Touring Seneca Valley Lines

Coming from staging, the tour of the Rochester Model Railroad Club’s Lehigh Valley model railroad, or the Seneca Valley Lines begins with FFW-1 entering the spectacular Arthur Kill Bridge at Jersey City, New Jersey. Jersey City has an industrial town on the eastern end of the model portion of the Lehigh Valley that has a streetcar line.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is home to Bethlehem Steel where the Alco 420 passes by the rolling mill followed by the power plant and the headquarters to the steel mill. Above train FFW-1 is the Hazelton mine, which is served by a branch line that ties into the main at Rochester junction. At the town of Hazelton, the coal run works downgrade as an RDC waits at the depot. It will soon transport the miners up to the mine.

At the photogenic Lehigh Gorge, the coal run crosses the Lehigh River as Alco number 408 soon appears on the main line after working its way through a series of tunnels. As the freight rolls past LG tower, there’s a train waiting at the Central of New Jersey cut off.

On the approach to Glenn Summit, there is a final crossing of the Lehigh River before it reaches Geneva. FFW-1 passes a residential area with the Geneva sand and gravel plant in back. The city of Geneva is located on Seneca Lake. Meanwhile the Hazleton coal run continues toward Rochester junction and the coal run passes the industrial supply at Victor. The Victor depot and the silos are part of the farms supply stream. The coal run arrives at RJ tower and finally Alco number 408 passes under the route 96 overpass and reaches Victor.

Watch more from Allen Keller’s Great Model Railroad series in our archives.