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Liberty Bell Route a photographic history Leigh Valley Transit Company's HC
Liberty Bell Route a photographic history by William J McKelvey Jr
Lehigh Valley Transit Company's Liberty Bell Route
Hard Cover
97 pages
Copyright 1989
PREFACE
"I wish I had been born fifty years earlier" is a common thought among trolley, railroad, canal, steamboat, and industrial archaeology enthusiasts/historians. I am plagued by the problem myself. I often wish I had been there to see, ride, and experience those glorious transportation vehicles of years ago. For over thirty-five years, the one thing that has been part of my imagining more than anything else is the Lehigh Valley Transit Company's Liberty Bell Route.
It was January of 1951 when I read Ed Blossom's superb article in Trains magazine. At age eleven I was just too young to travel by myself to eastern Pennsylvania to ride "The Bell" before its demise. In the late 1950s. I rode and photographed numerous other trolley and interurban lines throughout the United States. Canada. Mexico, and the Orient. But, there was always a regret in the back of my mind. If I had only been born five years earlier. If, if
Although I didn't ride "The Bell." I certainly could write about it. All I needed was a kick-in-the-rear.
Harry L. Rinker of Zionsville. Pennsylvania, my good and long time friend and fellow author, asked me to do some research in the spring of 1986 for his book on the Schuylkill Navigation. When I went to Philadelphia to the home office of CIGNA. my employer, I visited the Free Library of Philadelphia and found what Harry needed and the kick that I needed so badly.
While examining some old United States Geological Survey maps looking for canal information, I discovered with joy that the Liberty Bell Route was clearly delineated. There it was: running through city streets, cutting across farms and fields, along side of roads, zig-zagging through towns, and playing tag with railroad lines.
A feeling came over me. something that had happened twice before. Each prior experience resulted in a book. I authored The Delaware & Raritan Canal: A Pictorial History in 1975 and Champlain to Chesapeake: A Canal Era Pictorial Cruise in 1978.
I thought, oh god, it's happening again. Instead of getting married and having children, I stay single and write books. The birth pain is about the sane.
Armed with xerox copies of the maps I anxiously headed for the Norristown end of the ex-Philadelphia & Western (P&W) high speed line. There was no evidence of the LVT route in downtown Norristown. However, soon after crossing Johnson Road at the north end of Markley Street. I spotted the old right of way, now used by Philadelphia Electric Co., veering off to the right. The Washington Square Substation building along Route 202 was the first surviving structure that I found. The route became easier and easier to follow. I reached Lansdale by sunset.
In the following weeks. I explored the balance of the Liberty Bell Route right-of-way. It was exhilarating to discover: the surviving bridge abutments, ex-station buildings at Hatfield, Sellersville. Perkasie and Quakertown. and ex-carbarn buildings at Souderton and Allentown. Best of all was the beautiful countryside, rustic rural areas, and nostalgic. historic towns through which the line passed.
But, what I really wanted was to see what it all looked like when the trolleys were running. Photos, the key was photographs. If only I could get enough photographs to recreate a trip along "The Bell" just as I had done for old canal routes. What follows is the result of my efforts.
I reactivated my membership in the Electric Railroaders' Association (ERA) and joined the Lehigh Valley and North Jersey chapters of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). I sent out letters of inquiry for photos and information. Each possible source or lead was diligently pursued. My checking account balance declined in direct proportion to the fruits of my labors. I became a research regular at the Wednesday evening sessions of Railways to Yesterday. Inc.. held at the old LVT Fairview carbarn.
If Albert L. Johnson had lived longer. I probably would be writing this book about the high speed interurban New York Divisions of LVT instead of the Liberty Bell Route. As you can see from my previous titles, I love New Jersey history.
The ambitiously planned New York Divisions, under Johnson's direction, were to have been built across New Jersey from both Philadelphia and Allentown to New Brunswick and then to New York City via a tunnel under the Hudson River. Another plan for the Allentown-New York route would have utilized the DL&W Railroad between Hoboken and Washington. New Jersey, with electric third rail for the LVT interurban cars.
The Trenton, Lawrenceville and Princeton Railroad Co. was the most important portion of the proposed route that came under Johnson's control. Johnson died on July 2, 1901. four and one-half months before operations began on that route using three, a fourth was added later, St. Louis built cars. A number of factors, not the least of which was Johnson's death, forced the cancellation of the New York Divisions. It is ironic that service started on the New Jersey line four months before service was inaugurated between Allentown and Quakertown, the first part of the Liberty Bell Route that was opened. New Jerseyians can always beat out Pennsylvanians when they put their mind to it.
I believe that if Johnson had lived, the New York Divisions would have been completed. Like the Liberty Bell Route, the Philadelphia-New York route passed through a historic landscape. This route could have been named the "George Washington Route," in honor of Washington's Revolutionary War New Jersey campaigns ... and who knows, the Lackawanna's famed Phoebe Snow might been whisked into Hoboken on LVT interurban cars as well ...
The Bell Route could have survived had it not been for America's love affair with the automobile. Several European countries, especially Switzerland, have wisely maintained and modernized their interurban electric rail systems as important feeders to the main line rail network. In the past decade our country has experienced a phenomenal rebirth of trolley routes, now called "light rail." Perhaps some day eastern Pennsylvania government officials will return to their senses and restore high speed electric rail service to. from, and within the Lehigh Valley.
This book represents my first attempt to cover the Liberty Bell Route. Volume II will provide coverage of the Chestnut Hill line, the route north to the Delaware Water Gap, the extended Bell service to Bethlehem and Easton as well as the Richlandtown and Telford Branches. It also will include photographs along the route that I have not yet discovered. Surely there are many more beautiful photographs and collections out there somewhere. If you have or know of such materials, I would like to hear from you.
All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
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