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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER
Bethlehem Catasauqua East Penn Northampton Northwestern Parkland Salisbury Whitehall-Coplay

The little engine that returned home

Published November 10. 2021 02:35PM

By LOU WHEELAND

Special to The Press

The Ironton Rail Trail Board of Directors and local train enthusiasts recently gathered at the intersection of Quarry and Portland streets, North Whitehall Township, to watch as a train engine was installed alongside the trail.

“This engine was built for the Dragon Cement Siegfried Company in Northampton in June 1955,” Ray Deutsch, IRT commissioner, explained. “It is a Plymouth model JDT 20-ton locomotive.

“Assigned road No. 1, the locomotive was used to shuttle loads of limestone from the quarry to the plant, a distance of approximately one-third to a half mile.

“Unlike other Dragon rolling stock that was kept primarily inside the confines of the plant, Dragon Cement No. 1 was frequently visible to the public.

According to Deutsch, the right of way between the quarry and the plant bisected the intersection of Main Street and Cherryville Road (near Redner’s) and drivers were stopped multiple times per day by the unit and its loads of limestone.

Following closure of the plant and dispersal of the assets by Martin Marietta in 1983, the locomotive was sold several times winding up at Southdown Cement Company in Sid Richardson, Texas.

That company was then sold to Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua.

“They did not have a need for the locomotive and offered it as a donation to the Ironton Rail Trail,” Deutsch said.

“All the Ironton Rail Trail Commission had to do was find a way to get it from Sid Richardson to the Ironton Rail Trail.

“Luckily, the STSllc Heavy Haul of Comfrey, Minn., was found and contracted to deliver it to Coplay.”

The engine will be repainted the original color and lettering of the Dragon Cement Company, and displayed next to the trail on Quarry Street, where three Lehigh Portland Cement Company, Ormrod Mills (A, D, F) once stood.”

Ironton Auto Body owner Butch Kumernitsky brought two heavy lift wreckers to remove the engine from the flat bed trailer and place it on the short section of railroad tracks alongside the IRT in Ormrod.

Using his and his crew’s many years of experience, they were able to gently lift, then swing the engine onto the tracks.

PRESS PHOTOS BY LOU WHEELAND After traveling 1,300 miles, this little engine from Sid Richardson, Texas, is now at the Ironton Rail Trail in North Whitehall.
Lehigh Valley Railroad historian Kermit Geary shows the Plymouth JDT Engine in the paint scheme when still in use by the Dragon Cement Company. IRT commissioners and Lehigh Valley Railroad enthusiasts will return the engine to its original paint scheme.
Two large crane trucks were used by Ironton Auto Body to lift and move the engine onto the rails next to the Ironton Rail Trail in Ormrod.
Ironton Auto Body owner Butch Kumernitsky and his crew (middle and right) Justin Nagy and Mark Bailey, finesse the 20-ton Plymouth engine onto the tracks next to the Ironton Rail Trail in Ormrod.
Butch Kumernitsky, Justin Nagy and Mark Bailey work to place the 20-ton Plymouth engine onto the tracks.
PRESS PHOTOS BY LOU WHEELAND Reflecting on a job well done in front of the train engine are Butch Kumernitsky, Mark Bailey and Justin Nagy.
North Whitehall Public Works employees Jake Wieder and Chris Garges, Ironton Rail Trail Commissioner Ray Deutsch, Kayla Mack, Rich Deemer, Brandon Gehringer, Dave Crilley, Clint Schock, Brian Rex, Brian Neas and Will Snyder are shown with the train.
PRESS PHOTOS BY LOU WHEELAND Ironton Rail Trail Oversight Commissioners Ray Bieak and Ray Deutsch stand in front of the Plymouth engine at the IRT, North Whitehall.Township.