Hi,

I am not going to launch into one of my forays on the rights and wrongs of Scranton, PA politics and their effect on preservation (rail and other). If you want to meet up at Molly Maguires in Olyphant, we'll do that over lagers.

Yesterday, I (the unemployed one) dragged some buddies up to the northern anthracite field. As we stood in the Bunker Hill section of Scranton, looking out at the Erie shops and the about to be destroyed PA Coal headquarters building, we watched two CPR SD-40-2's lift 26 hoppers of grain up the Lackawanna main line.

Preservation?

You bet.

In 1986 when I moved to Scranton for college, the DL&W main had just been reopened from dormancy for a 13 mile stretch to be used by Steamtown.

Smart regional politics and a growth plan have resulted this month in the entire DL&W main from Binghamton to Portland, PA to be in service... with plans for filling in the missing link across Jersey that will see the once proud DL&W main in daily service all the way from Hoboken to Binghamton. 25 years a go it was all in doubt.

The D&H became the owner of the Scranton to Bingo section while most of the rest rotted unused save for the NJ commuter district.

Thanks to steam buffs, local tourism boards and good politics, the DL&W is now a viable concern again.

It is a story of hard work and good planning that needs to be heard.

Rob Davis


Inlinebob@aol.com

How long is the missing link? Is the right-of-way intact? What is the time frame for this link to be restored?

Could this become an alternative route for CPR trains to reach NYCity ?

> Smart regional politics and a growth plan
> have resulted this month in the entire
> DL&W main from Binghamton to Portland,
> PA to be in service... with plans for
> filling in the missing link across Jersey
> that will see the once proud DL&W main
> in daily service all the way from Hoboken to
> Binghamton. 25 years a go it was all in
> doubt.

> The D&H became the owner of the Scranton
> to Bingo section while most of the rest
> rotted unused save for the NJ commuter
> district.

> Thanks to steam buffs, local tourism boards
> and good politics, the DL&W is now a
> viable concern again.

> It is a story of hard work and good planning
> that needs to be heard.

> Rob Davis


http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains
oldtimetrains@rrmail.com

> Smart regional politics and a growth plan
> have resulted this month in the entire
> DL&W main from Binghamton to Portland,
> PA to be in service... with plans for
> filling in the missing link across Jersey
> that will see the once proud DL&W main
> in daily service all the way from Hoboken to
> Binghamton. 25 years a go it was all in
> doubt.

> Thanks to steam buffs, local tourism boards
> and good politics, the DL&W is now a
> viable concern again.

> It is a story of hard work and good planning
> that needs to be heard.

Amen. Twenty years ago I would never have believed the Cutoff could ever come to life again. If it does, it will be little short of a miracle. When I first saw those huge fills in places like Andover, I (being from Illinois) could hardly believe they were man-made.



Home Sweet Home

> How long is the missing link? Is the
> right-of-way intact? What is the time frame
> for this link to be restored?

> Could this become an alternative route for
> CPR trains to reach NYCity ?

The missing link is the Lackawanna Cutoff, from Slateford Jct, PA (in the Delaware Water Gap)to Port Morris Jct, NJ., a distance of about 28 miles. It was built by the DL&W in 1911 as a bypass of their old main line through Washington NJ, and abandoned in the Conrail era. NJ Transit now owns the ROW and plans to replace the track and reopen the line. They were talking maybe 2006 but there are lotsa hurdles to clear to get the $$$. Here's NJT's page on the project: http://www.njtransit.com/an_capitalproj ... ct019.shtm

The purchase by Monroe County PA of the NS track from Slateford Jct. to Analomink will allow trains to continue from NJ into PA and on to Scranton over track owned by Monroe and Lackawanna Counties.

I'm not sure about CP's ability to operate over this route; it would depend on what terms NS put into the sale.

The Electric City Trolley Museum Association