ft.), Peoria and Eastern Railway / Annual Reports, 1928-1936, 1938-1961, 1963-1966, 1970-1973, 1976. (.1 cu. 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. (.1 cu. The Maple Leaf and the John Wilkes were the last operating long-distance trains, terminated that day. This microfilm, such as it is, is our best and most comprehensive source of PRR maps at this time. ft.), Philadelphia and Erie Railroad / Record of Track Material Loaned for Construction of Lumber Branches, 1895-1906. This series primarily represents agreements that the PRR entered into with individuals, companies, and local governments. (297 cu. ft.), Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mt. ft.), PRR / VP of Operation / Chief of Motive Power / Condition of Frt. 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. Ousting President Elisha P. Wilbur and several directors in 1897, the Morgan company installed W. Alfred Walter as president and seated its own directors. Canal, 1901. 1850-1967] (157 cu. Order #20 of ICC, 1916-1921. 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 Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad is a defunct railroad that operated in eastern Pennsylvania during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. ft.), Valley Real Estate Company / Minute Book, 1907-1922. In 1866, Master Mechanic Alexander Mitchell designed the "Consolidation", 1945: The first Lehigh Valley Railroad mainline diesels arrive in the form of. ft.), Manor Real Estate and Trust Company / Minute Books, 1870-1954. The restructuring allowed the LVRR to extend the maturity of its mortgages, but it needed to repeat the process in 1950. (.1 cu. The 1860s saw an expansion of the LVRR northward to the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, area and up the Susquehanna River to the New York state line. In 1891, the LVRR consolidated the Roselle and South Plainfield Railway into the Lehigh Valley Terminal Railway, along with the other companies which formed the route from South Plainfield to the Jersey City terminal. 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. Conversely, the other railroads' obligations to pay those fees to the Penn Central were not waived. In 1883 the railroad acquired land in northeast Pennsylvania and formed a subsidiary called The Glen Summit Hotel and Land Company. Lehigh Gorge Trains are located at 1 Susquehanna Street, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229 #570-325-8485 . 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. Lehigh Valley Railroad Maps The maps on the following pages, based on the LVRR right-of-way as of September 24, 1936, were created by the ARHS: New Jersey Mainline - from Jutland to Jersey City M&H Area and Mainline - Mahanoy and Hazleton Division, as well as the mainline from Lizard Creek Jct. ft.), PRR / President / Presidential Correspondence of A.J. The Lehigh Valley Railroad began providing service to Hemlock lake in 1895. 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. In 1866, two years after the purchase of the Penn Haven and White Haven, the extension from White Haven to Wilkes-Barre opened.[1]. At the time, anthracite was transported by boat down the Lehigh River. This allowed the line's eastbound grade to be reduced and a shorter route for handling through traffic established. of Law / Miscellaneous Interstate Commerce Commission Case Files, 1927-1935. Summary Outline map of the middle Atlantic states showing the three major lines in different colors. [25] 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. ft.), Northern Central Railroad / Committee Minute Book, 1875-1914. 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. (21 cu. (1.3 cu. Budd Rail Diesel Car service would continue on a branch line (Lehighton-Hazleton) for an additional four days. (1.25 cu. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for LV Lehigh Valley Railroad Depot (train station) at Andreas, Schuylkill Co., PA at the best online prices at eBay! . [44] In 1957, the LVRR again stopped dividends. Construction began in earnest in 1853, and the line opened between Easton and Allentown on June 11, 1855. ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / Valuable Papers Files, 1850-1966. (13 cu. After the U.S. entered World War I, the railroads were nationalized in order to prevent strikes and interruptions. While researchers are welcome to come in and browse through the hundreds of boxes of rolled maps and drawings, Archives staff is not able to do research for non-visiting patrons in this series. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Secretary's Correspondence, 1860-1966 (1905-1966). ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Post Office Files, 1923-1933. To support the expected increase in traffic, the wooden bridge over the Delaware River at Easton was also replaced by a double-tracked, 1,191-foot (363m) iron bridge.[23]. ft.), PRR / President / Clement / Eastern Region Coordinating Committee Files, 1933-1936. ft.), PRR / VP of Special Services / Penn Central Merger Files, 1963-1965. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Minute Books of the Real Estate Committee, 1869-1918. Post Conrail ownership and secondary lines. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Information Books, ca 1926-1954. 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. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Lease and Agreement Book, 1858-1889. 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. A long segment west from Van Etten Junction to Buffalo was included in the Conrail takeover, but was mostly torn-up not long afterward. 985, Last edited on 26 February 2023, at 16:09, Catawissa, Williamsport and Erie Railroad, Pennsylvania and New York Canal & Railroad Company, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway, New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway, Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad, Lehigh Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, "Lehigh Valley Railroad to Retires $2,489,000 in 66-Year-Old Bonds", "Pennsylvania Railroad Seeking all the Stock of Lehigh Valley", http://www.parailfan.com/NS/ns_lehigh_line_ett.pdf, "Last of the Railroad - Era Passes Tonight as Lehigh Ends Service", "E. E. Loomis is Dead. 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. The first such combination occurred in 1873, followed by others in 1878, 1884, and 1886. In 1870, the Lehigh Valley Railroad acquired trackage rights to Auburn, New York, on the Southern Central Railroad.[1]. Winning bid: US $15.00. The 46-mile-long (74km) LVRR connected at Mauch Chunk with the Beaver Meadow Railroad. Dates / Origin Date Issued: 1887 Place: Philadelphia? (1 cu. (12 cu. ft.), Johnsonburg Railroad / Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. Among them: The primary passenger motive power for the LVRR in the diesel era was the ALCO PA-1 car body diesel-electric locomotive, of which the LVRR had fourteen. (2006) File usage on Commons. In many cases the Rights of Way were not perpetual, but were granted for, say, 99 years. Lehigh Valley Railroad Tracings and blueprints for buildings, bridges, and track routes of the Land and Tax Department for the Wyoming, Jersey City and Buffalo Divisions of the Lehigh Valley Railroad are included in Series {#274m.568}, Track and Structures Drawings, 1870-1976 . 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. Records vary as to scope and nature, including pipe and wire, trackage and crossing rights, real estate, physical facilities, financial obligations, operations with affiliated companies, governmental authorizations, purchases, and so forth. [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. Packer brought additional financing to the railroad, installed Robert H. Sayre as chief engineer, and renamed the company the "Lehigh Valley Railroad." (.1 cu. (.6 cu. 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. 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. Ball, Chief Conveyancer and Benjamin W. Carskaddon, Assistant Real Estate Agent, 1876-1902. These locomotives were also used in freight service during and after the era of LVRR passenger service. Some lines were subsequently abandoned and even dismantled long before the expiration date came up. ft.), Penn Central Corp. / General Correspondence Files, 1955-1976. (29 cu. James Madison Porter was the first President of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The United States Railroad Administration controlled the railroad from 1918 to 1920, at which time control was transferred back to the private companies. Proudly founded in 1681 as a place of tolerance and freedom. ft.), Manor Real Estate and Trust Company / Journals, 1903-1925. The majority of the Lehigh Line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and retains much of its original route in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, although it no longer goes into New York City. By December 31, 1925, the railroad controlled 1,363.7 miles of road and 3,533.3 miles of track. The train arrives from far away and passes the camera, while workers are waving their handkerchiefs.[37]. It fronted the Morris Canal Basin with a series of 600-foot (180m) 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. (1 cu. ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / Record of Expenditures Under Authority of Forms 1416, ca 1917-1926. That southern field held the largest reserves of anthracite in Pennsylvania and accounted for a large percentage of the total production. In 1892, the Lehigh Valley Railroad completed its main line and established a western terminus in Buffa-lo, New York.At the same time, Niagara Falls had begun to flourish as a tourist attraction. It was opened on June 11, 1855, between Easton, Pennsylvania, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, passing through Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Eventually, the Easton and Amboy Railroad was absorbed into the parent Lehigh Valley Railroad. (.1 cu. 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. Ended: Mar 02, 2023. [50] 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. File usage on other wikis. [11] Over the next dozen years the railroad acquired other large tracts of land: 13,000 acres (53km2) in 1870,[9] 5,800 acres (23km2) in 1872,[12] and acquisition of the Philadelphia Coal Company in 1873 with its large leases in the Mahanoy basin. Across the river in Easton, Pennsylvania, the line interchanges with its Pennsylvania side branch line, the Portland Secondary, which extends from Easton to Portland, Pennsylvania, connecting to the Stroudsburg Secondary, which was originally part of the Lackawanna Old Road (or simply Old Road); the Stroudsburg Secondary goes under the Lackawanna Cut-Off and connects with the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad. (6.05 cu. ft.), Philadelphia and Erie Railroad / Report to the Superintendant of the Tenth Census, 1880. Size of this PNG preview of this SVG file: 800 600 pixels. 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. The line connects with Conrail Shared Assets Operations'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 Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad's Reading Division at Packerton, Pennsylvania, and Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad's Lehigh Division at Lehighton, Pennsylvania (originally M&H Junction near Old Penn Haven, Pennsylvania). 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 (.3 cu. Creator: Lehigh Valley Railroad Company Quanitities: 6 cubic feet. Photograph by Donald W. Furler, Furler-12-021-01 . (.21 cu. ft.), PRR / VP of Eastern Region / Press Copy Plan Book, 1899-1907. a railroad company might have purchased and owned land outright, but in the case of laying track from destination to destination, most simply purchased or otherwise secured a "Right of Way" through the property of private owners - i.e. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Library / Library Reference Materials, ca 1834-1963. The line became known as the Lehigh Line during Conrail ownership. [53] The only daylight New York-Buffalo train, the "Black Diamond", was discontinued in 1959. Young, 1929-1943. plaindealing From shop plaindealing. Lehigh Valley Railroad System Map.svg. Map of the Pennsylvania, Reading, and Lehigh Valley Railroads, and their connections. By the 1960s, railroads in the East were struggling to survive. The line became known as the Lehigh Line during Conrail ownership. 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. (.15 cu. Additionally, a segment from Geneva to Victor, New York, later cut back to Shortsville, New York, to Victor, remained with the Lehigh Valley Estate under subsidized Conrail operation. 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 Easton and Amboy Railroad was a railroad built across central New Jersey by the Lehigh Valley Railroad to run from Phillipsburg, New Jersey, to Bound Brook, New Jersey, and it was built to connect the Lehigh Valley Railroad coal-hauling operations in Pennsylvania 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 Easton, Pennsylvania. ft.), PRR / VP of Special Services / Merger Testimony and Exhibits, 1962-1967. The building shutdown in 1961 and was demolished. 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. Language: At Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the North Pennsylvania Railroad which was completed during the Summer of 1856, provided a rail connection to Philadelphia and thus brought the LVRR a direct line to Philadelphia. Railroad Leader. Newly elected president Eben B. Thomas, formerly of the Erie, and his board of directors represented the combined interests of those railroads.[36]. [24] The marshalling yard is now the residential area known as Harbortown. The line later expanded past Allentown to Lehigh Valley Terminal in Buffalo and past Easton to New York City, bringing the Lehigh Valley Railroad to these metropolitan areas. 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.), PRR / President / Presidential Correspondence of M.W. of Purchases / General Correspondence and Confidential Files of C.D. In the years leading to 1973, the freight railroad system in the northeast of the U.S. was collapsing. These tracks were laid and the Easton and Amboy Railroad was opened for business on June 28, 1875, with hauling coal. [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. Clement, 1935-1949. [1], On May 17, 1879, Asa Packer, the company's founder and leader, died at the age of 73. This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 16:09. ft.), Coxe Brothers and Company, Inc. / Appendix to Estimates of Coal on Properties Owned or Controlled, 1925. Lehigh Valley Railroad 4-6-2 K-6B steam locomotive 2097 decorated for the railroad's centennial and leading the second section of train 9, the "Black Diamond," with ten cars past the interlocking tower at Treichler, a railroad location in North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, on April 20, 1946. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Board of Directors' Inspection Trip Book, 1937. (.1 cu. 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. [31], In Pennsylvania, the Lehigh scored a coup by obtaining the charter formerly held by the Schuykill Haven and Lehigh River Railroad in 1886. East of the junction with the Reading Line in Allentown and in Bethlehem, 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, 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. 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. On April 1, 1976, the LVRR, including its main line, was merged into the U.S. government's Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) ending 130 years of existence and 121 years of operation of the LVRR. (.1 cu. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Histories of Various Companies, ca 1934-1965. 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. These maps, bridge and structure drawings remains unprocessed. (.2 cu. (.03 cu. Lehigh Valley Railroad. The Easton and Amboy's operations were labeled the "New Jersey Division" of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. 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. ft.), Susquehanna and Clearfield Railroad / Annual Report to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. (10 cu. (1 cu. ft.), PRR / Secretary / General Correspondence Files, ca 1887-1972. Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, Pub.L. This primarily consisted of the main line and related branches from Van Etten Junction, northwest of Sayre, Pennsylvania) to Oak Island Yard, the Ithaca branch from Van Etten Junction to Ithaca, New York, connecting to the Cayuga Lake 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; and small segments in Geneva, New York (from Geneva to the Seneca Army Depot in Kendaia); Batavia, New York; Auburn, New York, and Cortland, New York. ft.), Enola Realty Company / Minute Books, 1905-1931. (.1 cu. ft.), Franklin Railroad Company / Minute Books, 1836-1853, 1859-1865. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Letter Press Books of George W.I. ft.). ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Reports on Coal and Coal Mines, 1861-1864. Additional passenger trains ran from Philadelphia to Scranton and westward. United States (except New York) States. Maps of North America. (.1 cu. Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. By 1859 it had 600 coal cars and 19 engines. (.25 cu. 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. ft.), PRR / VP of Finance / Treasurer / Treasurer's Cash Books, 1847-1863, 1865-1925. 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.), 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. The railroad ended operations in 1976 and merged into Conrail along with several northeastern railroads that same year. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Board of Directors' Roll Books, 1918-1967. Due to declining passenger patronage, the Lehigh Valley successfully petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to terminate all passenger service. (.2 cu. (92 cu. The majority of passenger equipment is believed to have been scrapped some time after February 1961. President Richard Nixon signed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 into law. The Lehigh Valley Railroad (reporting mark LV) was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. ft.), PRR / VP of Operation / Chief of Motive Power / Lines East Age Books (MP 308), ca 1900-1917. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Letter Press Books of J.C. Wilson, Assistant Chief Engineer and Real Estate Agent, 1876-1889. ft.), Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad / Acts of Assembly Relating to the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad, 1858. (2 cu. (9 cu. (.1 cu. In 1928, he attempted to seat a new president and board. 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. (5 cu. ft.), Enola Realty Company / Journals, 1905-1932. At Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 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. [14], The 1870s witnessed commencement of extension of the LVRR in a new direction. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. This route became important to Conrail as an alternate route to avoid Amtrak's former PRR/PC Northeast Corridor electrified route. The banking giant J. P. Morgan stepped in to refinance the LVRR debt and obtained control of the railroad in the process. 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. 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.