Last month I had the opportunity to visit and photograph the Train Works at Weatherly, former home of the LVRR Engine Shop. Follow the link below to my images.

An excerpt from the book "The History of Weatherly, Pennsylvania", by historian John "Jack" Koehler:
The Lehigh Valley Railroad began construction of a large stone building adjoining the railroad roundhouse. It was completed in 1869 and measured in size 150' x 200'. Under its single roof could be found four departments; machine shop, foundry, boiler and blacksmith shops. The new building was built for the construction and repair of railroad locomotives. A total of 78 engines were built and many hundreds were overhauled and repaired in these shops.
Under Weatherly's master mechanic, Philip Hoffecker, a new design in engine building was developed in 1872. A fleet of 4-8-0 type engines (nicknamed "dirt burners") were built and the new design engine was readily adopted by most of the other railroads across the country. Hoffecker designed and built 70 locomotives before retiring due to poor health in 1890. Only eight other engines were built after he retired.
Shortly afterwards, the Lehigh Valley began a program of consolidation of its railroad shops and closed the Weatherly engine shops in June 1894. The building, containing 32,000 square feet of floor space, was put up for sale. On February 10, 1913, the Weatherly Iron & Steel Co. purchased the building for $10,000. The shops once employed 425 men.

http://www.losttracksoftime.com/p1067874156

Enjoy,
Matthew

Nice images of one of the saddest failed preservation efforts in our region. The shops remained relatively intact until about a decade ago when during "restoration" the roof was removed for "safety", not replaced and the building left open to the elements and by local accounts the wooden floor was almost immediately destroyed. What is now an industrial ruin of barren walls was an intact building to be restored as indoor space.

This was arguably the most intact early locomotive shop left in the northeast (after the demolition in Troy). Such a shame. Good intentions, for sure, but an unsettling outcome.

Rob

An article on the roof demolition is here: http://www.tnonline.com/2012/oct/02/wea ... oming-down

Rob -

Thanks for the reference to the sad story about the removal of the roof from the LV Shops there at Weatherly, but Matthew's photo essay of what is left was really fine photography. And it was certainly nice to see the couple of photos of Lehigh Valley #15661, one of the hoppers mentioned in the long running thread "Roll Call two bay open top hopper cars" and in your Spread Sheet on the subject.


Les

Matthew's work is always beautiful. He's one of the best. It makes me sad that he got to photograph a ruin rather than an intact building.

Here's hoping the hopper fares well.

Rob

On one hand I wish I would have been there 4 years ago before the roof was taken down, but on the other having the roof missing gives the opportunity to capture all the detail on the inner walls that would have otherwise been obscured by darkness. There is a striking beauty to the integrity of the load-bearing walls 147 years later, with the gentle eroding by elements of Mother Nature. And a peaceful calm where hundreds of workers once built steam locomotives. Haunting.

Matthew

For anyone not in the loop, who owns this building currently and is there any chance that coal hopper could find a better home? If the place is in such "ruins", as described above, is anyone making an effort to preserve (or salvage) the building and that hopper as they sit currently?

- Christian B.

I’d like to think the Weatherly facility is a work in progress prompted by community minded folks wanting to preserve their rail heritage.

Jack Koehler, a retired letterman, was a spark plug behind the effort until his recent passing. I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance years ago while researching Lehigh Valley freight equipment. Jack was a very pleasant gentlemen and treasure trove of information who graciously share much about the Valley’s Mahanoy and Hazleton (M&H) Division - the roads mainline into the Eastern Middle Field of Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Region. I spent an afternoon tramping about foundations of the former roundhouse, ash pit and through the caboose shop and then cavernous shop building – if walls could only talk.

While the roof was removed from the old erecting shops, the caboose shop, freight house and passenger station remain – the latter fully restored and used by the municipality. Recent efforts have focused the old freight house – presently being used as a museum. There are a few interesting items to seeabout the rounds, if one looks closely, including Carnegie rail intact with angled ends abutting one another. The Valley coalie is one of four remaining from the 1000s the road once rostered. And so it goes.

I understand the Weatherly Area Community Museum will host an open house this coming Saturday November 26, 2016, from 10 am until 4 pm. The museum houses a lot of photographs and items on the M&H Division from Mr. Koehler’s collection. In addition, they are also having an operating model train layout and the man of the hour -- Santa Claus.

Here is a link to their website for additional information as well as other sources of Valley info....
https://sites.google.com/site/weatherly ... itymuseum/

Other items of local anthracite interest include: http://eckleyminersvillage.com/; http://www.no9mine.com/ (a hidden gem); http://www.anthracitemuseum.org/; http://www.pioneertunnel.com/home.shtml; http://www.jimthorpe.org/; http://www.mahanoyhistory.org/

Best regards,
Jim K