Forty years ago, it was common knowledge that the Lehigh Valley Railroad would cease to exist on the coming April 1. I made a commitment to capture as much of the Lehigh Valley as I could in the first quarter of 1976, and Easton Tower, shown here, played a prominent role in my quest. As a 17-year-old kid, I had limited resources and mobility. On Sunday afternoons, I would get my parents to allow me to take one of their cars to Easton, about ten miles from our house. This was fine, because Easton tower controlled the LV main between South Plainfield, New Jersey, and Lehighton, Pennsylvania. A knock on the door was usually answered by a friendly relief operator who would tell me what was coming, or better yet, invite me upstairs to talk and try my hand at lining up signals and switches. On this day, I left the tower when westbound train NE1 hit the bell at Phillipsburg, and shot it passing the tower and the signal bridge that governed westbound movements on the LV main as well as the connection from the Lehigh and Hudson River. Tucked behind the three U23B’s is an SW8 bound for Allentown or Sayre from Oak Island.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
