LEHIGH VALLEY

This Page will cover the Lehigh Valley from the Wilkes-Barre area west to the Buffalo Terminal.  Living on the east end of the system I was only able to visit the New York State portion of the railroad only once, so unfortunately it will be thinner in content than some of the other pages. 

We will begin up on the mountain above Wilkes-Barre, PA.

  C420 415 is on a westbound waiting for a signal at Crestwood, PA.  This is former CNJ trackage the LV took over when the CNJ pulled out of Pennsylvania.  Crestwood is just east of the old Penobscot yards. 

    The delay is caused by this RS11 running lite at Solomans Gap.

    With the RS11 out of the way, the train is passing through Penobscot.  The unused yard tracks to the left are the remains of the CNJ yard located at the top of the Ashley Planes.  While there is information on the Ashley Planes elsewhere on the web, basically the planes were used by the railroad to move loaded coal hoppers up the mountain from Wilkes-Barre.  The cars were pushed up the hill by a chain driven ram known as a 'Barney'.  They could shove a cut of cars up a 25% grade which is not possible with regular locomotives.  The cars were then re-assembled at Penobscot back into trains to continue east to New York or Philadelphia.

   On a cool March 1976 morning, U23B 502 is also waiting to move west at Crestwood.

  Charging hard eastbound is 504 and three other units.  A little story is in order here.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, the film in my camera had run out.  But, I didn't know it as the film advance continued to work  This was prior to motor driven cameras.  Quite sadly, I did not realize it until I had followed the 502 all the way to Towanda, PA.  I probably lost a good 25 unrepeatable LV images.

  RS2 210 is down in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 1974.

  218 is on the old passenger main in downtown Wilkes-Barre.  That little green Ford Pinto was mine.

  Except for the modernized paint scheme on 218, this photo could date back from its October 1973 shoot.

  The main yard in the Wilkes-Barre area was in Coxton.  Here is Baldwin S-12 232 at the engine facility.  Much of the yard remains and the Reading and Northern operates a train up here from Jim Thorpe on a daily basis.

  Big C628 633 and friends are assigned to pusher service.

  While being noted for being rough on track, these big engines came in handy when getting a train up the hill.

As mentioned above, all the images I thought I had from Coxton up to Sayre never materialized, so there is a gap here.

  634 starts to accelerate an eastbound leaving Athens, PA.

  While the Lehigh Valley had a very strong presence in its namesake valley, the railroads main shops were in the border town of Sayre, PA.  Located on the New York-Pennsylvania border, Sayre was major point on the railroad.  Crew changes and interchange with the Delaware and Hudson were done here.  The D & H interchange was by way of a train using trackage rights over the Erie-Lackawanna to Binghamton, NY.

  D & H U23B 2310 brings train BNW-3 into Sayre on May 5, 1974.

   This a May 5, 1974 overview from the footbridge.

    Two views from the footbridge that once went over the engine service area.  It is March 1976 and the LV's clock is ticking as the end is only days away.  For anyone remembering the LV, April 1, 1976 will always be known as 'The End'.  

  Back again to May 5, 1974, little SW-1 119 sits near the shops building.

  1974 saw the end of the Baldwins in service.  141 has runs its last mile.

  A very well worn 234 is still chugging away.  It didn't last for long.

  The Alco's fared better with several running into the early Conrail years.  217 has a fairly fresh coat of red.

  A trio of GP38AC's on the service lead.  These units went to Conrail in 1976.

  GP38 313 sits with a westbound train waiting on a crew or for track work to clear on the west end of the yard.

    632 is moving lite from the freight main to the Ithaca line at Van Etten Junction.  In the right photo, I am looking south (east ) toward Sayre and the 632 is now on the line to Ithaca.  This track remains in use today.  The freight main was removed shortly after Conrail.  It was one New York to Buffalo mainline too many.

  Sitting on the freight main just above Van Etten Jct. at Cayuta, NY is an eastbound.  A derailment at Van Etten Jct. has things on hold for a while.  March 1976.

  This is the former LV passenger station at Ithaca, NY.  Named 'The Station'.  How original.

     This was the former LV freight yard on the southwest edge of town.  If anyone has any photos of LV activity here, I would welcome placing a shot here.  The LV line through Ithaca is still active today owing to a coal burning power plant a few miles north of town.  It is owned by Norfolk Southern.

    The tourist line, The Tioga Central operates passenger trains over the former LV Newark, NY branch from Owego.  The LV inspired colors look terrific on these old Alco RS-1's.  More on this operation soon!

    The former LV depot at Cortland, NY.

  RS 3 216 at Manchester, NY.  March 1976.

  RS 2 213 at Geneva, NY.

  312 with an eastbound piggyback train, possibly the Mercury 2 at Pittsburgh and Lehigh Jct.

  The 'tower' at Niagara Junction just outside Buffalo.  It controlled the very west end of the railroad.  Fortunately, the board you see here has been saved.

  314 is at the LV's main Buffalo, NT terminal known as Tifft terminal on a snowless day in March 1976.  Mother nature was kind to the railroads in upstate New York in their last year.  Conrail paid the price the following few winters, though.

    411, 409 and the 413 still in the yellow and gray paint are ready on an eastbound.

Postscript...

April 1, 2006 will mark the 30th year since the Lehigh Valley disappeared into the Conrail merger.  Aside from a few preserved engines and some remaining stations, much has changed over the years.  The LV in New York State fared the worst with almost all of the LV track removed. A shortline operates some of the branches near Geneva and as mentioned above, Norfolk Southern uses a portion of the LV from Sayre to the power plant above Ithaca on a regular basis.  The track is still in use from Sayre through to Coxton, but it is split between NS and the R & N.  A plant near Mehoopany keeps this alive for now. 

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