The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, wares, merchandise and minerals in Pennsylvania and the railroad was incorporated and established on September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. On January 7, 1853, the railroad's name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad. It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported. At the time, anthracite was transported by boat down the Lehigh River. The railroad ended operations in 1976 and merged into Conrail along with several northeastern railroads that same year. The Lehigh Valley Railroad's original and primary route between Easton and

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: *Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California *Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County *Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Taze ...

was built in 1855. The line later expanded past Allentown to Lehigh Valley Terminal in Buffalo and past Easton to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, bringing the Lehigh Valley Railroad to these metropolitan areas. By December 31, 1925, the railroad controlled 1,363.7 miles of road and 3,533.3 miles of track. By 1970, this had dwindled to 927 miles of road and 1963 miles of track. Conrail maintained the line as a main line into the New York City area. The line became known as the Lehigh Line during Conrail ownership. Conrail abandoned most of the route in New York State to Buffalo after 1976, considerably shortening the line. The majority of the Lehigh Line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and retains much of its original route in eastern

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, although it no longer goes into New York City. The former Lehigh Valley tracks between Manville, New Jersey and Newark are operated separately by

Conrail Shared Assets Operations Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail ( reporting mark CRCX), an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Area ...

as their own Lehigh Line.

History

1846–1860

The Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad (DLS&S) was authorized by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on April 21, 1846, to construct a railroad from Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, now Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, to

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware R ...

. The railroad would run parallel to the Lehigh River and break the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's monopoly on coal traffic originating in the

Wyoming Valley The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan ...

. The railroad was chartered on August 2, 1847, and elected

James Madison Porter James Madison Porter (January 6, 1793 – November 11, 1862) served as the 18th United States Secretary of War and a founder of Lafayette College. Porter began his career studying law in 1809 and later became a clerk in the prothonotary's of ...

its president on October 21. Little occurred between 1847 and 1851, save some limited grading near Allentown, Pennsylvania. All this changed in October 1851, when

Asa Packer Asa Packer (December 29, 1805May 17, 1879) was an American businessman who pioneered railroad construction, was active in Pennsylvania politics, and founded Lehigh University. He was a conservative and religious man who reflected the image of th ...

took majority control of the DLS&S. Packer brought additional financing to the railroad, installed Robert H. Sayre as chief engineer, and renamed the company the "Lehigh Valley Railroad." Construction began in earnest in 1853, and the line opened between Easton and Allentown on June 11, 1855. The section between Allentown and Mauch Chunk opened on September 12. At Easton, the LVRR interchanged coal at the Delaware River where coal could be shipped to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

on the Delaware Division Canal or transported across the river to

Phillipsburg, New Jersey Phillipsburg is a town located along the Delaware River in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located across the river directly east from Easton, Pennsylvania. Phillipsburg is the most populous municipality in Warren County ...

, where the

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a common carrier anthracite coal canal across northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals at Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its western terminus at Phillipsburg, New Jers ...

and 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) could carry it to the

market. At Easton, the LVRR constructed a double-decked bridge across the Delaware River for connections to the CNJ and the

Belvidere Delaware Railroad The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad (Bel-Del, 1851–1871) was a railroad running along the eastern shore of the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey north via Phillipsburg, New Jersey to the small village of Manunka Chunk, New Jersey. It becam ...

in Phillipsburg. Through a connection with the Central Railroad of New Jersey, LVRR passengers had a route to Newark, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey, and other points in

. The LVRR's rolling stock was hired from the Central Railroad of New Jersey and a contract was made with the CNJ to run two passenger trains from Easton to Mauch Chunk connecting with the

trains on the Belvidere Delaware Railroad. A daily freight train was put into operation leaving Easton in the morning and returning in the evening. In the early part of October 1855, a contract was made with Howard & Co. of Philadelphia to do the freighting business of the railroad (except coal, iron, and iron ore). The length of the line from Mauch Chunk to Easton was 46 miles of single track. The line was laid with a rail weighing 56 pounds per yard supported upon cross ties 6 x 7 inches and 7-1/2 feet long placed 2 feet apart and about a quarter of it was ballasted with stone or gravel. The line had a descending or level grade from Mauch Chunk to Easton and with the exception of the curve at Mauch Chunk had no curve of less than 700 feet radius. The LVRR connected at Mauch Chunk with the Beaver Meadow Railroad. The Beaver Meadow Railroad had been built in 1836, and it transported anthracite coal from Jeansville in Pennsylvania's Middle Coal Field to the Lehigh Canal at Mauch Chunk. For 25 years the Lehigh Canal had enjoyed a monopoly on downstream transportation and was charging independent producers high fees. When the LVRR opened, those producers eagerly sent their product by the railroad instead of canal, and within two years of its construction the LVRR was carrying over 400,000 tons of coal annually. By 1859 it had 600 coal cars and 19 engines.

1860–1870

The LVRR immediately became the trunk line down the Lehigh Valley, with numerous feeder railroads connecting and contributing to its traffic. The production of the entire Middle Coal Field came to the LVRR over feeders to the Beaver Meadow: the Quakake Railroad, the Catawissa, Williamsport and Erie Railroad, the Hazleton Railroad, the Lehigh Luzerne Railroad and other smaller lines. At Catasauqua, the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad transported coal, ore, limestone and iron for furnaces of the Thomas Iron Company, the Lehigh Crane Iron Company, the Lehigh Valley Iron Works, the Carbon Iron Company, and others. At

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, ...

, the

North Pennsylvania Railroad The North Pennsylvania Railroad was a railroad company which served Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northampton County in Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1852 and began operation in 1855. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway, ...

which was completed during the Summer of 1856, provided a rail connection to Philadelphia and thus brought the LVRR a direct line to Philadelphia. At

, the

connected to

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. To accommodate the gauge of the Belvidere, the cars were furnished with wheels having wide treads that operated on both roads. The 1860s saw an expansion of the LVRR northward to the

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...

area and up the Susquehanna River to the New York state line.

was elected President of the Lehigh Valley Railroad on January 13, 1862. In 1864, the LVRR began acquiring feeder railroads and merging them with its system. The first acquisitions were the Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company, which included a few hundred acres of coal land, and the Penn Haven and White Haven Railroad. The purchase of the Penn Haven and White Haven was the first step in expanding to

. To reach Wilkes-Barre, the LVRR began constructing an extension from

White Haven, Pennsylvania White Haven is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It is located along the Lehigh River. The population was 1,163 at the 2020 census. History Establishment White Haven was created in 1824 by industrialist Josiah White. It was later incorpor ...

to Wilkes-Barre. The Penn Haven and White Haven Railroad allowed the LV to reach White Haven. In 1866, the LVRR purchased acquired the Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad (originally the Quakake Railroad) and the North Branch Canal along the Susquehanna River, renaming it the Pennsylvania and New York Canal & Railroad Company (P&NY). The purchasing of the North Branch Canal saw an opportunity for a near monopoly in the region north of the

. In 1866, two years after the purchase of the Penn Haven and White Haven, the extension from White Haven to Wilkes-Barre opened. Construction of a rail line to the New York state line started immediately and, in 1867, the line was complete from Wilkes-Barre to Waverly, New York, where coal was transferred to the broad gauge Erie Railroad and shipped to western markets through

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. To reach Wilkes-Barre, the LVRR purchased the Penn Haven & White Haven Railroad in 1864, and began constructing an extension from White Haven to Wilkes-Barre that was opened in 1867. By 1869, the LVRR owned a continuous track through Pennsylvania from Easton to Waverly. In the following year, the LVRR—a standard gauge railroad—completed arrangements with the Erie Railroad, at that time having a six-foot gauge, for a third rail within the Erie mainline tracks to enable the LV equipment to run through to Elmira and later to Buffalo. Further rounds of acquisitions took place in 1868. The acquisitions in 1868 were notable because they marked the beginning of the LVRR's strategy of acquiring coal lands to ensure production and traffic for its own lines. Although the 1864 acquisition of the Beaver Meadow had included a few hundred acres of coal land, by 1868 the LVRR was feeling pressure from the

Delaware and Hudson The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operates D&H ...

and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in the northern

coal field, where the railroads mined and transported their own coal at a much reduced cost. The LVRR recognized that its own continued prosperity depended on obtaining what coal lands remained. In pursuit of that strategy, the 1868 purchases of the Hazleton Railroad and the Lehigh Luzerne Railroad brought of coal land to the LVRR, and additional lands were acquired along branches of the LVRR. Over the next dozen years the railroad acquired other large tracts of land: in 1870, in 1872, and acquisition of the Philadelphia Coal Company in 1873 with its large leases in the Mahanoy basin. In 1875, the holdings were consolidated into the

Lehigh Valley Coal Company Lehigh may refer to: Places United States *Lehigh, Iowa *Lehigh, Kansas *Lehigh, Oklahoma *Lehigh, Barbour County, West Virginia *Lehigh, Wisconsin *Lehigh Acres, Florida *Lehigh Township (disambiguation) * Lehigh Valley, a region in eastern Penn ...

, which was wholly owned by the LVRR. By 1893, the LVRR owned or controlled of coal lands. With these acquisitions, the LVRR obtained the right to mine coal as well as transport it.

1870–1880

The 1870s witnessed commencement of extension of the LVRR in a new direction. In the 1870s the LVRR acquired other large tracts of land starting at in 1870, with an additional of in 1872, and turned its eye toward expansion across

all the way to the

area. In 1870, the Lehigh Valley Railroad acquired trackage rights to Auburn, New York on the Southern Central Railroad. The most important market in the east was New York City, but the LVRR was dependent on the CNJ and the Morris Canal for transport to the New York tidewater. In 1871, the LVRR leased the Morris Canal, which had a valuable outlet in Jersey City on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

opposite

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Asa Packer purchased additional land at the canal basin in support of the New Jersey West Line Railroad, which he hoped to use as the LVRR's terminal. That project failed, but the lands were later used for the LVRR's own terminal in 1889. The CNJ, anticipating that the LVRR intended to create its own line across New Jersey, protected itself by leasing 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) to ensure a continuing supply of coal traffic. The L&S had been chartered in 1837 by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (the Lehigh Canal company) to connect the upper end of the canal at Mauch Chunk to Wilkes-Barre. After the LVRR opened its line, the Lehigh & Susquehanna extended to

and connected with the CNJ and the

Morris and Essex Railroad The Morris and Essex Railroad was a railroad across northern New Jersey, later part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. History The M&E was incorporated January 29, 1835, to build a line from Newark in Essex Co ...

in 1868. In 1871, the entire line from Phillipsburg to Wilkes-Barre was leased to the CNJ. For most of its length, it ran parallel to the LVRR. The LVRR found that the route of the Morris Canal was impractical for use as a railroad line, so in 1872 the LVRR purchased the dormant charter of the Perth Amboy and Bound Brook Railroad which had access to the Perth Amboy, New Jersey harbor, and added to it a new charter, the Bound Brook and Easton Railroad. The State of New Jersey passed legislation that allowed the LVRR to consolidate its New Jersey railroads into one company; the Perth Amboy and Bound Brook and the Bound Brook and Easton were merged to form a new railroad company called the Easton and Amboy Railroad (or Easton & Amboy Railroad Company). The Easton and Amboy Railroad was a railroad built across central New Jersey by the Lehigh Valley Railroad to run from

to Bound Brook, New Jersey and it was built to connect the Lehigh Valley Railroad coal-hauling operations in

and the Port of New York and New Jersey to serve consumer markets in the New York metropolitan area, eliminating the Phillipsburg connection with the CNJ that had previously been the only outlet to the New York tidewater; until it was built, the terminus of the LVRR had been at Phillipsburg on the Delaware River opposite

. The Easton and Amboy was used as a connection to the New York metropolitan area, with a terminus in Jersey City, New Jersey. Construction commenced in 1872 as soon the Easton and Amboy was formed; coal docks at Perth Amboy were soon constructed, and most of the line from Easton to Perth Amboy was graded and rails laid. However, the route required a tunnel through/under Musconetcong Mountain near Pattenburg, New Jersey (about twelve miles east of Phillipsburg), and that proved troublesome, delaying the opening of the line until May 1875, when a coal train first passed over the line. To support the expected increase in traffic, the wooden bridge over the Delaware River at Easton was also replaced by a double-tracked, iron bridge. At Perth Amboy, a tidewater terminal was built on the Arthur Kill comprising a large coal dock used to transport coal into New York City. These tracks were laid and the Easton and Amboy Railroad was opened for business on June 28, 1875 with hauling coal. The Easton and Amboy's operations were labeled the "New Jersey Division" of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The Easton and Amboy had already completed large docks and facilities for shipping coal at Perth Amboy upon an extensive tract of land fronting the Arthur Kill. Approximately 350,000 tons of anthracite moved to Perth Amboy during that year for transshipment by water. Operations continued until the LVRR's bankruptcy in 1976. The marshalling yard is now the residential area known as Harbortown. Passenger traffic on the LVRR's Easton and Amboy connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) at

Metuchen, New Jersey Metuchen ( ) is a suburban borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region within the New York Metropolitan area. The borough, along wit ...

and continued to the PRR'S Exchange Place terminus in Jersey City (that connection was discontinued in 1891 after the LVRR established its own route to Jersey City from South Plainfield). Eventually, the Easton and Amboy Railroad was absorbed into the parent Lehigh Valley Railroad. In 1875, the LVRR financed the addition of a third rail to the Erie Railroad main line so that cars could roll directly from colliery to the port at Buffalo. While the third rail on the Erie Railroad main line between Waverly and Buffalo gave the LVRR an unbroken connection to Buffalo, the road's management desired its own line into Buffalo. The Geneva, Ithaca & Athens Railroad passed into the hands of the LVRR in September 1876, which extended from the New York state line near

Sayre, Pennsylvania Sayre is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is the principal city in the Sayre, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It lies 18 miles southeast of Elmira, New York, and 30 miles southwest of Bingh ...

, to

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...

, a distance of 75 miles. On May 17, 1879, Asa Packer, the company's founder and leader, died at the age of 73. At the time of his death, the railroad was shipping 4.4 million tons of coal annually over of track, using 235 engines, 24,461 coal cars, and over 2,000 freight cars of various kinds. The company controlled of coal-producing lands and was expanding rapidly into New York and New Jersey. The railroad had survived the economic depression of 1873 and was seeing its business recover. Leadership of the company transferred smoothly to Charles Hartshorne, who had been vice president under Packer. In 1883, Hartshorne retired to allow Harry E. Packer, Asa's 32-year-old youngest son, to assume the Presidency. A year later, Harry Packer died of illness, and Asa's 51-year-old nephew Elisha Packer Wilbur was elected president, a position he held for 13 years.

1880–1890

The 1880s continued to be a period of growth, and the LVRR made important acquisitions in New York, expanded its reach into the southern coal field of Pennsylvania which had hitherto been the monopoly of the Reading, and successfully battled the CNJ over terminal facilities in Jersey City. Lehigh Valley Red Hook jeh

In 1880, the LVRR established the Lehigh Valley Transportation Line to operate a fleet of ships on the Great Lakes with terminals in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

, and

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

. This company became an important factor in the movement of anthracite, grain and package freight between Buffalo, Chicago, Milwaukee, Duluth, Superior and other midwestern cities. Following Federal legislation which stopped the operation of such service, the lake line was sold to private interests in 1920. The port on

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

at Buffalo was critical to the LVRR's shipments of coal to western markets and for receipt of grain sent by the West to eastern markets. Although in 1870 the LVRR had invested in the Buffalo Creek Railroad, which connected the Erie to the lakefront, and had constructed the Lehigh Docks on Buffalo Creek, it depended on the Erie Railroad for the connection from Waverly, New York to

. In 1882, the LVRR began an extensive expansion into New York from Waverly to Buffalo. Construction from Waverly to Buffalo was split into two projects, Waverly to

and Geneva, which is located at the northern end of Seneca Lake), to Buffalo. First, it purchased a large parcel of land in Buffalo, the Tifft farm, for use as terminal facilities, and obtained a New York charter for the Lehigh Valley Railway (a similar name to the LVRR, but with "railway" instead). LVRR subsidiary, Lehigh Valley Railway began constructing the main line's northern part from Buffalo to

Lancaster, New York Lancaster is a town in Erie County, New York, United States, centered 14 miles east of downtown Buffalo. Lancaster is an outer ring suburb of Buffalo. As of the 2020 Census, the town population was 45,106. Located within the town is the villa ...

in 1883, a total distance of ten miles. This was the second step toward establishment of a direct route from Waverly to Buffalo, the first being the acquisition of the Geneva, Ithaca & Athens Railroad. Then in 1887 the Lehigh Valley Railroad obtained a lease on the Southern Central Railroad (the LVRR previously had trackage rights on the railroad starting in 1870), which had a route from Waverly northward into the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

region. At the same time, the LVRR organized the Buffalo and Geneva Railroad]to build the rest of the 97-mile Geneva to Buffalo trackage, from Geneva to Lancaster. Finally, in 1889, the LVRR gained control of the Geneva, Ithaca, and Sayre Railroad and completed its line of rail through New York. As a result of its leases and acquisitions, the Lehigh Valley gained a near-monopoly on traffic in the Finger Lakes region. It also continued to grow and develop its routes in Pennsylvania. In 1883 the railroad acquired land in northeast Pennsylvania and formed a subsidiary called The Glen Summit Hotel and Land Company. It opened a hotel in Glen Summit, Pennsylvania called the Glen Summit Hotel to serve lunch to passengers traveling on the line. The hotel remained with the company until 1909, when it was bought by residents of the surrounding cottages. In Pennsylvania, the Lehigh scored a coup by obtaining the charter formerly held by the Schuykill Haven and Lehigh River Railroad in 1886. That charter had been held by the Reading Railroad since 1860, when it had blocked construction in order to maintain its monopoly in the Southern Coal Field. That southern field held the largest reserves of anthracite in Pennsylvania and accounted for a large percentage of the total production. Through neglect, the Reading allowed the charter to lapse, and it was acquired by the Lehigh Valley, which immediately constructed the Schuylkill and Lehigh Valley Railroad. The line gave the LVRR a route into

Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pottsville is the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the west bank of th ...

and the

Schuylkill Valley The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

coal fields. The Vosburg Tunnel was completed and opened for service on July 25, 1886. The 16 mile mountain cut-of, a rail segment of the line that extended from Fairview, Pennsylvania to the outskirts of

Pittston, Pennsylvania Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The city gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an active anthracite coal ...

, was completed in November 1888. This allowed the line's eastbound grade to be reduced and a shorter route for handling through traffic established. The LVRR had built coal docks in Perth Amboy, New Jersey when it built the Easton and Amboy in the 1870s, but desired a terminal on the Hudson River close to

. In New Jersey, the LVRR embarked on a decade-long legal battle with the CNJ over terminal facilities in Jersey City. The land that Asa Packer had obtained in 1872 was situated on the southern side of the Morris Canal's South Basin, but the CNJ already had its own facilities adjacent to that property and disputed the LVRR's title, which partly overlapped land the CNJ had filled for its own terminal. Finally in 1887 the two railroads reached a settlement, and construction of the LVRR's Jersey City freight yard began. The LVRR obtained a 5-year agreement to use the CNJ line to access the terminal, which opened in 1889. It fronted the Morris Canal Basin with a series of piers angling out from the shoreline but was too narrow for a yard, so the LVRR built a separate yard at Oak Island in Newark to sort and prepare trains. The South Basin terminal was used solely for freight, having docks and car float facilities. Passengers were routed to the Pennsylvania Railroad's terminal and ferry. The LVRR strove throughout the 1880s to acquire its own route to Jersey City and to the Jersey City waterfront. The LVRR decided to expand more to the Northeastern New Jersey in order to reach its freight yards without using the CNJ main line. The LVRR began construction of a series of railroads to connect the Easton and Amboy line (Easton and Amboy Railroad) to Jersey City. The first leg of the construction to Jersey City was the Roselle and South Plainfield Railway in 1888 which connected with the CNJ at Roselle, New Jersey for access over the CNJ to the

waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. The LVRR which had built coal docks in Perth Amboy, New Jersey when it built the Easton and Amboy in the 1870s, desired a terminal on the Hudson River close to

. In 1891, the LVRR consolidated the Roselle and South Plainfield Railway into the

Lehigh Valley Terminal Railway The Lehigh Valley Terminal Railway was a Lehigh Valley Railroad company organized in 1891 through the consolidation of the companies that formed the Lehigh Valley's route from South Plainfield through Newark to Jersey City via its bridge acr ...

, along with the other companies which formed the route from South Plainfield to the Jersey City terminal. Initially, the LVRR contracted with the CNJ for rights from Roselle to Jersey City, but the LVRR eventually finished construction to its terminal in Jersey City over the Newark and Roselle Railway, the Newark and Passaic Railway, the Jersey City, Newark, and Western Railway, and the Jersey City Terminal Railway. The LVRR's Newark and Roselle Railway in 1891 brought the line from Roselle into Newark, where passengers connected to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Bridging Newark Bay proved difficult. The LVRR first attempted to obtain a right of way at Greenville, but the Pennsylvania Railroad checkmated them by purchasing most of the properties needed. Then the CNJ opposed the LVRR's attempt to cross its line at Caven Point. Finally after settling the legal issues, the Newark Bay was bridged in 1892 by the Jersey City, Newark and Western Railway and connected to the National Docks Railway, which was partly owned by the LVRR and which reached the LVRR's terminal. In 1895, the LVRR constructed the Greenville and Hudson Railway parallel with the national docks in order to relieve congestion and have a wholly-owned route into Jersey City. Finally in 1900, the LVRR purchased the National Docks Railway outright.

1890–1900 – the Reading Lease

The 1890s were a period of turmoil for the LVRR. Although the decade began with the completion of its terminals at Buffalo and Jersey City, and the establishment of a trunk line across New York, the company soon became entangled in costly business dealings which ultimately led to the Packer family's loss of control. The coal trade was always the backbone of the business but was subject to boom and bust as competition and production increased and the economy cycled. The coal railroads had begun in 1873 to form pools to regulate production and set quotas for each railroad. By controlling supply, the coal combination attempted to keep prices and profits high. Several combinations occurred, but each fell apart as one road or another abrogated its agreement. The first such combination occurred in 1873, followed by others in 1878, 1884, and 1886. Customers naturally resented the actions of the

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...

, and since coal was critical to commerce, Congress intervened in 1887 with the Interstate Commerce Act that forbade the roads from joining into such pools. Although the roads effectively ignored the Act and their sales agents continued to meet and set prices, the agreements were never effective for long. In 1892, the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly call ...

thought it had a solution — instead of attempting to maintain agreements among the coal railroads, it would purchase or lease the major lines and bring them into a monopoly. It leased the CNJ and the LVRR, purchased the railroads' coal companies and arranged for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to cooperate with the combination, thereby controlling 70% of the trade. Unfortunately, it overreached and in 1893 was unable to meet its obligations. Its bankruptcy resulted in economic chaos, bringing on the financial panic of 1893 and forcing the LVRR to break the lease and resume its own operations, leaving it unable to pay dividends on its stock until 1904. The economic depression following 1893 was harsh, and by 1897 the LVRR was in dire need of support. The banking giant

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

stepped in to refinance the LVRR debt and obtained control of the railroad in the process. Ousting President Elisha P. Wilbur and several directors in 1897, the Morgan company installed W. Alfred Walter as president and seated its own directors. In 1901, Morgan arranged to have the Packer Estate's holdings purchased jointly by the Erie, the Pennsylvania, the

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833 and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the ...

, the DL&W and the CNJ, all companies in which Morgan had interests. Newly elected president Eben B. Thomas, formerly of the Erie, and his board of directors represented the combined interests of those railroads. A final attempt to establish a coal cartel took place in 1904 with the formation of the Temple Iron Company. Prior to that time, the Temple Iron Company was a small concern that happened to have a broad charter allowing it to act as a holding company. The Reading, now out of receivership, purchased the company and brought the other coal railroads into the partnership, with the Reading owning 30%, the LVRR 23%, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western 20%, CNJ 17%, Erie 6%, and New York, Susquehanna and Western 4 percent. The purpose of the Temple Iron Company was to lock-up independent coal production and control the supply. Congress reacted with the 1906 Hepburn Act, which among other things forbade railroads from owning the commodities that they transported. A long series of antitrust investigations and lawsuits resulted, culminating in a 1911 Supreme Court decision that forced the LVRR to divest itself of the coal companies it had held since 1868. The LVRR shareholders received shares of the now independent Lehigh Valley Coal Company, but the railroad no longer had management control of the production, contracts, and sales of its largest customer. In 1896 the very early film ''Black Diamond Express'' was produced by Thomas A. Edison's company Kinetoscope. The train arrives from far away and passes the camera, while workers are waving their handkerchiefs.

1900–1920

Fortunately, grain tonnage was increasing and the company transported large quantities from Buffalo to

and other Eastern markets. Also, in 1914 the Panama Canal was completed, and the LVRR gained an important new market with ores shipped from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

to the Bethlehem Steel company. In order to handle the additional new ocean traffic, the LVRR created a large new pier at

Constable Hook Constable Hook is a cape located on the north side of the outlet of Kill van Kull into Upper New York Bay in Bayonne, New Jersey. The cape has long been an important site of marine transfer operations in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Just ...

, which opened in 1915, and a new terminal at Claremont which opened in 1923. It also built a passenger terminal in Buffalo in 1915. Since 1896 the LVRR had run an important and prestigious express train named the " Black Diamond" which carried passengers to the

and Buffalo. Additional passenger trains ran from Philadelphia to

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

and westward. From the beginning, the LVRR's New York City passengers had used the Pennsylvania Railroad's terminal and ferry at Jersey City, but in 1913 the PRR terminated that agreement, so the LVRR contracted with the CNJ for use of its terminal and ferry, which was expanded to handle the increased number of passengers. The railroad also published a monthly magazine promoting travel on the train called the ''"Black Diamond Express Monthly"''. In the war years 1914 to 1918, the Lehigh handled war materials and explosives at its Black Tom island facility, which had been obtained along with the National Docks Railroad in 1900. In 1916, a horrendous explosion occurred at the facility, destroying ships and buildings, and breaking windows in

. At first the incident was considered an accident; a long investigation eventually concluded that the explosion was an act of German sabotage, for which reparations were finally paid in 1979. After the U.S. entered World War I, the railroads were

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

in order to prevent strikes and interruptions. The

United States Railroad Administration The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was the name of the nationalized railroad system of the United States between December 28, 1917, and March 1, 1920. It was the largest American experiment with nationalization, and was undertaken a ...

controlled the railroad from 1918 to 1920, at which time control was transferred back to the private companies. Although the heavy wartime traffic had left the railroad's plant and equipment in need of repair, the damage was partly offset by new equipment that had been purchased by the government. In 1920, the LVRR sold its lake line company, the Lehigh Valley Transportation Line, to private interests due to new federal legislation which stopped the practice of railroads owning lake lines.

1921–1930

Throughout the 1920s the railroad remained in the hands of the Morgan / Drexel banking firm, but in 1928 an attempt was made to wrest control from it. In 1927, Leonor Fresnel Loree, president of the

Delaware and Hudson Railroad The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operates D&H ...

, had a vision for a new fifth trunk line between the East and West, consisting of the Wabash Railroad, the

Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway The Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railway was one of the more than ten thousand railroad companies founded in North America. It lasted much longer than most, serving communities from the shore of Lake Ontario to the center of western Penns ...

, and the LVRR. Through bonds issued by the D&H, he obtained 30% of the LVRR stock, and won the support of nearly half the stockholders. In 1928, he attempted to seat a new president and board. A massive proxy fight ensued, with existing President Edward Eugene Loomis narrowly retaining his position with the support of

Edward T. Stotesbury Edward Townsend "Ned" Stotesbury (February 26, 1849 – May 16, 1938) was a prominent investment banker, a partner in Philadelphia's Drexel & Co. and its New York affiliate J. P. Morgan & Co. for over fifty-five years. He was involved in ...

of J. P. Morgan. Following the defeat of its plan, the D&H sold its stock to the Pennsylvania Railroad. In the following years, the Pennsylvania quietly obtained more stock, both directly and through railroads it controlled, primarily the Wabash. By 1931, the PRR controlled 51% of the LVRR stock. Following Loomis' death in 1937, the presidency went to Loomis' assistant Duncan J. Kerr, but in 1940 he was replaced by Albert N. Williams, and the road came under the influence of the PRR. In 1941, the Pennsylvania placed its shares in a voting trust after reaching an agreement with the New York Central regarding the PRR's purchase of the Wabash.

Decline and bankruptcy

Following the Great Depression, the railroad had a few periods of prosperity, but was clearly in a slow decline. Passengers preferred the convenience of automobiles to trains, and airlines much later provided faster long-distance travel than trains. Oil and gas were supplanting coal as the fuel of choice. The Depression had been difficult for all the railroads, and Congress recognized that bankruptcy laws needed revision. The Chandler Acts of 1938-9 provided a new form of relief for railroads, allowing them to restructure their debt while continuing to operate. The LVRR was approved for such a restructuring in 1940 when several large mortgage loans were due. The restructuring allowed the LVRR to extend the maturity of its mortgages, but it needed to repeat the process in 1950. The terms of the restructurings precluded dividend payments until 1953, when LVRR common stock paid the first dividend since 1931. In 1957, the LVRR again stopped dividends. In 1944, the LVRR's gross revenues came close to $100,000,000 which was a milestone for the railroad. Two final blows fell in the 1950s: the passage of the

Federal-Aid Highway Act The following bills and Acts of Congress in the United States have been known as the Federal-Aid Highway Act or similar names: * Federal Aid Road Act of 1916: July 11, 1916, ch. 241, (first) * Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 (Phipps Act): Novemb ...

in 1956, better known as the Interstate Highway Act, and the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959. The interstate highways helped the trucking industry offer door-to-door service, and the St. Lawrence Seaway allowed grain shipments to bypass the railways and go directly to overseas markets. By the 1960s, railroads in the East were struggling to survive. The Pennsylvania Railroad in 1962 requested ICC authorization to acquire complete control of the LVRR through a swap of PRR stock for LVRR and elimination of the voting trust that had been in place since 1941. It managed to acquire more than 85% of all outstanding shares, and from that time the LVRR was little more than a division of the PRR. The Pennsylvania merged with the New York Central in 1968, but the Penn Central failed in 1970, causing a cascade of railroad failures throughout the East. On June 21, 1970, the Penn Central declared bankruptcy and sought bankruptcy protection. As a result, the PC was relieved of its obligation to pay fees to various Northeastern railroads—the Lehigh Valley included—for the use of their railcars and other operations. Conversely, the other railroads' obligations to pay those fees to the Penn Central were not waived. This imbalance in payments would prove fatal to the financially-frail Lehigh Valley, and it declared bankruptcy just over one month after the Penn Central, on July 24, 1970. The Lehigh Valley Railroad remained in operation during the 1970 bankruptcy, as was the common practice of the time. In 1972, the Lehigh Valley Railroad assumed the remaining Pennsylvania trackage of the

, a competing anthracite railroad which had entered bankruptcy as well. The two roads had entered a shared trackage agreement in this area in 1965 to reduce costs, as both had parallel routes from Wilkes-Barre virtually all the way to metropolitan New York, often on adjoining grades through Pennsylvania. In the years leading to 1973, the freight railroad system in the northeast of the U.S. was collapsing. Although government-funded

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

took over intercity passenger service on May 1, 1971, railroad companies continued to lose money due to extensive government regulations, expensive and excessive labor cost, competition from other transportation modes, declining industrial business and other factors; the Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of them. Hurricane Agnes in 1972 damaged the rundown Northeast railway network, which put the solvency of other railroads including the LVRR in danger; the somewhat more solvent

Erie Lackawanna Railway The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...

(EL) was also damaged by Hurricane Agnes. In 1973, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

acted to create a bill to

nationalize Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

all bankrupt railroads which included the LV. The

Association of American Railroads The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is an industry trade group representing primarily the major freight Rail transport, railroads of North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States). Amtrak and some regional Commuter rail in North Am ...

, which opposed nationalization, submitted an alternate proposal for a government-funded private company. President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

signed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 into law. The "3R Act," as it was called, provided interim funding to the bankrupt railroads and defined a new "Consolidated Rail Corporation" under the AAR's plan. On April 1, 1976, the LVRR, including its main line, was merged into the U.S. government's

Consolidated Rail Corporation 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 ...

(Conrail) ending 130 years of existence and 121 years of operation of the LVRR.

Surviving segments

Background

Conrail Ownership

On April 1, 1976, major portions of the assets of the bankrupt Lehigh Valley Railroad were acquired by Conrail. This primarily consisted of the main line and related branches from

Van Etten Van Etten is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Chris Van Etten, American television writer * Hudson Van Etten (1874–1941), United States Navy sailor * Jane Van Etten (born 1871), American composer * Sharon Van Etten (born 1981) ...

Junction, northwest of

) to Oak Island Yard, the Ithaca branch from Van Etten Junction to

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named ...

, connecting to the

Cayuga Lake Cayuga Lake (,,) is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area (marginally smaller than Seneca Lake) and second largest in volume. It is just under long. Its average width is , and it is ...

line and on to the Milliken power station in Lake Ridge, New York (closed on August 29, 2019) and the Cargill salt mine just south of Auburn, NY; and small segments in

(from Geneva to the Seneca Army Depot in

Kendaia Kendaia, known as ''Appletown'', was a village of the Seneca and Cayuga Nations of Iroquois located in what is now the Town of Romulus, New York. The name has been variously transcribed into English as ''Thendara'', ''Candaia'', ''Conday'', or ''K ...

); Batavia, New York; Auburn, New York and

Cortland, New York Cortland is a city and the county seat of Cortland County, New York. Known as the Crown City, Cortland is in New York's Southern Tier region. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 17,556. The city of Cortland, near the county's western bo ...

. A long segment west from Van Etten Junction to Buffalo was included in the Conrail takeover, but was mostly torn-up not long afterward. Additionally, a segment from Geneva to Victor, New York, later cut back to

Shortsville, New York Shortsville, officially the Village of Shortsville, is a village in Ontario County, New York, United States. The population was 1,439 at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census. Shortsville encompasses the southwestern part of the Town of Manchester and ...

, to Victor, remained with the Lehigh Valley Estate under subsidized Conrail operation. The Shortsville to Victor segment became the Ontario Central Railroad in 1979 (the Ontario Central became part of the

Finger Lakes Railway The Finger Lakes Railway is a Class III railroad in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The company began operations on July 23, 1995, and operates in Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Schuyler and Yates counties. The FGLK operates 18 diesel l ...

in October 2007). Most of the rail equipment went to Conrail as well, but 24 locomotives (units

GP38-2 The EMD GP38-2 is an American four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors, Electro-Motive Division. Part of the EMD Dash 2 line, the GP38-2 was an upgraded version of the earlier GP38. Power is provided by an EMD 645E 16-cyl ...

314-325 and C420 404–415) went to the Delaware & Hudson instead. The remainder of the assets were disposed of by the estate until it was folded into the non-railroad Penn Central Corporation in the early 1980s.

Post Conrail ownership and secondary lines

The route across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Oak Island Yard remains important to the Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation today, the only two

Class 1 railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

s that are based in the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

. This route became important to Conrail as an alternate route to avoid

's former PRR/PC Northeast Corridor electrified route. Today, this route continues as two lines, one that is considered the original line that served as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the other that is considered a new line that was once part of the original line that served as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The original line retains its original route when it was first constructed and is served by Norfolk Southern Railway. The new line is also served by Norfolk Southern Railway, but it is served together with CSX Transportation in a joint ownership company called

. Most of the other remaining Lehigh Valley track serves as branch lines, or has been sold to shortline and regional operators. These operators include: *

/ Ontario Central Railroad *

Genesee Valley Transportation Company The Genesee Valley Transportation Company (GVT Rail), based in Batavia, New York, is a holding company for several short-line railroads located in New York and Pennsylvania. Founded by Jeffrey Baxter, Charles Riedmiller, John Herbrand, Michael Th ...

( Depew, Lancaster & Western) *

Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad The Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad is a short line railroad that operates in Livingston County and Monroe County in New York, United States. The railroad interchanges with CSX at Genesee Junction in Chili, New York, the Rochester and Sou ...

* New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway *

Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad , sometimes shortened to Reading and Northern Railroad, is a regional railroad in eastern Pennsylvania. Its headquarters is in Port Clinton. The RBMN provides freight service on of track. Its mainl ...

The Lehigh Line

2020 - LVRR Main Line - Front and Linden Streets - 4 - Allentown PA

Background

The Lehigh Line was the Lehigh Valley Railroad's first rail line and served as the main line. It was opened on June 11, 1855 between

and Allentown, Pennsylvania, passing through

. Three months later the line branched out to the northwest past Allentown to

Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania Jim Thorpe is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is historically known as the burial site of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe is l ...

on September 12, 1855. The line was later extended out to the northwest past Jim Thorpe to the

area and later it reached the

area and past Easton all the way to Perth Amboy, New Jersey and then switched direction to the northeast to Jersey City, New Jersey later cut back to Newark, New Jersey. During the early years, the line served as the body of the Lehigh Valley Railroad until the railroad either built, acquired, or merged other railroads into its system. During the majority of its ownership under the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the line was known as the Lehigh Valley Mainline, starting in the 1930s. The line and the rest of the Lehigh Valley Railroad was absorbed into Conrail in 1976 and was maintained as a main line into the New York City area. The line became known as the Lehigh Line during Conrail ownership. Conrail integrated former CNJ main line leased trackage into the line and kept the line in continuous operation (since 1855); however, it downsized the line in the northwest from the Buffalo area of New York State: first to Sayre Yard in

; then to Mehoopany, Pennsylvania; and finally to

Penn Haven Junction Penn may refer to: Places England * Penn, Buckinghamshire * Penn, West Midlands United States * Penn, North Dakota * Penn, Oregon * Pennsylvania ** Penn, Pennsylvania * Penn Lake Park, Pennsylvania * Penn Township (disambiguation), several muni ...

in Lehigh Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania. The line's being downsized three times created two new rail lines: the Lehigh Secondary and the

Lehigh Division Lehigh may refer to: Places United States *Lehigh, Iowa *Lehigh, Kansas * Lehigh, Oklahoma *Lehigh, Barbour County, West Virginia *Lehigh, Wisconsin *Lehigh Acres, Florida * Lehigh Township (disambiguation) *Lehigh Valley, a region in eastern Pen ...

, which was later sold to the

(RBMN) in 1996; the RBMN would later cut back the Lehigh Division from Mehoopany to Dupont, Pennsylvania. The tracks from Dupont to Mehoopany became a new rail line called the Susquehanna Branch. In 1999, the Norfolk Southern Railway which is owned by the

Norfolk Southern Corporation 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, ...

acquired the Lehigh Line in the Conrail split with CSX Transportation but the tracks from Manville, New Jersey to Newark, New Jersey were kept with Conrail in order for both Norfolk Southern and CSX to have equal competition in the Northeast. The existing tracks from Manville to Newark became a new rail line and Norfolk Southern along with CSX own it under a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

. However, for historical purposes, the part from Manville to Newark is considered a new rail line and the Norfolk Southern part is considered the original line. Now under ownership of the Norfolk Southern Railway, the Lehigh Line's route is now from Port Reading Junction in Manville, New Jersey to Penn Haven Junction in Lehigh Township, Pennsylvania. This is currently the last time the line has been downsized.

Current operations

The Lehigh Line still exists and still serves as a major

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line that operates in

and

. The line is still owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway and the line still runs from Port Reading Junction in Manville, New Jersey to

in Lehigh Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania. The line connects with

's Lehigh Line (the new rail line) and CSX Transportation's Trenton Subdivision at Port Reading Junction in Manville, New Jersey and connects with the

's Reading Division at Packerton, Pennsylvania and Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad's

at Lehighton, Pennsylvania (originally M&H Junction near Old Penn Haven, Pennsylvania). The line makes notable connections with other Norfolk Southern lines such as the Reading Line and independent shortline railroads. At Three Bridges, New Jersey in Readington Township, the line interchanges with Black River and Western Railroad. At

, the line interchanges with its New Jersey side branch line, the Washington Secondary and the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway which also passes over the Belvidere and Delaware River after that. Across the river in

, the line interchanges with its Pennsylvania side branch line, the Portland Secondary, which extends from Easton to

Portland, Pennsylvania Portland is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The population of Portland was 494 at the 2020 census. Portland is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was thus the 68th most populous metrop ...

connecting to the Stroudsburg Secondary, which was originally part of the

Lackawanna Old Road The Lackawanna Old Road was part of the original mainline of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W). Opened in 1856, it was for a half-century a part of the line connecting the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1911, the DL&W ...

(or simply Old Road); the Stroudsburg Secondary goes under the Lackawanna Cut-Off and connects with the

Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially the Scranton area. DL began service in August 1993 and is the designated operator for of trackage in Lackawanna, Wayne, Northampton, ...

. The line hosts approximately twenty-five trains per day, with traffic peaking at the end of the week. East of the junction with the Reading Line in

and in

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 ...

, the line serves as Norfolk Southern's main corridor in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and the New York Metro Area at large, as Norfolk Southern doesn't currently use the eastern half of its

Southern Tier Line The Southern Tier Line is a railroad line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. states of New York and Pennsylvania. A mostly former Erie Railroad line, it is suggested that the line runs from Suffern, New York northwest ...

, which follows the Delaware River from Port Jervis north to Binghamton, New York and which is now (2022) operated by the Central New York Railroad. The line is part of Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Division and it is part of Norfolk Southern's Crescent Corridor, a railroad corridor. It passes through the approximately 5,000-foot Pattenburg Tunnel in West Portal, New Jersey along its route. Most of the traffic along the line consists of intermodal and general merchandise trains going to yards such as Oak Island Yard in Newark, New Jersey and Croxton Yard in Jersey City.

Motive power

Lehigh Valley Consolidation Locomotive 1866

The first locomotive purchased by the LVRR was the "Delaware", a wood-burning 4-4-0 built by Richard Norris & Sons of Philadelphia in 1855. It was followed by the "Catasauqua" 4-4-0 and "Lehigh" 4-6-0, which were also Norris & Sons engines. In 1856, the "E. A. Packer" 4-4-0 was purchased from William Mason of Taunton, Massachusetts. Subsequently, the LVRR favored engines from Baldwin Locomotive Works and William Mason, but tried many other designs as it experimented with motive power that could handle the line's heavy grades. *In 1866, Master Mechanic Alexander Mitchell designed the "Consolidation" 2-8-0 locomotive, built by Baldwin, which was to become a standard freight locomotive throughout the world. 2-8-0 pattern provided the traction needed for hauling heavy freight, but had a short enough wheelbase to manage curves. *1945: The first Lehigh Valley Railroad mainline diesels arrive in the form of

EMD FT The EMD FT is a diesel-electric locomotive that was produced between March 1939 and November 1945, by General Motors' Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), later known as GM Electro-Motive Division (EMD). The "F" stood for Fourteen Hundred (1400) ...

locomotives. *1948: ALCO PA passenger diesels replace steam on all passenger runs. *1951: September 14: Last day of steam on the Lehigh Valley Railroad as Mikado 432 drops her fire in Delano, Pennsylvania.

Passenger operations

The LVRR operated several named trains in 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 opposing ...

era. Among them: * No. 11 ''The Star'' * No. 4 ''The Major'' * No. 7/8 '' The Maple Leaf'' * No. 9/10 '' The Black Diamond'' * No. 23/24 ''The Lehighton Express'' * No. 25/26 ''The Asa Packer'', named for the LVRR's best-known president * No. 28/29 ''The John Wilkes'' The primary passenger motive power for the LVRR in the diesel era was the

ALCO PA-1 The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

car body diesel-electric locomotive, of which the LVRR had fourteen. These locomotives were also used in freight service during and after the era of LVRR passenger service. A pair of ALCO FA-2 FB-2 car body diesel-electric locomotives were also purchased to augment the PAs when necessary. These were FAs with steam generators, but they were not designated as FPA-2 units. Due to declining passenger patronage, the Lehigh Valley successfully petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to terminate all passenger service. This took effect on February 4, 1961. The ''Maple Leaf'' and the ''John Wilkes'' were the last operating long-distance trains, terminated that day. The only daylight New York-Buffalo train, the "Black Diamond", was discontinued in 1959. Budd Rail Diesel Car service would continue on a branch line (Lehighton-Hazleton) for an additional four days. The majority of passenger equipment is believed to have been scrapped some time after February 1961. Most serviceable equipment not retained for company service was sold to other roads.

Presidents

Notes

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * * * Lamb, Tammy. (1998)
Lehigh Valley Railroad
Retrieved July 26, 2004. * Mancuso, James

Retrieved December 21, 2005. * Schaller, Ed
Lehigh Valley Railroad Modeler
Retrieved December 22, 2005. * Lawrence, Scot

Retrieved September 8, 2006. * Campbell, John W
Lehigh Valley Railroad
Retrieved June 16, 2007. * Annual Report of the State Board of Assessors of the State of New Jersey, News Printing Co., 1889, p. 85
Google books
* ''News about Railroads'', New York Times, Aug 27, 1891

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091221045139/http://www.wnyrails.org/railroads/lv/lv_home.htm Lehigh Valley pages on Western NY Railroad Archive
Beyond Steel: An Archive of Lehigh Valley Industry and Culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehigh Valley Railroad Former Class I railroads in the United States Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Defunct New Jersey railroads Defunct New York (state) railroads History of the Lehigh Valley Predecessors of Conrail Railroads transferred to Conrail Standard gauge railways in the United States Railway companies established in 1853 Railway companies disestablished in 1976 History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania History of Northampton County, Pennsylvania 1853 establishments in Pennsylvania 1976 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Drinker family