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 region. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / General Correspondence Files and Coal Mine Reports, 1930-1938. He was also an enthusiastic member of the Society's modeling committee . 1902 - NYC introduces The 20th Century Limited. ft.), which was maintained by the Secretary's office. In pursuit of that strategy, the 1868 purchases of the Hazleton Railroad and the Lehigh Luzerne Railroad brought 1,800 acres (7.3km2) of coal land to the LVRR, and additional lands were acquired along branches of the LVRR. 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. (.15 cu. (.1 cu. (.1 cu. . 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. ft.), Wilcox Railroad Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. [42], Following the Great Depression, the railroad had a few periods of prosperity, but was clearly in a slow decline. [1], The port on Lake Erie 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. This allowed the line's eastbound grade to be reduced and a shorter route for handling through traffic established. ft.), Berkshire Land Company / Journal and Ledger, 1939-1955. [1][19][bettersourceneeded][20]. 1860-1878] (1 volume) {#286m.1525} which shows track layouts and property ownership along the tracks for what later became part of the Conemaugh Division of the PRR in northwestern Pennsylvania. [2][13] By 1893, the LVRR owned or controlled 53,000 acres (210km2) of coal lands. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Histories of Various Companies, ca 1934-1965. 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. 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). ft.), PRR / President / Presidential Correspondence of A.J. 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. (1.1 cu. Young, 1929-1943. (.1 cu. [39], Following the defeat of its plan, the D&H sold its stock to the Pennsylvania Railroad. (10 cu. At the end of that time period, the use rights would have to be re-negotiated, or full use and control would revert to the current property owner. The line's being downsized three times created two new rail lines: the Lehigh Secondary and the Lehigh Division, which was later sold to the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad (RBMN) in 1996; the RBMN would later cut back the Lehigh Division from Mehoopany to Dupont, Pennsylvania. (.4 cu. Winning bid: US $15.00. (1 cu. 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. Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. (.3 cu. The series is currently being processed, and an item-level Excel spreadsheet detailing drawings that have been catalogued thus far is available in the Archives search room, and can be obtained as an email attachment from the 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. 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. 1835-1925]. (.15 cu. (29 cu. (.4 cu. (.01 cu. In the years leading to 1973, the freight railroad system in the northeast of the U.S. was collapsing. Bankruptcy trustee from August 1974 to April 1976. Customers naturally resented the actions of the cartel, 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. ft.), Bedford and Hollidaysburg Railroad / Minute Book, 1902-1911. Abandoned Lines By mileage, no state comes close to the abandonments suffered in Pennsylvania, which now amounts to roughly 6,500 miles. (1 cu. (.05 cu. [8] The purchasing of the North Branch Canal saw an opportunity for a near monopoly in the region north of the Wyoming Valley. Other RBMN Train Rides . ft.), Enola Realty Company / Property Sales Accounts, 1905-1914. ft.), Clearfield and Jefferson Railway / Annual Reports, 1886-1888. 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 and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in the northern Wyoming Valley coal field, where the railroads mined and transported their own coal at a much reduced cost. [1], The length of the line from Mauch Chunk to Easton was 46 miles of single track. The Anthracite Railroads Historical Society maintains this website in the memory of Ed Schaller, a kind man with a wonderful personality, who served many years as treasurer on the Board of Directors. The coal railroads had begun in 1873 to form pools to regulate production and set quotas for each railroad. ft.), Franklin Railroad Company / Minute Books, 1836-1853, 1859-1865. (.1 cu. (.15 cu. Names Alter, R. H. Pennsylvania Railroad. 1 en:Hoboken Manufacturers' Railroad; 2 en:Bay Shore Connecting Railroad; 3 en:Whippany River Railroad The LVRR operated several named trains in the post-World War II era. The LVRR, which had built coal docks in Perth Amboy when it built the Easton and Amboy in the 1870s, desired a terminal on the Hudson River close to New York City. 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.[7]. In 1916, a horrendous explosion occurred at the facility, destroying ships and buildings, and breaking windows in Manhattan. The lists were constructed by doing word searches of the narrative series descriptions for the designated words: maps, tracks and real estate. (.02 cu. Abandoned Rails of the Lehigh Valley Railroad LV. (.1 cu. of F. Thomson and A.J. The CNJ, anticipating that the LVRR intended to create its own line across New Jersey, protected itself by leasing the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (L&S) to ensure a continuing supply of coal traffic. Any of the State Archives aerial photograph collections, including: images for these and other years available online via the, MG-286 Hollyman Publicity Photographs, ca 1940-1959. 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. Map of the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad, the predecessor to the Schuylkill Branch The abandoned Schuylkill Branch bridge over the Schuylkill River at Lower Pottsgrove, photographed in 2011 The Schuylkill Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. (.1 cu. (.4 cu. ft.), Berkshire Land Company / Cash Book, 1945-1953. [44] In 1957, the LVRR again stopped dividends. ft.), Pennsylvania and North Western Railroad / Annual Reports, 1890-1901. 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. Lehigh Gorge Trains are located at 1 Susquehanna Street, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229 #570-325-8485 . The line is part of Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Division and it is part of Norfolk Southern's Crescent Corridor, a railroad corridor. [26] The railroad had survived the economic depression of 1873 and was seeing its business recover. The Lehigh Valley Railroad began providing service to Hemlock lake in 1895. 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.[33]. All structured data from the file namespace is available under the. Approximately 350,000 tons of anthracite moved to Perth Amboy during that year for transshipment by water. ft.), PRR / VP of Law / Riot Docket and Ejectment Suits, 1877-1895. 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 owners still owned the property, but the railroad was allowed to conduct agreed-upon activities on the swath in question. ft.), PRR / VP of Eastern Region / Locality Files, 1918-1936. (.1 cu. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate & Taxation / Reports on Coal and Coal Mines, 1861-1864. In the following year, the LVRRa standard gauge railroadcompleted 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. (2.25 cu. 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. James Madison Porter was the first President of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The hotel remained with the company until 1909, when it was bought by residents of the surrounding cottages. Eventually, the Easton and Amboy Railroad was absorbed into the parent Lehigh Valley Railroad. Ousting President Elisha P. Wilbur and several directors in 1897, the Morgan company installed W. Alfred Walter as president and seated its own directors. . (.1 cu. ft.), Western Pennsylvania Railroad / Minute Books, 1860-1903. Although the roads effectively ignored the Act and their sales agents continued to meet and set prices, the agreements were never effective for long. ft.), Philadelphia and Erie Railroad / Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. Pennsylvania. It was followed by the "Catasauqua" 4-4-0 and "Lehigh" 4-6-0, which were also Norris & Sons engines. The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad is a defunct railroad that operated in eastern Pennsylvania during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. ft.), Northern Central Railroad / Committee Minute Book, 1875-1914. (.1 cu. This took effect on February 4, 1961. This microfilm, such as it is, is our best and most comprehensive source of PRR maps at this time. ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / Record of Expenditures Under Authority of Forms 1416, ca 1917-1926. ft.), Philadelphia and Erie Railroad / Minute Book of the Road Committee, Finance Comm. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Most serviceable equipment not retained for company service was sold to other roads. (3 cu. ft.), A publication by Thomas Townsend Taber (Thomas T. Taber III) entitled, PRR / Comptroller / Confidential Annual Reports of Affiliated Corporations, 1892-1959. It passes through the approximately 5,000-foot Pattenburg Tunnel in West Portal, New Jersey, along its route. linearly along particular rail lines. Countries. ft.), PRR / V.P. Talk of the railroad had been in the air since 1849 and eventually a Lehigh Valley track was laid into the valley east of Livonia Center. Lehigh Valley Railroad Station was a beautiful building that dated back to 1890. [1] Operations continued until the LVRR's bankruptcy in 1976. [6] To accommodate the 4ft 10in (1,473mm) gauge of the Belvidere, the cars were furnished with wheels having wide treads that operated on both roads.[7]. plaindealing From shop plaindealing. (.25 cu. ft.), Manor Real Estate and Trust Company / Indexes to Minutes, 1870-1954. However, the route required a 4,893-foot (1,491m) tunnel through/under Musconetcong Mountain near Pattenburg, New Jersey (about twelve miles east of Phillipsburg),[21] and that proved troublesome, delaying the opening of the line until May 1875,[22] when a coal train first passed over the line. ft.), Ridgeway and Clearfield Railroad / Minute Book, 1882-1911. The Chandler Acts of 1938-9 provided a new form of relief for railroads, allowing them to restructure their debt while continuing to operate. (3 cu. Joy and Lancaster Railroad / Minute Book of the Committee on Real Estate and the Road, 1850-1855. (.2 cu. [1] This is currently the last time the line has been downsized. Map of the Pennsylvania, Reading, and Lehigh Valley Railroads, and their connections. ft.), Downingtown and Lancaster Railroad / Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. the succession of recorded deeds). ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / General Correspondence Files of the St. Lawrence Power Project, 1948-1954. In some cases (yards, stations, repair facilities, etc.) ft.), Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad / Contract Books, 1864-1891. Conrail abandoned most of the route in New York State to Buffalo after 1976, considerably shortening the line. Condition: Used. (43 cu. A long segment west from Van Etten Junction to Buffalo was included in the Conrail takeover, but was mostly torn-up not long afterward. 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. 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. 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. For land and trackage owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the State Archives holds a series of 49 microfilm rolls, filmed in 1976 by the Penn Central, entitled: Real Estate Maps and Atlases (#RRV 1101 through 1148) {#286m.423} . In 1927, Leonor Fresnel Loree, president of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, 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, and the LVRR. ft.), Northern Central Railway / Committee Minute Book, 1875-1914. [6], 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 New Jersey. The best place to find out the current status of a particular piece of land would be the Recorder of Deeds and/or Tax Mapping office in the relevant county's courthouse. ft.), Erie Railroad / Tax Registers, 1891-1915. ft.), Northern Central Railroad / Mortgage of the Northern Central Railway to Wistar Morris and Josiah Bacon, Trustees, 1868. 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 for access over the CNJ to the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City. (.15 cu. ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / List of Roadway Completion Reports (BV 586), 1919-1927. (.2 cu. 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). In 1883 the railroad acquired land in northeast Pennsylvania and formed a subsidiary called The Glen Summit Hotel and Land Company. (17.5 cu. [5], At Easton, the LVRR interchanged coal at the Delaware River where coal could be shipped to Philadelphia on the Delaware Division Canal or transported across the river to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where the Morris Canal and the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) could carry it to the New York City market. (.2 cu. of Law / Miscellaneous Interstate Commerce Commission Case Files, 1927-1935. ft.), Erie Railroad / Miscellaneous Land Records, [ca. The 46-mile-long (74km) LVRR connected at Mauch Chunk with the Beaver Meadow Railroad. To reach Wilkes-Barre, the LVRR began constructing an extension from White Haven, Pennsylvania, to Wilkes-Barre. (.1 cu. (1 cu. Please note: Not all of the Valuable Papers were deposited at the archives, so we may not hold all of the items referenced in the index. ft.), Penn Central Corp. / General Correspondence Files, 1955-1976. (.5 cu. (13 cu. 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. After the U.S. entered World War I, the railroads were nationalized in order to prevent strikes and interruptions. (.3 cu. (152 cu. F. A . (59 cu. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846, for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, wares, merchandise and minerals[1] in Pennsylvania and the railroad was incorporated and established on September 20, 1847, as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. 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). ft.), Philadelphia and Erie Railroad / Record of Track Material Loaned for Construction of Lumber Branches, 1895-1906. The San Jos to Merced project section of the California high-speed rail system will provide a critical rail link between Silicon Valley and the Central Valley. The 16 mile mountain cut-of, a rail segment of the line that extended from Fairview, Pennsylvania, to the outskirts of Pittston, Pennsylvania, was completed in November 1888. Ad vertisement from shop plaindealing. (.10 cu. 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 Sayre, Pennsylvania; then to Mehoopany, Pennsylvania; and finally to Penn Haven Junction in Lehigh Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania. Another series relating to PRR real estate holdings, rights of way and agreements is the Valuable Papers File, [ca. Since 1896 the LVRR had run an important and prestigious express train named the "Black Diamond" which carried passengers to the Finger Lakes and Buffalo. (2 cu. The line gave the LVRR a route into Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and the Schuylkill Valley coal fields.[32]. Small party privacy and fantastic views! In total, today's railroads in Pennsylvania operate just over 5,000 route miles, which is well under half the state's all-time high of more than 11,500 miles. (11 cu. 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. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. | Library of Congress Outline map of the middle Atlantic states showing the three major lines in different colors. ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / Abstract and Opinion of the Acts of the Legislature and Casesin reference to the Title of the North Branch Division of the Penna. At Phillipsburg, New Jersey, the Belvidere Delaware Railroad connected to Trenton, New Jersey. The Depression had been difficult for all the railroads, and Congress recognized that bankruptcy laws needed revision. (.03 cu. (1 cu. Original file (SVG file, nominally 800 600 pixels, file size: 447 KB). ft.), PRR / Secretary / Corporate Histories Prepared in Accord. 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, to Geneva, New York, a distance of 75 miles. ft.), Buffalo Creek Railroad / Valuable Papers Files, 1868-1967. Size of this PNG preview of this SVG file: 800 600 pixels. ft.), Erie-Lackawanna Railway / General Correspondence Files, 1953-1967, Erie Railroad / Land Record Books,[ ca 1831-1915]. ft.), West Chester Railroad / Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. It opened a hotel in Glen Summit, Pennsylvania, called the Glen Summit Hotel to serve lunch to passengers traveling on the line. Wilson, Chief Engineer, 1881-1884.
