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For the geographic region in eastern Pennsylvania, see Lehigh Valley. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern The Lehigh Valley, also known as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton PA-NJ metropolitan area, is an official metropolitan region consisting of Lehigh, Northampton
Lehigh Valley Railroad
Logo
Reporting marksLV
LocaleNew Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
Dates of operation1846–1976
Successor lineConrail
Track gauge4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
HeadquartersBethlehem, Pennsylvania
1884 map of the Pennsylvania, Reading and Lehigh Valley Railroads
1884 map of the Pennsylvania, Reading and Lehigh Valley Railroads

The Lehigh Valley Railroad (AAR reporting marks LV) was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal. A reporting mark is an identification assigned by the Association of American Railroads (AAR to rail carriers and other companies operating in North America. New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern Consolidated Rail Corporation, also known as Conrail, began operations on April 1, 1976 as a federally funded takeover of the major railroad Rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the two parallel rails that make up a railway track. A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. The Millimetre ( American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to The standard gauge (also named the Stephenson gauge after George Stephenson, or Normal gauge) is a widely-used Rail gauge. Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the Year 1884 ( MDCCCLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Railroad, founded in 1846 The Reading Company, usually called the Reading Railroad ( and officially known as the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and A reporting mark is an identification assigned by the Association of American Railroads (AAR to rail carriers and other companies operating in North America. Anthracite ( Greek Ανθρακίτης literally "a type of coal" from Anthrax, coal is a hard compact variety of mineral Coal that has a high

It was incorporated April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. Events 753 BC - Romulus and Remus found Rome ( traditional date) For the game see 1846 (board game. Year 1846 ( MDCCCXLVI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern On January 7, 1853, the name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad. Events 1325 - Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal. 1558 - France takes Calais, the last continental Year 1853 ( MDCCCLIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common 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 Lehigh River, a Tributary of the Delaware River, is a 103 mile (166 km long river located in eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States The railroad was meant to be a faster means of transportation.

Contents

History

1867: The LV subsidiary, the Pennsylvania & New York Railroad, reached Waverly, New York to interchange coal with the Erie Railroad, a broad gauge line. Waverly is the name of some places in the US state of New York: Waverly Franklin County New York Waverly Tioga County The Erie Railroad was a Railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Broad gauge Railways use a Rail gauge (distance between the rails greater than the Standard gauge of. LV coal was then transferred to Erie trains at Waverly, and the coal continued to Buffalo, New York, via Lake Erie. Buffalo (ˈbʌfəloʊ is the second largest city in New York State. Lake Erie (ˈɪəriː is the fourth largest Lake (by surface area of the five Great Lakes, and the tenth largest globally

1870: The LV financed a third rail to be laid inside the Erie's broad gauge trackage so that LV coal trains could run all the way to Buffalo without being transferred to Erie cars at Waverly.

1870: the Southern Central reaches Waverly to interchange with the LV and Erie. This railroad would later become the LV's Auburn division, and was mainly used to transport coal to Lake Ontario ships at Fair Haven, New York. Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Fair Haven is a Village in Cayuga County, New York, United States.

1895: The LV completed its own mainline between Waverly and Buffalo, transfer to the Erie at Waverly was no longer needed.

1901: The huge erecting shops are completed at Sayre, Pennsylvania. Sayre is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 59 miles (95 km northwest of Scranton. Sayre becomes the heart of the LV.

1945: The first mainline diesels arrive, in the form of EMD FT locomotives. The EMD FT was a Diesel-electric locomotive produced between November 1939 and November 1945 by General Motors ' Electro-Motive Division (the "F"

1948: ALCO PA passenger diesels replace steam on all passenger runs. ALCO PA refers to a family of A1A-A1A Diesel locomotives built to haul Passenger trains built in Schenectady New York in the United

1951: September 14 - Last day of steam on the LV as Mikado 432 drops her fire in Delano, Pennsylvania. In the Whyte notation, a 2-8-2 is a Railroad Steam locomotive that has one Leading axle followed by four powered driving axles and Delano is a Census-designated place (CDP in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States.

By the 1890s, the Lehigh Valley Railroad stretched from New York Harbor to Tifft Terminal in Buffalo, passing through the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, and the Finger Lakes region of New York state. The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the " Mauve Decade" because William Henry Perkin 's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that New York Harbor, a geographic term refers collectively to the rivers bays and tidal estuaries near the mouth of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City The Lehigh Valley, also known as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton PA-NJ metropolitan area, is an official metropolitan region consisting of Lehigh, Northampton The Finger Lakes are a chain of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York that are a popular tourist destination

In 1916, land owned by the Lehigh Valley Railroad in New York Harbor was the site of the Black Tom explosion. Year 1916 ( MCMXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Black Tom currently redirects here For the Marvel Comics character see Black Tom Cassidy.

Coal traffic, however, declined steadily after the 1940s and, by 1962, the Pennsylvania Railroad had acquired majority stock control of the railroad. The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949 Events and trends The 1940s was a period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s which also leads the period to be Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Railroad, founded in 1846

On June 21, 1970, the Penn Central declared bankruptcy and sought bankruptcy protection. Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Pennsylvania and New York Central Transportation Company, almost always called Penn Central, was an American Railroad company that operated from 1968 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 three days after the Penn Central, on June 24, 1970. Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

The Lehigh Valley remained in operation during the 1970 bankruptcy, as was the common practice of the time. In 1972, the Lehigh Valley assumed the remaining Pennsylvania trackage of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, a competing anthracite railroad which had entered bankruptcy as well. The Central Railroad of New Jersey, more commonly known as the Jersey Central Lines or CNJ, was a regional railroad with origins in the 1830s lasting until 1976 when 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 New York, often on adjoining grades through Pennsylvania.

In 1976, major portions of the assets of the bankrupt Lehigh Valley Railroad were acquired by Conrail This primarily consisted of the mainline and related branches from Van Etten Jct. Consolidated Rail Corporation, also known as Conrail, began operations on April 1, 1976 as a federally funded takeover of the major railroad (north/RR west of Sayre) to Oak Island, the Ithaca branch from Van Etten Jct. to Ithaca connecting to the Cayuga Lake line to the Milliken power station in Lake Ridge, NY, and small segments in Geneva, Batavia, Auburn and Cortland. Additionally a segment from Geneva to Victor, later cut back to Shortsville to Victor, plus a small segment west from Van Etten Jct. remained with the Lehigh Valley Estate under subsidized Conrail operation. The Shortsville to Victor segment became the Ontario Central Railroad in 1979. Most of the rail equipment went to Conrail as well, but 24 locomotives (units GP-38-2 314-325 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 Penn Central in the early 1980s.

The mainline across New Jersey and Oak Island Yard remain important to Norfolk Southern, CSX, and Conrail Shared Assets today. This section became important to Conrail as an alternate route to avoid Amtrak's former PRR/PC Northeast Corridor electrified route. Most of the other remaining Lehigh Valley track serves as branch lines, or has been sold to shortline and regional operators. These operators include, in no particular order: Reading & Northern; Genesee Valley Transportation (Depew, Lancaster & Western); Finger Lakes Railway; New York, Susquehanna & Western; and Livonia, Avon & Lakeville (Ontario Central).

1870 map
1870 map

Passenger operations

The LVRR operated several named trains in the post-World War II era. Year 1870 ( MDCCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including 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. John Wilkes ( 17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical, journalist and politician ALCO PA refers to a family of A1A-A1A Diesel locomotives built to haul Passenger trains built in Schenectady New York in the United 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. Budd Rail Diesel Car service would continue on a branch line for an additional four days. For other meanings of RDC, see RDC (disambiguation. The Budd Rail Diesel Car or RDC is a self-propelled diesel-hydraulic 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 of the Lehigh Valley Railroad

References

External links

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