Towanda

Towanda, Pennsylvania is another rustbelt town that has seen better days. Pre WWII, it used to have some heavy industry, and was the junction between the Lehigh Valley Railroad's heavy mainline and their secondary passenger line. The Lehigh was another of the many lines that ran between New York City and Buffalo. Their route was more southerly than the others, cutting through northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania before crossing upstate New York. It was the longest, so never could really compete with the likes of the New York Central or Erie. Still, as long as everything ran on coal, it was generally a moneymaker. As the switch to oil and electricity took place, the lines fortunes waned. It ultimately went bankrupt in the 1970s and was one of the lines that made up Conrail. In the rationalization of trackage that followed, most of the Lehigh's lines were removed from service.

One of the lines that did remain in service, though no longer as a through route, was the mainline through Towanda. In better days the Lehigh had built this massive double track bridge over the Susquehanna River at Towanda, to serve the heavy traffic that once flowed on all the rail lines of the northeast. By the time I took this shot about 1990, it was down to one train a day each direction, and that a local that only served the few industries left on line. The second track was long gone.

One of the remaining industries was a small agriculture business just outside of Towanda. It wasn't on the mainline, but on what was left of the secondary line. From a junction in downtown Towanda, it meandered a few miles south to Monroeton, and was run by a small line, the TMSL - the Towanda Monroeton Shippers Lifeline. The TMSL consisted of one guy who had a day job driving a bus, and one locomotive. He would come out on Saturdays or after work to move the occasional car. I chased the TMSL one day, if you can call what I did a chase. The train went so slow I was able to stay ahead of it by walking.