Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad

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Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad
legal form Corporation
founding 1901
resolution 1976
Seat Scranton , Pennsylvania ,United StatesUnited States
Branch Rail transport

The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad ( AAR -reporting mark: LWV) was a railroad company in the northeast of the US state Pennsylvania . From 1903 to 1952 it operated an interurban connection between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, used for passenger and freight traffic . In contrast to most of the other interurban routes in Pennsylvania, the 30 km long, so-called Laurel Line was run in standard gauge . After passenger traffic was discontinued in 1952 and electrical operations were discontinued in the following year, diesel locomotives continued to offer goods traffic until 1976.

history

At the beginning of the 20th century, the two largest cities in the industrial region of Wyoming Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, about 30 km apart , were in passenger transport by trains of the Delaware and Hudson Company (D&H) and Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ ) as well as transfer connections between the local tram networks. However, neither the trains designed for long-distance traffic nor the slow tram rides with transfers were able to ideally meet the transport needs. Local prospects and investors from Philadelphia therefore began around 1900 to investigate the construction of an Interurban between the two cities. Since freight transport should be offered to transition to rail companies, was not with in numerous tram operations usual in Pennsylvania broad gauge mm of 1581 or 1588 mm, but with the standard gauge planned mm from the 1435th The Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse joined mid 1901 with the supporters in contact and put both an offer for electrical equipment as well as a stake in the company in view.

The newly founded Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad was able to start building a double-track, electrified railway line between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and a short branch line to Dunmore , east of Scranton, in 1901 . Despite being in their construction and operation form numerous Interurban resembled -Überlandstraßenbahnen, the railway company under the statutory provisions which was full railways ( steam railroads ) was founded. In individual cases this enabled her to expropriate land along the route. Power rails were largely used for power transmission along the lines ; only a short section at the Wilkes-Barre terminus was equipped with overhead lines .

The Laurel Line station in Pittston, circa 1912

The first section of the main line between Scranton and Pittston was commissioned on March 20, 1903, the subsequent section to Wilkes-Barre in the fall. Sections over the Moosic Mountain with gradients of almost 40 ‰ represented an operational obstacle from the start, so that on July 5, 1904, the construction of a 1447 m long tunnel began, which was opened on October 19, 1905. In contrast to the rest of the main line, which had two tracks, the tunnel was only single track. Some of the journeys initially continued to use the previous route over the hill before it was shut down in 1914. The construction costs for the entire route network and the tunnel amounted to about 6 million dollars.

The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad's passenger service, marketed under the name Laurel Line , was soon used intensively. In the first few decades, the timetable usually provided for three journeys per hour and direction, one of which was a limited service with only a few stops. In addition to traffic between the cities and their suburbs, where rush hour traffic was particularly important, the Laurel Line also served two amusement parks near Scranton, Luna Park (1906–1916) and Rocky Glen Park (from 1903). The highest passenger numbers were recorded in 1921 with 4.2 million passengers. In 1931 the Limited connections were discontinued due to declining use , but were reintroduced in 1946.

Passenger numbers fell significantly as early as the 1930s, but especially after the end of the Second World War. Passenger traffic on the branch line to Dunmore was set on October 24, 1945; the timetable on the main line was gradually reduced to half-hourly intervals and finally to hourly intervals with repeater trains during rush hour. On December 31, 1952, passenger traffic was finally stopped.

Even if in 1947 60% of the turnover was accounted for by passenger transport, the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad also had significant freight transport from the start. There was a transition to other railway companies in Scranton to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W), in Dunmore to the Erie Railroad , in Pittston also to the Erie and the Susquehanna Connecting Railroad and in Wilkes-Barre to the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LV). In the late 1940s, the freight network was expanded to include a branch line from Moosic to Minooka that was electrified with an overhead line to connect a new General Electric plant and other industries. After the end of passenger traffic, freight traffic was carried out with electric locomotives until August 19, 1953, before the conductor rails and overhead lines were switched off. Instead, DL&W diesel locomotives were rented for traction.

In May 1949, the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad had to file for bankruptcy. Operations continued under the supervision of an insolvency administrator and a reorganization plan was drawn up, which was not completed until 1957. Upon completion of the reorganization which was Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Rail way the activities and investments of the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad founded, took over. On December 6, 1957, DL&W had already acquired 80% of the company's shares. As a subsidiary of DL&W or, from 1960, Erie Lackawanna Railroad (EL), the newly founded company continued to exist until 1976.

After the end of passenger traffic at the end of 1952, the main line had been dismantled and the electrical systems that had been unused since August 19, 1953 were gradually dismantled. In 1961, the section between South Scranton / Moosic and Inkerman near Wilkes-Barre was discontinued, but freight traffic continued at both ends.

The Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) took over the services in South Scranton / Moosic and the services on the remaining Laurel Line tracks in Wilkes-Barre in 1976 with the EL-Bahnbetrieb . However, the latter ended in the early 1980s and the remaining section from Wilkes-Barre to Inkerman was closed on April 5, 1983. The section between Brady Yard and Moosic was also abandoned by Conrail on July 22, 1982, because Moosic and the subsequent branch line to Minooka could be served by a track connection from the former Erie line, which ran almost parallel to the Laurel Line in Moosic . However, this section of the Laurel Line route remained unused and was reactivated by the county in 2000.

Infrastructure

The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad operated a 30.5 km (19 miles) long double-track line between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. A single-track branch line ran from Moosic to Dunmore. With the exception of a section in Wilkes-Barre equipped with overhead lines, both lines were electrified with conductor rails. It was DC used with a voltage of 600 volts. There were two substations for feeding in from the AC grid , one in Avoca and one in Plains.

The terminus in Scranton was right next to the DL&W station building, the terminus in Wilkes-Barre on East Market Street in the city center.

A 6.6 km section of the main line including the 1,447 m long tunnel remains to this day and is owned by the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) of Lackawanna and Monroe Counties . The section, which is now single-track and electrified with overhead lines, is leased to the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad (DL). It is used by DL in freight transport and for special trips by the Electric City Trolley Museum .

vehicles

Railcar 10 of the type M , 1906

For passenger transport, the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad used 24 railcars with wooden superstructures in the first years of operation, which were divided into two types ( L for vehicles from the manufacturer Jackson and Sharp Company and M for vehicles from the manufacturer John Stephenson Car Company ). From 1924, nine larger railcars with steel superstructures and three matching sidecars were gradually procured from the Osgood Bradley Car Company , which have since provided the majority of the services. In particular on the Dunmore branch line and for amplifier services, however, type M railcars remained in service until the end.

From the start of operations, two electric locomotives built by Baldwin and Westinghouse and, from 1919, a third engine built in their own workshops were available for freight transport .

Web links

Commons : Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h William D. Volkmer: Pennsylvania Trolleys in Color, Vol. 1: The Anthracite and Pennsylvania Dutch Regions . 1st edition. Morning Sun Books, 1998, ISBN 978-1-878887-77-1 , pp. 50-51 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h A. Berle Clemensen: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Line, Scranton to Slateford Junction, Pennsylvania . Ed .: National Park Service . 1991, p. 11-13 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h George Woodman Hilton, John Fitzgerald Due: The Electric Interurban Railways in America . Stanford University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8047-4014-2 , pp. 293-294 (English).
  4. ^ William D. Volkmer: Pennsylvania Trolleys in Color, Vol. 1: The Anthracite and Pennsylvania Dutch Regions . 1st edition. Morning Sun Books, 1998, ISBN 978-1-878887-77-1 , pp. 56; 77 (English).
  5. ^ Interstate Commerce Commission (Ed.): Finance Docket 16575; Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad Company Reorganization . April 20, 1959 (English).
  6. ^ Conrail Office of Chief Engineer, D&C: Scranton & Wilkes-Barre, PA, and Vicinity; Railroads & Industries. (PDF; 4.25 MB) In: Conrail Assets Map. Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), April 1983, accessed May 22, 2020 .
  7. ^ William D. Volkmer: Pennsylvania Trolleys in Color, Vol. 1: The Anthracite and Pennsylvania Dutch Regions . 1st edition. Morning Sun Books, 1998, ISBN 978-1-878887-77-1 , pp. 61 (English).