The Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1864 and opened its initial line between

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

, and

Chapman, Pennsylvania Chapman is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The population of Chapman was 223 as of the 2020 census. Chapman is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a popula ...

, in 1867. At its peak, the company's line extended from Bethlehem to

Wind Gap, Pennsylvania Wind Gap ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Gratdaal'') is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The population of Wind Gap was 2,820 at the 2020 census. Wind Gap is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 a ...

. The company and its line became part of the

Lehigh and New England Railroad The Lehigh & New England Railroad was a Class I railroad located in Northeastern United States that acted as a bridge line. It was the second notable U.S. railroad to file for abandonment in its entirety, the first being the New York, Ontario ...

in 1904. Part of the line was abandoned in 1962; the remainder is part of the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

's Cement Secondary.

History

The Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad was established as the Bethlehem Railroad in 1862, for the purposes of building a railway line north from the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward pat ...

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

, following the Monocacy Creek. The line opened between Bethlehem and Chapman, north of Bath, on November 28, 1867. In Bethlehem, it interchanged with the

Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad is a defunct railroad that operated in eastern Pennsylvania during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The company was a subsidiary of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N), but for much of its lifetim ...

(L&S), later part of the

Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...

(CNJ). The

Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (LCAN) (1988–2010) was a modern-day anthracite coal mining company headquartered in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. It acquired many properties and relaunched the Lehigh Coal Companies brand in 1988. The LCAN r ...

(LC&NC), owner of the L&S, leased the Lehigh and Lackawanna in 1868. The CNJ leased both the L&S and the Lehigh and Lackawanna in 1871. Under CNJ management, the line was extended the from Chapman to

Wind Gap A wind gap (or air gap) is a gap through which a waterway once flowed that is now dry as a result of stream capture. A water gap is a similar feature, but one in which a waterway still flows. Water gaps and wind gaps often provide routes which ...

, opening on August 14, 1878. At Wind Gap, connection was made with the

Pennsylvania and New England Railroad The Lehigh & New England Railroad was a Class I railroad located in Northeastern United States that acted as a bridge line. It was the second notable U.S. railroad to file for abandonment in its entirety, the first being the New York, Ontario ...

, another forerunner of the Lehigh and New England. Another company, the Wind Gap and Delaware Railroad, completed a line between Wind Gap and

Bangor, Pennsylvania Bangor is a borough located in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north of Allentown. It had a population of 5,187 as of the 2020 census. Bangor is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of ...

, in 1883, creating a connection with the

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

. The company was reorganized as the Lehigh and Delaware Railroad on July 7, 1904. This existence was short-lived: the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company consolidated its various railroad properties into the

(L&NE) in December 1904. The line between Bethlehem and Benders Junction, west of Wind Gap, was known as the Bethlehem Branch of the L&NE, while the section between Benders Junction and Wind Gap was incorporated into the L&NE main line. The post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

decline in coal traffic and the shift of cement haulage from trains to trucks led to the L&NE abandoning operations on October 31, 1961. The Central Railroad of New Jersey established the Lehigh and New England Railway to acquire some of the L&NE's lines, including that part of the Bethlehem Branch between Bethlehem and Bath. The remainder was abandoned in 1962. The Lehigh and New England Railway suffered from cash-flow problems in the 1970s and was one of many Northeastern railroads included in

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

in 1976. Conrail combined the Bethlehem Branch with the remainder of the

Martins Creek Branch Martins may refer to: Names * Martins (surname) * Mārtiņš, a Latvian masculine given name * Martins Amaewhule, Nigerian politician * Martins Azubuike, Nigerian politician * Martins Babale (b. 1959), Nigerian politician * Martins Dukurs (b. ...

to form the Cement Secondary between Bethlehem and Forks Township, via

Nazareth, Pennsylvania Nazareth is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The borough's population was 6,053 at the 2020 census. Nazareth is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th most populous metropoli ...

. The

acquired the line in the 1999 split of Conrail.

Notes

References

* * {{cite book , title=Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 , year=1975 , author=United States Railway Association , author-link=United States Railway Association , location=Washington, DC , url=http://multimodalways.org/docs/govts/federal/executive/Agencies/DOT/USRA/FSP/FSP%20VI.pdf , oclc=2889148 , volume=1 , ref={{Harvid, USRA, 1975 Railway companies established in 1864 Railway companies disestablished in 1904 Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Predecessors of the Lehigh and New England Railroad 1864 establishments in Pennsylvania 1904 disestablishments in Pennsylvania American companies disestablished in 1904 American companies established in 1864