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 January of 2013
"Up to the early 1950's, you pretty much drove over tracks wherever you went in Allentown."
ReplyDeleteToday, in 2024, we have streets of varying quality surfaces to drive over. People complain about potholes and surfaces which need to be re-asphalted. Now others wish Allentown had streetcars again, and rail service. That all sounds fine, till they have to drive over the rails needed by streetcars and trains. They then might think "be careful of what you wish for".