girlfriends as Gerhard was the motorman on the trolley.
Gerhard and his friends were always found to have either a camera or in Gerhard case a movie camera handy to take pictures of the next trolley coming around the corner. We are very fortunate that these young fellows kept a historically accurate record/view of the surrounding region… back in the day.
By the way, Gerhard never worked for the LVT transit company but was able to run most of their equipment. Rick Salomon.
But now we have bike lanes!
ReplyDeleteO my Goodness! Another HUGE waste of taxpayer $$$$$$ MOOLA!!!
ReplyDeleteYep... we have the manpower, time and paint to plaster those stupid bike monikers all over the world, but not so much for the lines on the street... we've lost our way and our priorities, or should I state those that make these silly decisions and spend our tax monies frivolously...
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