Additional passenger trains ran from Philadelphia to Scranton and westward. The Easton and Amboy's operations were labeled the "New Jersey Division" of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. (.5 cu. . [13][35] Unfortunately, it overreached and in 1893 was unable to meet its obligations. ft.), Northern Central Railway / Committee Minute Book, 1875-1914. System Map (1940) An official, 1940 system map of the Lehigh & New England Railroad. [53] The only daylight New York-Buffalo train, the "Black Diamond", was discontinued in 1959. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / General Correspondence Files of the St. Lawrence Power Project, 1948-1954. 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. [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 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. In 1882, the LVRR began an extensive expansion into New York from Waverly to Buffalo. Finally, in 1889, the LVRR gained control of the Geneva, Ithaca, and Sayre Railroad and completed its line of rail through New York. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Contract Book of George B. Roberts, 1869-1884. 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. 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. Ad vertisement from shop plaindealing. [3], Little occurred between 1847 and 1851, save some limited grading near Allentown, Pennsylvania. 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. The owners still owned the property, but the railroad was allowed to conduct agreed-upon activities on the swath in question. For more and perhaps more easily obtainable maps and aerial photographs, you may also want to consult the following sources: 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. The project section runs from the city of Santa Clara, through San Jos at Diridon Station to Gilroy, across the Pacheco Pass, and including the Central Valley Wye extending north to . The LVRR was approved for such a restructuring in 1940 when several large mortgage loans were due. [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. Some of the lines and branches covered in the series'twenty-four boxes include: For maps of the routes and land holdings of the Lehigh and New England Railroad, the series President of the Lehigh Valley System Through War, He Recently Retired", Lehigh Valley Railroad Historical Society, Luzerne County PAGenWeb (One Hundred Years of The Lehigh Valley), Lehigh Valley pages on Western NY Railroad Archive, Beyond Steel: An Archive of Lehigh Valley Industry and Culture, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lehigh_Valley_Railroad&oldid=1141748396. Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania Railroad Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh This 5-railroad network will remain essentially unchanged for the first half of the 20th Century. ft.), Erie Railroad / Miscellaneous Land Records, [ca. The section between Allentown and Mauch Chunk opened on September 12. Originally incorporated as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. 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. (1.3 cu. ft.), Bedford and Hollidaysburg Railroad / Minute Book, 1902-1911. (.2 cu. 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. (.15 cu. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate & Taxation / Reports on Coal and Coal Mines, 1861-1864. 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. Summary Outline map of the middle Atlantic states showing the three major lines in different colors. ft.), Enola Realty Company / Minute Books, 1905-1931. ft.), Philadelphia and Erie Railroad / Record of Track Material Loaned for Construction of Lumber Branches, 1895-1906. (.4 cu. So, its motto, Route Of The Black Diamond, was quite befitting and led directly to both its rise in prosperity and downfall into bankruptcy. Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. Some lines were subsequently abandoned and even dismantled long before the expiration date came up. The coal railroads had begun in 1873 to form pools to regulate production and set quotas for each railroad. ft.), PRR / VP of Special Services / Water Company Files, 1905-1956. 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} . Leadership of the company transferred smoothly to Charles Hartshorne, who had been vice president under Packer. 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 DL&W and the CNJ, all companies in which Morgan had interests. (.1 cu. (.03 cu. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Histories of Various Companies, ca 1934-1965. (1 cu. By 1869, the LVRR owned a continuous track through Pennsylvania from Easton to Waverly. The Maple Leaf and the John Wilkes were the last operating long-distance trains, terminated that day. 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. (6.5 cu. ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / Record of Expenditures Under Authority of Forms 1416, ca 1917-1926. 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. The series listed below contain scattered information and/or maps of PRR and Penn Central real estate holdings in Manuscript Group 286. The LVRR operated several named trains in the post-World War II era. (11.9 cu. [39], Following the defeat of its plan, the D&H sold its stock to the Pennsylvania Railroad. 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. 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. of F. Thomson and A.J. (2 cu. ft.), Buffalo Creek Railroad / Valuable Papers Files, 1868-1967. All structured data from the file namespace is available under the. [45], In 1944, the LVRR's gross revenues came close to $100,000,000 which was a milestone for the railroad.[1]. The 46-mile-long (74km) LVRR connected at Mauch Chunk with the Beaver Meadow Railroad. ft.), Clearfield and Jefferson Railway / Annual Reports, 1886-1888. The original maps were never transferred to the Archives, but a book by book inventory of the film exists. In the years leading to 1973, the freight railroad system in the northeast of the U.S. was collapsing. ft.), Philadelphia and Erie Railroad / Report to the Superintendant of the Tenth Census, 1880. By 1931, the PRR controlled 51% of the LVRR stock. (.1 cu. The Lehigh Valley Railroad's original and primary route between Easton and Allentown was built in 1855. [38] Through bonds issued by the D&H, he obtained 30% of the LVRR stock, and won the support of nearly half the stockholders. 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. Approximately 350,000 tons of anthracite moved to Perth Amboy during that year for transshipment by water. :-)). (.1 cu. Photograph by Donald W. Furler, Furler-12-021-01 . Most serviceable equipment not retained for company service was sold to other roads. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Minute Books of the Road Committee, 1847-1948. ft.), Finley Company / Minute Books, 1945-1959. Although the roads effectively ignored the Act and their sales agents continued to meet and set prices, the agreements were never effective for long. Clement, 1935-1949. The LVRR's Newark and Roselle Railway in 1891 brought the line from Roselle into Newark, where passengers connected to the Pennsylvania Railroad. {#31.18}, MG-416 Aero Service Corporation Photographs, MG-425 Ebasco Environmental Company Aerial Photographs, Baldwin Locomotive Works, Other Record Holders, PHMC Collections Management Policy Standards, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Access Policy, Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Bangor & Portland Division, including Martins Creek Branch, Limestone Spur, Wind Gap Branch, Atlantic BranchandBangor Branch, Valuation orders and related records, 1914-1934. The 1890s were a period of turmoil for the LVRR. ft.), PRR / Secretary / One Hundredth Anniversary Historical Files, ca 1876-1946. The line hosts approximately twenty-five trains per day, with traffic peaking at the end of the week. 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. 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. (MP 13/MP 13a/MP13c), 1896-1920. ft.), PRR / VP of Eastern Region / Press Copy Plan Book, 1899-1907. 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. how long the Rights-of-Way were for, when the track was laid, and when the time limit was or will be up. It opened a hotel in Glen Summit, Pennsylvania, called the Glen Summit Hotel to serve lunch to passengers traveling on the line. The "T" intersection is also visible on the map where the trains would turn into the depot at the village of Hemlock. (.25 cu. [17] In 1871, the entire line from Phillipsburg to Wilkes-Barre was leased to the CNJ. ft.), Franklin Railroad Company / Minute Books, 1836-1853, 1859-1865. Most of the rail equipment went to Conrail as well, but 24 locomotives (units GP38-2 314-325 and C420 404415) went to the Delaware & Hudson instead. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Board of Directors' Roll Books, 1918-1967. The purpose of the Temple Iron Company was to lock-up independent coal production and control the supply. (2 cu. ft.), Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad / Contract Books, 1864-1891. linearly along particular rail lines. (.10 cu. By controlling supply, the coal combination attempted to keep prices and profits high. 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. As a result, the PC was relieved of its obligation to pay fees to various Northeastern railroadsthe Lehigh Valley includedfor the use of their railcars and other operations. (.05 cu. 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. It also continued to grow and develop its routes in Pennsylvania. 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. Cassat, 1893-1903. Countries. 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. This page was last edited on 15 September 2020, at 21:11. [2] It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported. (.15 cu. (.4 cu. (.2 cu. ft.), PRR / President / Presidential Correspondence of Samuel Rea, 1913-1925. Photos not available for this variation. ft.), PRR / President / Presidential Correspondence of W.W. Atterbury, 1925-1935. ft.), Peoria and Eastern Railway / Annual Reports, 1928-1936, 1938-1961, 1963-1966, 1970-1973, 1976. 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. Original file (SVG file, nominally 800 600 pixels, file size: 447 KB). (.2 cu. ft.), PRR / V.P. James Madison Porter was the first President of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. On April 1, 1976, major portions of the assets of the bankrupt Lehigh Valley Railroad were acquired by Conrail. Post Conrail ownership and secondary lines. ft.), Valley Real Estate Company / Journal Entries, 1919. plaindealing From shop plaindealing. The company was a subsidiary of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N), but for much of its lifetime leased by the Central Railroad of New Jersey.It was founded in 1837 to carry coal from the North Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal to the . The Auburn Branch Sayre, PA to North Fair Haven NY, PA | CR, LV, NY&OM Batavia to Leroy, NY NY | LV Buffalo to Victor, NY NY | LV The Cayuga Lake Railroad Auburn to Lake Ridge, NY NY | CLRR, CR, LV The Cortland Branch East Ithaca to Camden, NY NY | LV Ithaca to . 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. (.3 cu. Eventually, the Easton and Amboy Railroad was absorbed into the parent Lehigh Valley Railroad. (2 cu. 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. 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. The line became known as the Lehigh Line during Conrail ownership. (.1 cu. (.11 cu. An sample frame of this film appears to the right of this paragraph, though not all frames show the names of property owners. (.25 cu. (3 cu. [4] All this changed in October 1851, when Asa Packer took majority control of the DLS&S. (.1 cu. (.1 cu. The economic depression following 1893 was harsh, and by 1897 the LVRR was in dire need of support. (.25 cu. (12 cu. The Chandler Acts of 1938-9 provided a new form of relief for railroads, allowing them to restructure their debt while continuing to operate. 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. (.01 cu. ft.). Although government-funded Amtrak 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;[49] the Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of them. (1.25 cu. ft.), Coxe Brothers and Company, Inc. / Appendix to Estimates of Coal on Properties Owned or Controlled, 1925. 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. (.4 cu. (.01 cu. 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. (.1 cu. The company controlled 30,000 acres (120km2) of coal-producing lands and was expanding rapidly into New York and New Jersey. 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. ft.), Cherry Tree and Dixonville Railroad / Minute Books, 1903-1943. Map of the Abandoned Rails of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. [1], On May 17, 1879, Asa Packer, the company's founder and leader, died at the age of 73. 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. This is currently the last time the line has been downsized. The first such combination occurred in 1873, followed by others in 1878, 1884, and 1886. Abandoned Lines By mileage, no state comes close to the abandonments suffered in Pennsylvania, which now amounts to roughly 6,500 miles. 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 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 New York City. Conrail abandoned most of the route in New York State to Buffalo after 1976, considerably shortening the line. 1 en:Hoboken Manufacturers' Railroad; 2 en:Bay Shore Connecting Railroad; 3 en:Whippany River Railroad (.1 cu. Please enable scripts and reload this page. (.21 cu. From 1855 to 1879 the Lehigh Valley Railroad had grown from its original road between Mauch Chunk and Easton, to include 658 miles of track as far away as Buffalo and New York City.