The Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVT) was a Pennsylvania interurban rail transport company that operated a network of city and interurban trolley lines. In poor financial condition, LVT abruptly abandoned operation of its Philadelphia Division in September 1951. LVT gave patrons no prior notice, and puzzled riders waited to be picked up the next day.[1]
Among LVT's lines was the 45-mile (72 km) Liberty Bell High Speed trolley line from Allentown to Upper Darby. The Liberty Bell High Speed Line is considered the last of the eastern U.S. high speed, side of road, over hill and dale, town street to farm land interurbans in the United States, although the Media end of the present day 100-year-old Upper Darby to Media former Red Arrow trolley line — now SEPTA Route 101 — has some of these same characteristics. As was customary for interurban trolleys, the LVT Philadelphia Division ran fast in open country, but once in a village or town it slowly progressed down streets, made frequent stops, and navigated sharp streetcar-like turns at intersections.
The Liberty Bell line had a terminal in each town with a waiting room and a ticket agent. In the larger towns LVT had facilities to handle trolley freight. Coming south from its downtown Allentown terminal, the LVT Philadelphia Division served the Pennsylvania villages of Coopersburg, Quakertown, Perkasie, Sellersville, Souderton, Hatfield, Lansdale, and Norristown. In Norristown, its third-rail-equipped cars continued on the high-speed Philadelphia and Western to its 69th Street, Upper Darby terminus, which was the western terminus of the Philadelphia city subway-elevated. Philadelphia and Western Railroad crews operated the LVT cars from Norristown south. Much of the LVT's route was paralleled by the Reading Railroad's steam powered Bethlehem Branch, and had many of the same major stops. In Lansdale, the two stations faced each other. The Reading operated passenger service directly to its busy downtown Market Street Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, but the LVT was less expensive for frugal riders and made more village and local stops. Some patrons would ride the Reading, for example, from downtown Philadelphia to Lansdale, then walk across the street to the Lansdale LVT station to catch an interurban home.[2][3]
In 1939, LVT purchased thirteen used lightweight high-speed Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad Red Devil cars from the abandoned Ohio interurban to augment its older, heavier, and slower 700 and 800 series interurban cars. The former Red Devils were reconditioned by the innovative LVT Allentown shops and were then operated from Allentown to Philadelphia as Liberty Bell Limiteds. The LVT advertised for and ran freight, but it was a small part of the business. Box motor freight trolleys usually operated at night, but LVT sometimes ran scheduled trips as a "mixed" train with a box motor coupled behind the older series of passenger coach.[4] During the World War II years, LVT carried full loads including standees on its overworked equipment. When the war ended, ridership rapidly declined, and LVT again faced bankruptcy and abandonment as it had during the Great Depression.[1][3][4][5][6]
Contents |
The Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVT) began in 1905. It acquired the "Lehigh Valley Traction Company", which began operation in the early part of the 20th century as a meandering side of dirt road street car line from Quakertown south to Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. [7] In 1912–13, and again in 1925, LVT upgraded track and in places rerouted lines with private right of way constructed between some towns. At Wales Junction on the original Chestnut Hill line, a totally new route was constructed southward to reach Norristown to connect with the Philadelphia transportation system. Long stretches of eighty mile per hour[1] high speed open country private right of way existed, particularly north of Quakertown. Another long stretch existed between Souderton and Lansdale and included a steel bridge north of Hatfield known as Gehman Trestle. LVT installed blade style block signals purchased the 800 class heavy wood arch windowed interurban cars from Jewett Car Company, and set up railroad style dispatching. With these changes, local service using the older street cars and express service using the new Jewetts began between Allentown and Norristown-Philadelphia.[6]
The extensive Pennsylvania construction of paved highways and the public's increased ownership of automobiles like the Ford Model T in the 1920s started the financial decline of most interurbans in the United States. Many were abandoned prior to and during the Great Depression. LVT struggled during this time but survived, primarily due to the purchase of high speed light weight interurbams from the abandoned Cincinnati and Lake Erie interurban in Ohio. This improved ridership which then jumped due to gas rationing and increased industrial activity during World War II, but after the war the number of riders dropped again. Service quality declined during the 1950s as LVT lost rider revenue, which led to further loss of riders. Through service on the P&W ended in 1949, and thereafter patrons had to change cars at Norristown. In 1951, the financially failing LVT received temporary approval to suspend its interurban operation from the Pennsylvania PUC. Fearful that it might be ordered to resume operation, LVT had crews immediately remove signals, tear out trolley catenary, and rip up rails.[8] Operation was converted to buses on back roads, which dissatisfied both employees and riders.[1][6] The shutdown of the Lehigh Valley Transit caused considerable loss of employment at the shops at Allentown and Souderton. It was the end of a southeastern Pennsylvania transportation institution that had existed for over fifty years.[6]
A fleet of fifty suburban cars built by St. Louis Car Company was placed into service in 1902. Later interurban cars purchased were the wood frame trussbar 800 series from Jewett Car Company in 1912, the all-steel and faster 700 series cars from Southern Car Company in 1916, thirteen 1939-purchased 1000 series former Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad Red Devil cars, and the round end 1030 from the former Indiana Railroad interurban. All except the 1000 series cars could be, and often were, run together in two or three car trains, including combinations of both the 800 and 700 series cars. Across the years, equipment modifications were made by the Fairview shops. The 700 series steel cars were converted from center-entrance two-man crew to one-man cars. A classic arch window interurban coach typical of 1910 construction was 812. It was rebuilt in the LVT shops as a private car and later converted to regular service. A classic interurban, it operated to the last day of rail operation in 1951. The LVT color scheme was an all red body with silver roof until the lightweight 1000 series cars arrived. Then much of the fleet was repainted white with red trim and silver roof.[1][3][6]
LVT's acquisition of the former Cincinnati and Lake Erie's unique Red Devil interurban cars in 1939 probably saved LVT from an earlier abandonment. These well designed interurbans dramatically improved passenger comfort. The cars had quick acceleration and high speed capability with poor track conditions, which improved schedules and service,[1] and they used less power than their predecessors. LVT ridership increased, and then World War II started. Gasoline and tire rationing required more non-automobile transportation in the Philadelphia region.
The Red Devils were the result of three financially distressed Ohio interurban lines being combined in 1930 to become the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad. C&LE management knew that passenger and freight service had to be improved if the new line was to be profitable.[9] For passenger service, C&LE engineers worked with the Cincinnati Car Company staff in 1929 to design and construct twenty interurban coaches with improved passenger comfort and appeal. Better performance in terms of ride, speed, and reduced power consumption was obtained through improved aerodynamics, reduced car weight, and improved truck design. Significant use of aluminum reduced weight, and the Red Devils provided passengers with comfortable leather bucket seats with headrests.[9] One drawback was that Red Devils had a smaller passenger capacity than provided by the older Ohio interurbans, but C&LE planned to increase scheduled service. The Red Devils were 43'9" long, 11'4" high and weighed 24 short tons (22 metric tons[10] ). A typical 1920s large steel interurban was around 56' long, 14' high, and weighed 60 tons.
A new truck design was a major part of the improved ride.[11] The truck carried four new design compact 100 hp motors. It had smaller wheels in diameter (28") and a smaller frame, which allowed the car to sit lower and have a lower center of gravity. The Red Devils were known for their excellent ride at high speed on rough interurban track. Unfortunately, when the Great Depression deepened, C&LE business revenue declined drastically in 1937. C&LE abandoned their train lines and sold the Red Devils to LVT.[9][12][13]
In adjacent Indiana, a similar combining of marginal and failing interurban lines occurred creating the new Indiana Railroad. In 1931, the IRR purchased lightweight interurban cars from Pullman and American Car and Foundry based upon the Red Devil design but with some improvements. More aluminum was used, and a heavier truck design was adopted to allow even greater speeds. The IRR operated three car trains from Indianapolis south to Louisville, so the new IRR lightweights had couplers and a rounded rear end unlike the Red Devil's square rear end. This round end allowed coupled car operation around tight curves in town streets.[14] IR abandoned operations in 1941, and LVT purchased parlor car #55 from the IR to replace a car lost in a fire. It arrived on the LVT property in IRR's bright "traction orange." LVT's Fairview shopmen humorously labeled it the "Golden Calf." The shop crew refurbished and repainted it using LVT's white with red trim (called by the LVT "Picador Cream and Mountain Ash Scarlet") and renumbered it LVT 1030. It stood out from its Red Devil brothers by its more tapered front windows and the round rear end.[15] LVT replaced the Commonwealth trucks with those removed from the burned out former Red Devil 1004. Although the frequent stops and the rolling hills of eastern Pennsylvania countryside were more demanding for traction motors than the open Ohio flatlands had been, the former Red Devils and the 1030 performed reliably and well until LVT abandonment in 1951.[1][3][6][9] 1030 is now preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum.
LVT needed to maintain interurban cars, streetcars, freight trolleys, and line maintenance equipment. LVT's primary car storage yard and major shop was the Fairview barn southwest of downtown Allentown. Tracks to Fairview left the main line just south of the 8th Street bridge. In Allentown, LVT had the awkward situation of running interurban cars, sometimes backward,[6] through residential areas from Fairview to reach downtown and begin the hourly service to Philadelphia.
A second maintenance facility and yard was in Souderton,[1] which is now the location of the Souderton fire department building at 2nd and Central Streets. The Souderton maintenance facility was reached by a track branching from the main line on Summit Street running down 2nd Street for two blocks. The all wood arch windowed 801 was kept at Souderton as backup and was used frequently.
LVT had to maintain AC to DC power conversion substations to generate its needed 600 VDC trolley voltage from local AC power. In 1951 it had an aging car fleet and had to pay all costs to maintain roadbed and track, drainage systems, stations, other buildings, catenary, bridges, and snow removal.
A Saturday-Sunday schedule for April 1938[16] shows Allentown to Philadelphia interurban "Expresses" leaving Allentown on the hour from 6 am to 10 pm. There were twenty five scheduled stops en route but many more stops occurred simply by a rider "buzzing" the motorman or by flagging the car down.[17] Scheduled arrival at the P&W Norristown station was 1 hr 38 minutes later. Typical running time between the scheduled stops was two to six minutes. Germantown Pike, the last stop before Norristown, to Norristown's LVT+P&W station took 14 minutes. This interval included a southbound-northbound car "meet" with an LVT-P&W operator swap at Marshall passing siding in the middle of Norristown's Markley Street between Marshall and Airy Streets. The two cars were positioned door to door so that the motorman exchange was made directly from car to car.[17] A P&W crew took the southbound car down Markley to Airy where it turned east, then south on Swede and a jog from Swede onto a bridge over Norristown's Main Street and into the P&W's elevated station.[1] The 1938 schedule had four "Expresses" operating on the line at the same time.
Hourly local service had many more stops and used typical streetcar equipment. Local service went between the Expresses and ran Allentown to Center Valley at the north end and Hatfield to Norristown at the south end. The two southbound-northbound limited meets were normally at Marshall siding in Norristown and at Nace Siding in open country just north of Souderton.
Some signs of the LVT's single track Allentown to Philadelphia line still exist. The columned station on Perkasie's Walnut Street is the most evident. It now houses the Perkasie Historical Society. North of the Perkasie Station is the LVT tunnel under the Reading Railroad. Further north are concrete bridge abutments where the line crossed 9th Street.
At Sellersville the small white station is now a dental office. It served as a police station in the late 1950s. The Quakertown station at the northwest corner of Main and Broad has a mural on a back wall depicting one of the LVT's 1000 Series Liberty Bell Limited former Cincinnati and Lake Erie high speed interurbans. The house-like two story Hatfield station is now a cafe. Inside this cafe there are photographs of LVT cars, LVT locations, and a 1938 schedule of operations. South of this building, part of the former LVT right-of-way, including an original 1916 culvert, is a paved walking and biking trail called "The Liberty Bell Trail". Some of the former LVT right of way is visible from satellite as a faint scar across the countryside north of Quakertown. The DeLorme Company's "Pennsylvania Atlas and Gazetter Topographic Maps" book shows "old railroad grades" as a faint dashed red line on their maps. There is a dashed line shown running from Quakertown to Center Valley at present day Route 309; LVT ran alongside PA Route 309.
A bad wreck occurred in July 1942 near northern Norristown. The motorman of a northbound lightweight 1003 was waiting at Brush siding near Norristown and had dispatcher's orders to wait for both a southbound passenger car followed by a southbound freight motor, but he proceeded from the siding, violating the horizontal "stop" semaphore signal, and moved onto the main line after only the first passenger car had passed. He may have misinterpreted the "one-long and two-short" horn signal, indicating a following section, for the usual "two-toot" greeting that passing cars often signaled to each other. Alternatively, he may have been preoccupied in conversation with young females in the front vestibule. Alongside DeKalb Pike, the 1003 accelerated and rounded a hidden curve where it rammed head-on into a moving freight motor, C14. The heavier C14 "telescoped" into the lightweight and twelve people were killed, including the motorman of 1003. The motorman of C14 ran into the interior of the freight car, thus surviving, and had the presence of mind to first grab from the clipboard his train order authorizing his presence as the second southbound section.[18] The wreck forced dispatching changes and a reduction in operating speeds.
Another 1942 wreck occurred north of Perkasie one evening when two northbound 1000 series cars were running a few minutes apart as a single dispatched "train." Climbing the grade in the wooded area of Old Bethlehem Pike near Rocky Ridge and Three Mile Run, the first car, 1030, disengaged from the trolley wire, lost its lights, and then drifted to a stop. The second car, 1001, rounded a curve and rear ended the stalled and dark 1030.[6] The accident could have been prevented if the motorman, rather than attempting to recatch the wire in the dark, had gone down the track to flag the 1001.
Souderton, unlike much of the rest of the track had sharp inclines and turns through the streets. On occasion during icy conditions, the interurbans would struggle to climb these grades, particularly northbound from Diamond to Summit. While crews struggled with sand to provide traction for wheels, the delays were logistically problematic for LVT. Even though cars would start well-spaced, the delays would force multiple cars to wait for the sand to be deployed. South of Souderton depot there were sharp turns, but track conditions were level. The track turned from Main onto Broad street, ran two blocks, then turned left onto residential Penn Avenue where, after four blocks, at Cherry Lane it entered open country for the fast run downgrade to Gehman trestle and on to the stop at Hatfield.
In 1911, LVT wanted to reach the other side of Little Lehigh Creek in order to carry its interurban and trolley cars from center Allentown to the south side. It organized the Allentown Bridge Company and began construction. The resulting seventeen arch concrete span cost over of $500,000 and required 29,500 cubic yards (22,600 m3) of concrete and 1.1 million pounds of metal reinforcing rods. When opened for traffic on November 17, 1913, it was the longest and highest concrete bridge in the world. It operated as a toll bridge from its November 17, 1913 opening until the 1950s, at which time the toll was five cents for an automobile. The Liberty Bell Limiteds crossed the bridge to begin their run to Philadelphia and also to reach the Fairview car barn to the west of eighth street. Concrete poles that once supported the trolley wire are still standing on the bridge to this day. The bridge is now called the Albertus L. Meyers Bridge.