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What you'll find here is information about how the Lehigh
Valley Railroad operated, especially in its later years, when a good deal of
its revenue came from bridge traffic. Who were its customers, what did they
ship, what trains served them, which railroads did the LV interchange with and
where, and what trains moved all this on-line and bridge traffic over the road?
These are the questions the modeler has to ask in order to
operate a model railroad in a manner that bears at least some resemblance to the
prototype. Operating your model railroad can add a lot of fun to an already
fascinating hobby. To "operate" you don't need to go "whole
hog" with timetables and fast clocks, nor do you have to represent every
train that the prototype ran. How far you go is up to you, but regardless of how
deep you want to go, I think you'll find that information about how the real
LVRR did things will add to your enjoyment!
Information about the physical plant (locomotives and
rolling stock, structures, etc.) will be found in the Equipment
section.
On-Line Customers and
Interchange Traffic
Chart
of On-Line Shippers, Their Locations, and Traffic Generated (1969 - 1972)
This chart was assembled from over 150 pages of Traffic Track Diagrams issued
by the Sales Department, plus Employee Timetables issued by the Operations
Department. Carload figures are currently available for only these four years.
Example Traffic
Track Diagram: Bethlehem Sales Territory, 1972 (447K PDF file*) Source: PSA MG-274**
Many people have asked about what the LVRR Sales Department called
"traffic track diagrams," or sometimes "track charts."
These were not graphical representations of the trackage, but lists of
customers according to where they were located. Customers along the main line
were shown as being on the north or south (railroad direction) of the tracks,
and often had mileages listed for them. Branch Line customers did not have
locations shown very clearly - neither N or S of tracks nor mileages, and
often only grouped together by town, not necessarily in the order they were
encountered. Since each Sales Territory issued its own Traffic Track Diagram,
they did not all look the same. The one linked here is typical - neither the
clearest nor the most obsure! It was chosen because it represents its entire
Sales Territory in only seven pages, the shortest of all those issued.
Customer Lists, probably 1974
(398K PDF file*) Source: PSA MG-274**
It looks like these were probably submitted
as a result of a request from the executive offices. The last two pages are
from the Bethlehem Sales Territory's 1973 Traffic Track Diagram, with hand
updates for 1973.
Industries Page
Photos of LV customer plants from various sources.
Freight Schedules &
Locomotive Rosters
Freight Train
Schedules, transcribed from ETT #2, 9-27-53 (8K PDF file*) Source: Ralph Heiss
Freight Train Schedules,
1-27-1955 (68K PDF file*) Source: PSA MG-274**
Freight Train Schedules,
6-16-1955 (63K PDF file*) Source: PSA MG-274**
Freight Train
Schedules, transcribed from ETT #5, 10-28-56 (9K PDF file*) Source: Ralph Heiss
Freight Train Schedules,
from ETT #7, 10-25-1959 (170K PDF file*) Source: Ed Schaller
Freight Train
Schedules, late 1963-66 (129K PDF file*) Source: Jim Kerner
Freight Train Schedules,
from ETT #9, 10-27-1968 (114K PDF file*) Source:
Lou Millan
Freight Train Schedules,
1-28-1970 (580K PDF file*) Source: PSA MG-274**
Freight
Train Schedules, 7-22-1974 (648K PDF file*) Source: PSA MG-274**
Freight Train Schedules,
7-10-1975 (792K PDF
file*) Source: Glenn Fisher
"My handwriting is the writing at the
top [in the 1974 & 1975 schedules] next to the symbols which say... Daily (exc Sat) and etc....If I had to
guess, I think the other notes on the schedule pages may belong to Steve
Adik [VP Transportation]. He may have been trying to find ways to cut costs
or improve service or something."
- received 03/01/2001 from Dick Whitehead, Supervisor-Train Movement & Power Distribution
(Chief Dispatcher), 1972-76.
Local Freight Schedules,
probably 1975 (331K PDF file*) Source: Glenn Fisher
Regular Assigned Yard Jobs,
10-28-75 (116K PDF file*) Source: Glenn Fisher
Locomotive Assignment Roster, 10-21-75
(1199K PDF
file*) Source: Glenn Fisher
Passenger
Train Schedules & Consists
Mainline
Schedule from Public Timetable, 6-16-1946
(422K PDF file*) Source: Ed Schaller
Passenger
Train Consists, 5-27-1952 Source: Bert Pennypacker, via Glenn Fisher
Operating Forms
- Reproduced full size, so you can print them out to use for your model railroad
operations
Form C -
Clearance Card (173K PDF file*) Source:
Ed Schaller
Form
T-114 - Drill Sheet, May 1941 (JPG file) Source: Ralph Heiss
Business Documents
Miscellaneous Statistics,
5-31-1973 (101K PDF file*) Source: PSA MG-274**
Statistics of a Downward
Spiral Since 1962, 6-6-1973 (158K PDF file*) Source: PSA MG-274**
* If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can
download a free copy here.
** Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, PA.
Uncatalogued material in Manuscript Group 274.
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This page last updated on 03/09/2003
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