Good evening Nick. Glad you enjoyed!

Good morning Dave. Absolutely right. This bridge is perfectly aligned with the canal beneath it. How cool it must have been to sit and watch the trains and mules working side by side. Have a wonderful day sir.

@@kevinsalsbury2118 Hello Kevin. Thank you and enjoy your day too! That must have been an amazing sight back then!

Good morning Keith. I would have never known this about the CNJ had you not mentioned it. It appears nothing could keep up with the LV on its home turf. Why did Conrail opt for the east side of the river. The guesses I have are it eliminated the grade crossings in Allentown and the need to access the Palmerton zinc plant. I've done some hiking through Treichlers and there are some wide stretches through there. Some of the ties are still in place. Hope all is well.

Good morning Bill. I was looking at some old aerial photos of the Catasaqua area and it's unbelievable how it used to look. The canal and all the active lines crisscrossing each other. Diamonds and bridges that are gone now. I caught the local freight on it today with another gentleman and we were both excited because it had 30 plus cars on it. Then I got to thinking this line used to 30 plus trains on it a day. Wow how times have changed. Once a four track, now just one. Rumor has it that passenger service will be coming back to the Reading to Philly corridor but I'll believe it when I see it. They should have never turned the PRR Schuylkill division into a railtrail, in my opinion.

Thank you James. This was especially long today and old crusty boxcars are my favorite so it was really cool indeed. Have a wonderful day.

Good morning and thank you John. Just got a tip on another cut even further west. Going to see if can reach that one soon. Have a great day.

Thank you. The CNJ definitely built some gnarly bridges. You should see this thing from the trail under it. Really quite impressive.

Good morning John. I spent a good amount of time just sitting and waiting for the train. It was interesting to see that there was zero fresh graffiti on it but if I looked carefully enough I could see some faded stuff from 1993. It was in some precarious spots to. Then I started thinking how many kids dared other kids over the years to climb up on top just for $hits and giggles. Indeed many a story that bridge could tell. Have a great day John.

Good morning Dave. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day 😊

@@kevinsalsbury2118 Thank you Kevin. Your welcome 👍

Hey George. Great night for a cigar! Trying to get up towards Bloomsburg but just haven't found the time yet. I really want to check out those abutments you found! Have a great night my friend.

That would be so much better than what I do know 😆🤣 Forklift operator ugh.

Absolutely right Paul. There was another gentleman with me and he wasn't sure about the destination of the boxcars either. He was making a full chase of this so perhaps when he posts this chase we'll get an answer. Believe it or not that bridge is actually a four span behemoth!! The CNJ built some incredible spans.

Thank you Brian!! This was on its way to your grandfather's stomping grounds.

The Sunday ones have been getting a little bigger but this one was definitely out of the norm. I'm over in Emmaus. Your neck of the woods has some really great history!

@@kevinsalsbury2118 There was a lot going on right in catty. NJC, Lehigh, Reading, Lehigh and New England, Ironton all where there or across the river.

@okoko47 I located a set of concrete steps a couple of yards from the Pine street bridge. I looked up some old pictures of the Catasaqua CNJ train station and sure enough that's what they belonged to! I'm really going to do a deep dive into the area come fall. I heard the Lehigh and New England had a tunnel in Catty. An idea if this is true?

@@kevinsalsbury2118 Yes the portals are still there. One is by American Legion on 2nd st. And the other is by Hartzels pharmacies

My pleasure Nick. This was a good one!

Thank you John. I may have a few more tricks up my sleeve along this line in the coming weeks.

I knew you would get a donkey kick out of this one! 🤣 I was thinking mule style since they were crossing the canal. All those crusty rail boxes were great too! An hour and forty-five I waited. Totally worth it!!!

@@kevinsalsbury2118 tip of the hat to you my friend NS acting true to form

They actually were on time. I was just really early 😆🤣

@@kevinsalsbury2118 better to be early than left behind

Thank you Larry. The Central Railroad of New Jersey built some fantastic bridges.

For sure.. ​@@kevinsalsbury2118

I was very pleased with this Dave. This is the longest one this year. All those boxcars were out of the ordinary.

@@johnnicoline7632 just ask Louis Armstrong

I believe he was only on two studio albums if I remember correctly. Man did we miss out when he passed. I believe the bassist died in almost the same location about a year later. All that tragedy and the band still persevered. Great all be it sad rock & roll story!!

@@kevinsalsbury2118 true buddy. All true, Stevie Ray is my favorite with Duane being a very close second. Playing the guitar like he was in his early 20’s was just ridiculous. Had he lived on, no one would of touched him.

Thank you Larry 😊

😆🤣 Scrape. I believe this bridge was canal related. This line was originally built by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation system. It was the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad but was almost immediately leased to the Central Railroad of New Jersey. There is a lot to see in this location come the fall. The canal tow path is the trail you briefly see.

I hope I'm not offending anyone here, however I wouldn't let Ted Nugent warm up a can of soup let alone the Allman Brothers 😆

@@kevinsalsbury2118 I’m in charge of offending LOADS of people And I HEARTILY endorse this message by my friend Kevin Salisbury

I accept your endorsement my friend Steve 🙂

Thank you Dave. This song was on the radio when I got to the bridge so figured what the heck.

Thank you Tim. I've given up at this point 😆. I've now moved onto fending off the spiders.

Agreed. A fresh snow highlights the grades perfectly. Lack of foliage is even better. The tradeoffs I find to be 70/30 in favor of fall and winter. What I like most about the summer exploring is the ability to get into the water ways. Sometimes it's the only way to circumvent private property. I'm actually planning my first kayak trip down the Schuylkill river. There will be some incredible things to see!

@@kevinsalsbury2118 Morning Kevin. I live in the Hudson Valley just north of New York City. My RR I follow is the New York Ontario & Western, New York Central, the Ulster & Delaware and some of the semi extinct short lines in the hood. There is a considerable network of rail trails in the area and my wife and I enjoy biking these pathways.

Wonderful area you live in. I follow the lost railbeds channel. Russ is really good at documenting the area up there. Would love to visit up there one day. Tons down here to keep me busy for a while though. Have a wonderful day.

You and I share the same quality. I'm constantly looking for grades everywhere I drive. Even on roads I've traveled hundreds of times. Always looking for that one thing I missed. I spend a lot of time looking on Google maps, find a grade, then try to match it up maps on Wikipedia. It has been paying off. Problem is that there is so much to see that I never know which direction to go lol.

Good morning Deb. Hope all is well. I absolutely agree with you. For the amount of money and time spent on this road you would think there would be more documentation on it. From what I understand the CNJ was going to lease this upon completion. I've said this a hundred times. How did the financiers of this not see the more efficient East Pennsylvania being built just a few miles away. I suppose it was a competition thing. I always wonder if this would have worked out how it would have changed eastern Berks County.

They blasted the hell out of it John. 😆

@@kevinsalsbury2118 blowing stuff up Rules Beavis

Speculation is my greatest strength. Thank you my friend.

@@kevinsalsbury2118 it’s great to be strong

I absolutely see what you're describing!! Only problem is it's on private property. Maybe if I come in from the Stony creek side and wade across the river I can by pass this problem. I'm incredibly intrigued and will see if I can pull this off. Thank you very much for the information!

I swear there is smoke coming out of me. Especially when I'm climbing the grade. 😆🤣

@@kevinsalsbury2118 a true railroad man

Thank you Steve 😊

Each one whiter shade of pale non the less 😆

@@kevinsalsbury2118 excellent

Thank you very much!!

Absolutely! Planning my first trip down th Schuylkill with a friend. Hopefully around Labor day.

Greatly appreciated spark plug.

I'm looking on Google maps but can't figure out which one is number 5 dam lol. There are a ton of resiviors up there. Is it north or south of Shenandoah proper? Thank you.

It is indeed. This bridge is further south but part of the same time line.

@@kevinsalsbury2118 wow, reminds me of the Knox and Kane

😆🤣 Good stuff Hunter.

More a curiosity than disrespect. There is a ton that I will never get to see because I respect the property. I weigh my options and then move forward. Don't spray paint or steal, just like history. If that means trespassing on some abandoned quarry property then so be it. By the way do you own this land?

Good morning Andy. My email address is [email protected]. Thank you in advance.

Hey Chase. Thank you!!

Thank you very much Nick. Did you see the wandering woodsman video of him riding in the high rail truck. That looks fun as heck!

Good morning Jamie. My goodness are you correct. I was whooped after this one video. The fall and winter are going to reveal quite a bit in this area. There are a couple more canal locks and rock cuts that I had no idea about. So much fun finding this stuff. Have a wonderful and hopefully cool day Jamie.

Good morning Dave. It's incredible what I'm finding out here. I've been hiking the other side of the Schuylkill for a couple years now always wondering what was on the other side 🤔 Now we are beginning to see and man is it great 👍. Have an awesome day Dave 😀

Good morning and thank you Mark. It makes me incredibly happy to hear that folks are exploring these locations that I've been posting. That is truly why I do this. The heat has been unbearable. So much so that I'm wading through whatever water way I'm exploring near. After I recorded this I went straight into the Schuylkill, shoes and all 😆. Have a great day and let me know what you're finding out there.

It really is remarkable how much money and effort were spent on this line just to leave it sit. The whole time the East Pennsylvania railroad (now the Norfolk Southern Reading line) was being built just a few miles away. You would have thought someone would have said " um there building an easier grade right down the road boss".