Then and Now Lehigh Valley Trolley
Lehigh Valley Trolley and Reading Railroad train on the Stony Creek Line at West Point on July 18, 1950
April 5, 2009. The trolley tracks are gone, but the train came through the day this picture was taken.
November 6, 1949
April 2009.
The 1949 photo was apparently taken from the train tracks, but it is no longer possible to get a clear shot due to the vegetation and foliage. West Point Pike and the surrounding area have been improved and landscaped several times in the last 60 years. The trolley station in the 1949 photo would be halfway buried now. Moyer Boulevard, seen at the bottom of both photos, has been moved.
Southbound local #177 approaches the West Point Pike crossing in 1939. Click on the picture for larger photograph. (Will open in a new window or tab.)
Computer generated color version. Not sure if the color of the trolley is correct.
2009. The Lehigh Valley Transit Co. right of way is now the driveway to Artesano Iron Works.
The device that resembles a barber pole was a spring powered mechanical bell connected to the track in two places. As the trolley approached it would set the bell ringing. It would then turn the bell off and wind up the spring as it passed.
The above pictures were taken from "The Liberty Bell Route - A Photographic History" by William J. Mckelvey Jr.