I love how you stop and take the time to admire the interesting finds. Like the labels, or the teddy bear. It's like I'm exploring with you and have time to ponder how things got to where they are. Great job.
An amazing documentary. I grew up in Allentown, and would have been 14 when passenger operations ceased. So this kind of hit home. Of course, your story would never appear on the History Channel or be presented by a museum. You're the real deal -- no restoration or sanitized interpretation as you examine the details. The contrast between the decayed glory that remains from the station's heydey and the present evidence of homeless occupation and drug activity is very compelling to me. Thanks for your work.
***** i use a cheap piece of crap dslr and the cheapest lens available for it. nothing fancy at all. cheap enough that if something happens to it i won't stress it. i guess it's just all in how you use it? i wish i had a canon 5d or a 4k video camera with image stabilization or something like that.
Great footage!! Always afraid to go in because of the homeless or criminal element. This "modern" station was built in 1930s to replace the beautiful "old fashioned" Victorian one that was located across the street. As you can see in some old pix, there was a 2nd story but that was torn down mid to late 70s. About half of this station was devoted to the "Railway Express Agency" where you picked up your parcels before the days of UPS and Fed Ex delivery to your door.
I was a bit of an urban explorer in my younger days, back in the 1970's. In those days the URBEX scene was a lot different than today. We didn't have the internet to share our finds and, we didn't work in groups as it was difficult to find like-minded people. Instead most of us, myself included, did all our exploring alone.If we got injured or got into a jam we had nobody to back us up and nobody to get help. Still we took our chances and did it because we found it interesting. I think its great that nowadays most of you guys work in groups. Makes it a lot safer. Also, these days you have video cameras plus the Internet to share your work. These days I leave the urban exploring to the younger folk. I am not as agile as I used to be when I was young,
HimJimRimDim. you're talking stupid that's a load of crap and you know it because you don't know what you're talking about you just make things as you go along and anyone could do that that's not a dummy
This is an interesting relic, with all the talk of putting a new passenger line through the Lehigh Valley and connecting to NJ Transit's line giving rail access to to the Northeast Corridor line from the Lehigh Valley it makes you wonder if this station could be resurrected.
Very frustrating that you used to be able to catch a train in Easton to NYC. The Lehigh Valley is the largest metropolitan area in the USA without light rail.
My parents married in New York in 1957 and frequently took "the Valley" as they called it to visit my dad's family. They likely purchased their return passage at the very ticket booths you filmed. As a kid I often visited my grandparents and remember the LVRR freights passing thru, and the upper platform shelter still standing. Not much left from those times, except those old yellow clippings on the walls. Thanks for sharing your explorations.
Also grew up in Allentown. Finding videos of people exploring abandoned places in the Lehigh Valley makes me smile. I wish I had the balls and willing friends to explore some of these places myself.
Thanks for this video, I grew up on a farm on the Lehigh river near here that was south of Walnutport. That train went past my bedroom window about 500 feet away. We would pick up coal from the tracks for the cold winters. We moved to California in 1956. This brings me up to date on the local history.
I love that no one in your crew says stupid comments while exploring. You're not loud and obnoxious and you capture the interesting things that I would be looking for if I was there. Thank you for posting your explorations!
Recommendation - get Peztl lamps to free up your hands. Helmet mounted cameras? Boots, gloves, beware of discarded sharps (needles etc) and avoid standing water (risk of Leptospirosis)
My light is about 5x brighter than even the best Peztl headlamp actually. It's great. The problem for viewers is that my camera lens lacks low f-stop capabilities for actually capturing the full amount of light available. So really, I need a new lens, not a new light.
It is interesting to see the reaction of today's youth to the past that many of us took for granted when their age. I'm sure future generations will find their primitive cameras and light sources odd..Keep exploring kids!
Thanks to each of you . This is a great video and made me want to purchase so many of the items shown. This is truly a piece of history and wonderfully filmed. Thank you for taking us there. Well done. Jim , not Nigel
Thanks for filming this, I've lived in the Lehigh Valley all my life but never bothered to check out any of our many abandoned areas (for a good variety of reasons) and your exploration in tri-state area is really intriguing.
I agree the camera team did an excellent job. However, your additional story brought the adventure to another level and that was very cool! Thank you Mr. O'Hay.
Once again, good job guys! Hopefully someday someone will notice how respectful you are of the properties and allow you in to film even more less known and untouched historical gems.
***** Hey I was wondering if you would be interested in grouping up for some really cool abandoned places my friend and I explore and have just stumbled upon. We want to use them for films mostly but It would be cool to have another Like minded/experienced individual to go out with. I live basically where you filmed the Railway Passenger Station
This is way cool. I see people much younger than me doing explorations like this is fascinating.I just happen to live in part of an apartment complex that was once large factory. Ive seen pictures and video of the abandoned factory during some urban exploration tours. From what it was to what is is now is amazing. I love your documentary work. This stuff you do is top notch. Keep up the good work.
I enjoy your vids guys! I especially love the attention to detail of so many different things such as architectural details, news clippings and some of the grand details alike the staircase! I think one of my favorite things is my empathic gifts allow me to feel the excitement and genuine love of history and what you are doing! Please don't lose that dude!
Those wrought iron railings & pillars that appeared @ the 17:00 mark were amazing. I would love to be able to rescue them from further deterioration, but i can guarantee it would never be an option die to red-tape & ownership retention of the property. Wonderful insight you guys have given to forgotten properties.
Great video! I grew up in Wilson Borough, a few miles away. That station closed down before I was born, but I always wondered what it looked like inside. It's a shame that the station has deteriorated so bad. It would make a great train themed restaurant. Unfortunately, that is not the best part of town.
really cool to see those news clippings, and like you said, they all seem to be bad news. question that makes it even more creepy is that they are burned in place.
Just found your site, loved the shots of all the abandoned places. Such a shame too. Imagine what they could do with a lot of these locations. Have you ever come across a place that had strange things happened? Sounds and movement that weren't made by you and your team. Haunted? Would love to hear stories on that as well.
Incredible old memories in that place - fascinating to see the old newspaper clippings on the walls - always sad to see places like this go to waste. It's too bad that they don't restore it for historic purposes. Thanks for sharing.
I go to a welding school in the area and a kid from new Jersey was making fun of kids from around here because of how excited we get about abandoned warehouses and stuff. He was like relax scooby doo, I'm 23 years old but I still think the history of this area is fascinating and who wouldn't want to check out places like this.
I find your channel very interesting because you show me abandon places near were I live... I was just at knoebles today and I was going to visit centralia but didn't have the chance anyway I like your videos... Keep on posting.
I love yours videos. You are an awesome urban explorer. I have to deal with them occasionally with my job. You don't seam to vandalize the buildings you enter or leave any trace of your presence at all. I had to deal with 3 young urban explorers trying to make off with a 10ton gantry crane in their pickup from one of my employer's warehouse a while back. it was build some time around 1840 and abandoned in the 1940's and recently I've been put in charge of fixing the building to be used as a shop
Great Vid, very impressed to see so much of the original stuff in such good shape, around my way places have been destroyed because no one cares to preserve anything.
I work for a railroad and I have to say, the " old school" way of how the buildings were back then look so much better then the modern prefab way today. I have been fortunate to have seen some of the historic RR buildings of my area before they were demolished... Thanks for the uploads, Keep'em coming !! Too bad you didn't see any old train movement records....recoding actual arrival and departure times of trains......oh well :)
I don't know why we don't have passenger trains to philly and nyc. Instead we sit in traffic, have no human contact and get zero exercise. Big shopping mall Cultural wasteland, welcome to the USA.
Great video! Loved the pop up information regarding the station. So sad that it's left like that. Too bad that some kind of historical society couldn't have stepped in and had it as a museum.
Wow. Too bad it was allowed to fall into disrepair. Looks like a fun place to explore, but also very dangerous! Something I would have done a few years ago when I was a little more daring. Cool video--- be careful!!!!!
Thats nuts, i know this area well, I worked not but a few blocks from this station, Thanks for such an amazing video and all the awesome facts about the Lehigh Valley Railroad!
Liked and subscribed! :D Dude you NEED to bring me along on your next explorations. i have been in a station very similar to that many times. But your team seems to be oblivious to security, stealth, safety, and being mindful of their surroundings. You saw the pipe and personal effects, people obviously get high there. Was anyone trained or equipped to defend the group if the need arose? Was anyone ready to administer first aid should someone be injured? i love this kind of thing, because you walk through faded memories of rusted history when you explore places like this. And i am totally grateful to you and others like you that preserve these sites before they are reclaimed by time. But the times when several people walked onto decayed stairs or touched things that could be toxic, contaminated (or the instrument of a crime) made me wince.
I grew up in the LV and did the same kind of stuff you are doing. Cool, keep it up. I live the historical aspect and the LV once a manufacturing mecca has remnants of its' past all over the place.
Thank You for uploading this video. I love videos about abandoned buildings and could sit and watch them all day long. Of course I'd end up with diabetes if i did that but, I can enjoy them while I have a little time.
It is a shame all the work and time that was out into these places, all the things that are now useless, pretty sad. But thank you for showing us these videos
This reminds me of when I was a Kid. I used to love going and exploring old abandoned factories and stuff. Be that as it may. One thing I'm sad about and Glad about is that Homeless people find these places to reap shelter. At least they have a safe place to lay their heads at night. For what ever reason they're homeless. At least the buildings aren't going totally to waist. There are so many interesting American History lessons inside a lot of these old abandoned buildings. Good Work. Be Safe..
You spent 16 min in the freight area/LCL/baggage part of station, some okay shots of waiting room. The LV became part of Conrail in 1968, and parts are still used today, hence the NS train passing by at the end ..
FYI: This station building was built in 1926-27. It opened in February of 1927, replacing a Victorian station building on the other side of 3rd street. That building was on the south side of the tracks. Interestingly, that old station building was not demolished until 1945. The only part of this station that was demolished were the track level platform canopies, stairwell kiosks and elevator kiosks. The platform itself is still there.
06:53(ish) looks like a weighbridge to me. Wow! Thanks for the video guys. I'm enjoying this all the way from the UK. I love how you find out & include bits of history about the place.
i love all the closeups you give on the documents and stuff you find...close up of a dead spider, or that old tire in the beginning, things like that. i always wish urb ex's would show me MORE of that type of thing. you really learn alot about the location and what not that way...love it. GReaT ViD! keep em comin, please!
Things I loved about this - the older images used in comparison, the information about the railroad, and the camera work Very cool, Kept me captivated for the entire 20 minutes. I really liked the eold newspaper aritcals about the line.
This portion of the station was likely much of the Commissary for Lehigh Valley Dining Car services that ended in Feb 1961 when the New York to Toronto "MAPLE LEAF" was discontinued. Jersey Central passenger service through Easton ended in 1966.
I've been to Lehigh Valley, Bethlehem and most other surrounding areas many times as a kid. I haven't been recently though. From what I can remember it was a nice place. Hope it still is.
I'm always surprised no one at least takes the brickwork and ornate stairwell metal and re-uses it. Asbestos issues I suppose.Some of the bricks are beautiful.
