I am attempting to maodel a (very) small section of the Bethelhem Branch about 1960. My focus is on Perkasie.

I was looking at Time Table No. 21 from 1963. It lists 12 passenger trains per weekday, six each way. Train 316 EB to Philadelphia is listed as having a through sleeper. Would this have been a named train, such as the Crusader or Wall Streeter? Would the sleeper have been a Reading, CNJ, B&O, other?

There seem to be two scheduled freights, XB-24 from Abrams to Bethlehem and BX-3 from Bethlehem to Abrams. They both drop off & pickup at Lansdale.Would these be cars for customers between Lansdale & Hellertown? Also, how long would it take the EB to pass through Perkasie? It takes the commuter train 25-30 minutes.

In the Employee TT under section 10. Misc Instructions, sec f."Eastward trains with work to do at Telford, must pull into Telford middle siding from west end and cut train, leaving on the siding that portion of train not required in work to be done; cut shall be made so that after returning for recoupling, entire train will be clear of main track."
Would this mean there is no WB local work. Or would the WB local leave its cars on the main?

Thanks In Advance,
Doug Maddox
Modeling the Bethlehem Branch

train #316 would have been the "Interstate Express" between Binghamton N.Y.and Phila. via RDG,CNJ,DL&W(E-L)it was taken off in 1963,when the mail service stopped.

Doug:

In the mid-60's, There were 2 freights each day from Pt Richmond to Bethlehem. Also, in 1965 there was a traveling shifter (local) that worked from Bethlehem (Saucon) to Souderton and return. Another that worked from Lansdale to Souderton and Ambler, West Point and Doylestown and a local that worked from Erie Avenue to Ambl;er and back.

also the Abrams to Bethlehem freights north bound traveled the Stoney creek branch between Norristown and Lansdale, it left Abrams about 11:00pm. the southbound train traveled the entire branch down thru Jenkintown,to Wayne Jct. to Falls Yard than up the mainline to Abrams.
I do not know what time the southbound left Bethlehem but it was sometime during daylight hours.

From what I've found, XB-24 was to arvat Lansdale at 1:15-1:45 AM, and BX-3 5:00-5:30 AM.

I grew up in Perkasie, Doug, and remember the early '60's on the RDG pretty well. According to an article about the Interstate Express in the August, 2003, RMC, sleeper service was discontinued on August 10, 1957. The remnants of the Interstate, basically a mail train, was one of the last locomotive hauled passenger trains on the North Penn. Both in steam and diesel days CNJ power was often used on the train. There's a picture of train 373 at Jenkintown in its last week of operation, June 27, 1963, in Bob Pennisi's Northeast RR Scene, Vol. 3. A pair of CNJ RS3s are on the point.

Second generation power showed up late on the Bethlehem branch. RS3s were the most common power on both freight and passenger trains. FM train masters and Baldwin AS-16s were also seen, especially on passenger trains. GP7s were rare, as were EMD F units. FA-1s did operate occasionally. I remember seeing a combination of RS3s and FA1s on an ore train while picnicking in the back yard of Uncle Titus Yerger's posh Market Street home.

Both through freights, PB-1 and BP-3 operated mostly at night. The Bethlehem ore extras were the real show on the North Penn. These operated in daylight and were pulled mostly by strings of RS3s, though other power, especially FMs frequently joined the Alcos. I remember seeing an ore train passing through Souderton with several RS3s, as well as an FM and a GP7. There are some great pictures of first generation power on the North Penn in Dale Woodland's Reading Diesels, Vol. 1. Second generation power began appearing on the branch with the arrival of the C630s, the first of which were purchase to power the ore extras. Eventually all classes of 6 axle power could be seen on these trains.

Occasionally the ore trains got stuck on the grade through Perkasie tunnel. I remember one occasion, probably in the summer of 1970, when I heard the sounds of diesel locomotives echoing through our Highland Terrace (Old Post Road) neighborhood -- more than a mile from the tunnel. I suspected that the train was stuck in the tunnel, so when my dad got home from work a few minutes later, I urged him to head for the station. Sure enough, the crew had backed down to the station and left half the train on the west bound main, just shy of the switch which single-tracked the main through the tunnel. The front of the train was just entering the tunnel, so we high-tailed it to Rock Hill Quarry, the crest of the grade. Not long after we got there, the first half of the train arrived, pulled by two C630s and an SD45. The crew left their train on the Rock Hill siding and returned to Perkasie for the rest of their train.

You picked a great piece of railroad to model, Doug!