Conrail’s Cement Secondary local passes through the area known as Dexter, where the Lehigh and New England’s Martins Creek branch crossed the Lackawanna’s Bangor & Portland Secondary. An L&NE tower governing the crossing was located to the right of the train about five cars back. Although the tower was named for the Dexter Portland Cement Company, which is a few hundred yards behind the photographer, the silos to the right belong to the Lone Star Cement Company, whose mill is out of sight to the left. Those silos, which service trucks, were built immediately after a 1959 ICC ruling which permitted hauling bulk cement in trucks. This ruling severely impacted all of the roads serving Pennsylvania’s cement belt, and put the final nail in the LNE’s coffin after the Anthracite industry had collapsed.
