Most of the other remaining Lehigh Valley track serves as branch lines, or has been sold to shortline and regional operators. (21 cu. (.12 cu. 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. Ousting President Elisha P. Wilbur and several directors in 1897, the Morgan company installed W. Alfred Walter as president and seated its own directors. Engineering Drawings, [ca.1886-1940 (bulk: 1915-1930)]{#311m.284} will be of interest. (1.25 cu. (43 cu. Dates / Origin Date Issued: 1887 Place: Philadelphia? ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / List of Roadway Completion Reports (BV 586), 1919-1927. Post Conrail ownership and secondary lines. 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. 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. DeRuyter Val Map - info needed by Cactus Jack - Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:08 pm. 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. (.1 cu. . ft.), West Chester Railroad / Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. [14] 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.[27]. The building shutdown in 1961 and was demolished. Clement, 1935-1949. (.01 cu. (.1 cu. (.4 cu. 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. :-) Disclaimers: (.3 cu. By December 31, 1925, the railroad controlled 1,363.7 miles of road and 3,533.3 miles of track. 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. [3], Little occurred between 1847 and 1851, save some limited grading near Allentown, Pennsylvania. During the majority of its ownership under the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the line was known as the Lehigh Valley Mainline, starting in the 1930s. Annual Report of the State Board of Assessors of the State of New Jersey, News Printing Co., 1889, p.85. 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. ft.), Franklin Railroad Company / Minute Books, 1836-1853, 1859-1865. ft.), Mifflin and Centre County Railroad / Monthly Construction Accounts, 1862-1869. (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. [8] The purchasing of the North Branch Canal saw an opportunity for a near monopoly in the region north of the Wyoming Valley. Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Co. (1.5 cu. ft.). [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. ft.), PRR / VP of Purchase / General Correspondence and Confidential Files of C.D. (1 cu. [1] Operations continued until the LVRR's bankruptcy in 1976. [39], Following the defeat of its plan, the D&H sold its stock to the Pennsylvania Railroad. 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. Lehigh Valley Trail Facts States: New York Counties: Monroe, Ontario Length: 16.4 miles Trail end points: W. River Road/County Road 84 (Scottsville) and Lehigh Crossing Park at Shallow Creek Trail and Victor Mendon Road (Victor) Trail surfaces: Crushed Stone Trail category: Rail-Trail ID: 6015034 Activities: 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. {#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. [26] The railroad had survived the economic depression of 1873 and was seeing its business recover. 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 across Newark Bay.Until 1895, when the Greenville and Hudson Railway was constructed, the Lehigh Valley depended on the National Docks Railway to reach the . 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. [13] With these acquisitions, the LVRR obtained the right to mine coal as well as transport it. 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. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Letter Press Books of J.C. Wilson, Assistant Chief Engineer and Real Estate Agent, 1876-1889. (.0 cu. Please enable scripts and reload this page. 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. Digitized content from the collections of Cornell University Library (.01 cu. (.1 cu. 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. (.1 cu. Map showing the Lehigh Valley Railroad system in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania Names Von Rosenberg, Leo (Creator) Lehigh Valley Railroad Company (Publisher) Collection. In 1866, two years after the purchase of the Penn Haven and White Haven, the extension from White Haven to Wilkes-Barre opened.[1]. 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. Parts. (59 cu. The United States Railroad Administration controlled the railroad from 1918 to 1920, at which time control was transferred back to the private companies. [16] After the LVRR opened its line, the Lehigh & Susquehanna extended to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and connected with the CNJ and the Morris and Essex Railroad in 1868. [42], Following the Great Depression, the railroad had a few periods of prosperity, but was clearly in a slow decline. Lehigh Valley Railroad Station was a beautiful building that dated back to 1890. (1.25 cu. Other resolutions: 320 240 pixels | 640 480 pixels | 1,024 768 pixels | 1,280 960 pixels | 2,560 1,920 pixels. ft.), PRR / VP of Operation / Chief of Motive Power / Lines East Age Books (MP 308), ca 1900-1917. Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ft.), PRR / VP Eastern Region / Letter Books, 1924-1926. In many cases the Rights of Way were not perpetual, but were granted for, say, 99 years. 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. Following Federal legislation which stopped the operation of such service, the lake line was sold to private interests in 1920. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Poor's Railroad Manuals, 1923-1949. (.15 cu. (.1 cu. In the following years, the Pennsylvania quietly obtained more stock, both directly and through railroads it controlled, primarily the Wabash. ft.), North Penn Coal Company / Minute Book, 1913-1938. [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. ft.), PRR / Secretary / Rules and Regulations, 1858-1925. ft.), West Lane Garage Company / Minute Book, 1934-1943. (.1 cu. 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. So, its motto, Route Of The Black Diamond, was quite befitting and led directly to both its rise in prosperity and downfall into bankruptcy. ft.), Ridgeway and Clearfield Railroad / Minute Book, 1882-1911. (1 cu. [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]. 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. (.1 cu. ft.), PRR / VP of Real Estate / Lease and Agreement Book, 1858-1889. ft.), Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad / Minute Book, 1902-1918. The LVRR, wanting to capitalize on the tourist appeal of the cataract and to extend its anthracite coal business to the Midwestern United States, entered an agreement with the New York Central to use . The two most popular reasons for wishing to consult railroad-related land records are property ownership investigations and historical research. (3 cu. [43] The terms of the restructurings precluded dividend payments until 1953, when LVRR common stock paid the first dividend since 1931. It was located along the Hamilton Street Bridge in Allentown. (.25 cu. Cassat, 1893-1903. 1905 - Hojack swing bridge built at Charlotte. 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). 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 . ft.), Finley Company / Minute Books, 1945-1959. ft.), PRR / VP of Special Services / Merger Studies, 1950-1970. (1 cu. ft.), Peoria and Eastern Railway / Annual Reports, 1928-1936, 1938-1961, 1963-1966, 1970-1973, 1976. A final attempt to establish a coal cartel took place in 1904 with the formation of the Temple Iron Company. It opened a hotel in Glen Summit, Pennsylvania, called the Glen Summit Hotel to serve lunch to passengers traveling on the line. [31], In Pennsylvania, the Lehigh scored a coup by obtaining the charter formerly held by the Schuykill Haven and Lehigh River Railroad in 1886. ft.), Susquehanna and Clearfield Railroad / Annual Report to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. 1835-1925]. After the U.S. entered World War I, the railroads were nationalized in order to prevent strikes and interruptions. ft.), Philadelphia and Erie Railroad / Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. The line makes notable connections with other Norfolk Southern lines such as the Reading Line and independent shortline railroads. 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. 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 . (.1 cu. (.1 cu. ft.), Cherry Tree and Dixonville Railroad / Minute Books, 1903-1943. 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. are Interested, 1962. Top of page Skip to main content ft.), Valley Real Estate Company / Cash Book, 1907-1922. ft.), PRR / President / Presidential Correspondence of W.W. Atterbury, 1925-1935. ft.), Germantown, Norristown, and Phoenixville Railroad / Minute Book, 1881-1886. 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. (.1 cu. ft.), PRR / VP of Eastern Region / Press Copy Plan Book, 1899-1907. (.1 cu. (.53 cu. (.3 cu. V2 en:Roselle and South Plainfield Railway. 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 Penn Haven Junction in Lehigh Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania.[52]. 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. The section between Allentown and Mauch Chunk opened on September 12. ft.), Downingtown and Lancaster Railroad / Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. (9 cu. (bridge still exists today. (.2 cu. 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. (.4 cu. 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. By 1869, the LVRR owned a continuous track through Pennsylvania from Easton to Waverly. ft.), Erie Railroad / Miscellaneous Land Records, [ca. (.1 cu. (.1 cu. 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. 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. (.15 cu. ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / Statements of Additions and Betterments (GA-8), 1918-1929, 1931-1932. In 1916, a horrendous explosion occurred at the facility, destroying ships and buildings, and breaking windows in Manhattan. 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. 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. The LVRR began construction of a series of railroads to connect the Easton and Amboy line (Easton and Amboy Railroad) to Jersey City. permission to lay track, run trains and do needed maintenance along a long, narrow swath. The South Basin terminal was used solely for freight, having docks and car float facilities. [1] 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. Throughout that decade, expansions continued into New York by taking over smaller lines and building new railroad. ft.), Baltimore and Potomac / Blueprint Book of Proposed Revision of Line and Grades in Washington, D.C., undated. ft.), Lehigh Valley Railroad / Property Schedules, (BV 634, 635 and 636), 1936-1941. [17] In 1871, the entire line from Phillipsburg to Wilkes-Barre was leased to the CNJ. 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. [citation needed]. 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. 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. ft.), Bell's Gap Railroad / Annual Reports, 1873-1889. ft.), Bustleton Railroad / Annual Reports to the Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1895-1896. Indicates major drainage, cities and towns, and names the railroads along the lines. 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. [44] In 1957, the LVRR again stopped dividends. The Lehigh Line is a railroad line in central New Jersey, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.It is owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway.The line runs west from the vicinity of the Port of New York and New Jersey via Conrail's Lehigh Line to the Susquehanna River valley at the south end of the Wyoming Valley Coal Region. [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. (.1 cu. 93-236, 87 Stat. On April 1, 1976, major portions of the assets of the bankrupt Lehigh Valley Railroad were acquired by Conrail. This is currently the last time the line has been downsized.

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