The former Lehigh Valley railroad station, a brick structure located in Delano, Pa. (South of Hazleton-west of Route 309) is gone. I last saw it a year or two ago, it was in tough shape, but probably not beyond saving-physically.

Delano was a town along the LV line that was abandoned when the LV knit portions of the CNJ into its route in Northeastern Penna- after the latter road abandoned PA service in 1972 after the "Agnes" flood.

Delano is a small residential town, and any chances the station had as were doomed by the relatively poor access to the town and lack of commerce-given that there was no chance for rehabilitation and adaptive reuse.

Unfortunately, most LV stations (Hazleton, Wilkes Barre) in the area are long gone and I can't imagine that the razing was anything more than simply eliminating a useless structure of decreasing physical soundness- given the size and location of the town.

superheater@beer.com

> The former Lehigh Valley railroad station, a
> brick structure located in Delano, Pa.
> (South of Hazleton-west of Route 309) is
> gone.

It is unfortunate that nobody stepped up to save this structure. I don't think it would have taken a railroad group or museum to come to the rescue, an individual with some determination is all that it would have taken. What is the difference between someone buying a fixer upper house and a railroad station?

Who among us has the desire or gumption to take on projects like this?

http://www.todengine.org
jrowlands@neo.rr.com

I don't think it's always a case of "nobody cares", but rather "nobody knew". Much like similar cases with old, long-neglected rolling stock, sometimes these things are torn down, (or scrapped) without anyone getting the word out that they are available. I'm not familiar with this particular station, but it's possible an enthusiatic buyer could have been found if word had gotten out that it was in danger of being torn down. This station was in all likelyhood privately owned, so who knows what the real motivation was with tearing it down. However, we all know that over the years railroads have been notorious for tearing down stations and other old RR structures "in the middle of the night" so to speak, so it can sometimes be quite dificult to save these buildings if they're owned by a class one railroad and they want to get rid of them. It just goes to show that even if you think a particular old RR structure is safe, if it looks neglected and is unused, it's a good idea to keep an eye on them.

domeliner@hotmail.com

>
> The station was abandoned (i'm sure) long before 1972 when the LV abandoned the line in favor of the CNJ's line (both lines paralleled each other up here in many places)since passenger service ended in '63. Who took ownership after Conrail took over in '76, and since Conrail's sort of demise is unknown to me.

I do think we can say that it wasn't a RR that knocked it over.


superheater@beer.com

> Who among us has the desire or gumption to
> take on projects like this?

I can say that I'm involved in such an effort to save a Roundhouse.

Smokebox


"orhf dot org"

If you would like to see a picture of the depot from last year and read a newspaper article on it, go to:

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... 28;start=4

Just a few corrections...

> Delano was a town along the LV line that was
> abandoned when the LV knit portions of the
> CNJ into its route in Northeastern Penna-
> after the latter road abandoned PA service
> in 1972 after the "Agnes" flood.

Delano was not affected by the LV's acqusition of the CNJ. The "knitting" (which is a good way to describe it) happened in the Allentown area, the Lehigh River Gorge and the Wyoming Valley.

Delano was on the Mahanoy & Hazelton route. It's demise had more to do with declining coal traffic and declining interchange off the PRR at Mount Carmel. However, the track in Delano lived on.

By the way, the Reading & Northern still goes though town on the "Lofty Connection" and operated the track in front of the LV depot.

>Unfortunately, most LV stations (Hazleton,
> Wilkes Barre) in the area are long gone

I can think of at least 14 LV depots left in PA.

They are:

Sayre
Tunkhannock
Towanda
Milan
Ulster
Noxon
Meshoppen
Bear Creek
Weathery
Snyder
Fullerton
Lehigh Gap
Bethlehem
Easton

Regards,

Rob

trains@robertjohndavis.com

> Just a few corrections...

> Delano was not affected by the LV's
> acqusition of the CNJ. The
> "knitting" (which is a good way to
> describe it) happened in the Allentown area,
> the Lehigh River Gorge and the Wyoming
> Valley.

> By the way, the Reading & Northern still
> goes though town on the "Lofty
> Connection" and operated the track in
> front of the LV depot.

Rob, R&N does go through Delano, there's an active, well manicured line a mile or so East of the track on which this station was located. But the tracks that are in front of this station were inactive-complete with rust on the rail, grass and inactive crossing. Additionally, the LV abandoned its own tracks from Laurel Run for about 30 some miles.. well outside Wyoing Valley

> I can think of at least 14 LV depots left in
> PA.

Although I actually meant the majority of the greatest and grandest (Allentown, W-B, Hazleton)
are gone-my error, I'd still say the majority of LV stations are gone.

superheater@beer.com

Superheater,

Three quick notes.

> R&N does go through Delano, there's
> an active, well manicured line a mile or so
> East of the track on which this station was
> located. But the tracks that are in front of
> this station were inactive-complete with
> rust on the rail, grass and inactive
> crossing.

Yes, one line is active and one is not, but both are part of the R&N (even the unsed one).

>Additionally, the LV abandoned its
> own tracks from Laurel Run for about 30 some
> miles.. well outside Wyoing Valley

Super, you have your Lehigh Valley lines mixed up. I don't have a map to point to, but here is the deal.

The line you mention via Laurel Run was the LV's mainline and had nothing to do with the route via Delano. The main line is the line that was cobbled together with the CNJ, a process that started in the 1960's with the connection at Hetchel's in the gorge, well before the CNJ pulled out of PA. In the final iteration of the route before Conrail the line looked like this: Pittston, Jct to Laurel Run (LV) -- Laurel Run to just below Bear Creek Junction (CNJ) -- Bear Creek Junction to Lehighton (LV) -- Lehighton to Allentown (CNJ).

The line through Delano was the Mahanoy & Hazelton. It ran between Mount Carmel through Hazelton to to the mainline at M&H Junction. The east end of the line is still used by Norfolk Southern to get to Hazelton.

The M&H was not affected by any of the CNJ deals.

> Although I actually meant the majority of
> the greatest and grandest (Allentown, W-B,
> Hazleton)
> are gone-my error, I'd still say the
> majority of LV stations are gone.

Yes, of the four big ones on the LV in PA, Sayre and Bethlehem still stand, while Allentown and Wilkes-Barre are gone. Actually, I thought of 2 more last night, which brings the total of LV depots left standing in PA to at least 16.

On another note, of the biggest terminals that were once "home" to Lehigh Valley's passenger operations, Newark Penn Station and the Jersey Central's Communipaw Terminal both have been restored in the past decade.

Super, don't take my comments the wrong way. Getting the lines straight in the anthracite fields is not an easy task. I have fully mapped the Upper Field back to the gravity railroads, but I am sure there is more to learn despite my efforts.

In the Middle Field, where Delano is, it is even trickier -- especially in the 20 miles to the east of Delano.

Up until the past decade, much remained in the area for the rust-seeker. The LV's Ashladn Roundhouse, which was in the middle of nowhere) was demolished about 10 years ago. Many of the breakers have come down in the past 10 years, as well. Very little has been preserved.

In fact, I can only think of four pieces of rail equipment saved from the Middle Field in the past 10 years. The Reading Tech guys and one of their members got the RDG and LV two bay hoppers from LV breaker #9 (what happened to the side rod Vulcan that was there?), and then there's the lokie pulled out of the culm bank in Girardville.

Other than that, it has been bleak. And now with the Locust Summit breaker gone, St. Nick is the las of the big old timers.

Rob

trains@robertjohndavis.com

Super,

I should have also noted that at the time of Conrail (1976) the LV was using both their main and the ex CNJ (Lehigh & Susquehanna) main from Lehighton to Allentown. It was quite a time to chase trains on both sides of the river.

Eventually, the LV main was torn up from Lehightown down to below Fullerton, as there were not many customers on that side of the river, but still some on the CNJ. There has been rumor of putting the LV back as far as Coplay.

For those who care, here is a current status of the CNJ and LV mains from the waterfront in Jersey to the Wyoming Valley.

Jersey Central main in 2003
Communipaw Terminal - abandoned

Communipaw to Bayonne - some ROW used by light rail line. Some heavy rail left near Bayonne

Bayonne-Elizabethport - gone

E'port to Aldene - in place, some segments used by CR locally, including the yard.

Aldene to High Bridge - NJT and CR(to Bound Brook, NS west of there)

High Bridge to Bloomsbury - in pace, out of service except for west end

Bloomsbury to Greens Bridge - gone

Greens Bridge to Easton - NS

Easton to West Easton - Bel-Del (shortline)

West Easton to Bethlehem - gone

Bethlehem to Lehighton - NS

Lehighton to Packerton Jct. - gone

Packerton Jct. to Nesquehoning Jucntion - Carbon & Schuykil

Nesquehoning Jct. - East of Bear Creek Jct. (LV name) - gone

East of Bear Creek Jct to Laurel Run - R&N

Laurel Run to Ashley - gone

Ashley to Wilkes-Barre - most gone, some Luzerne & Susquehanna

Wilkes-Barre to Hudson - some gone, some L&S

Hudson - West of Minooka Jct. - CPR

Minooka Jct. to Scranton - gone

Lehigh Valley Main in 2002

Perth Amboy to Metuchen - CR

Metuchen to South Plainfield - gone

New York Branch from National Junction to South Plainfield - CR (NJT Hunter to Aldene)

South P to Manville - CR

Manville to Greens Bridge - NS

Greens Bridge to Easton - gone

Easton to East Penn Junction - NS

East Penn Junction to Fullerton - RJ Corman (also part of the Jordan Loop passeneger line)

Fullerton to Lehighton - gone

Lehighton to Packerton Jct. NS

Packerton Jct. to East of Bear Creek Jct. - R&N

Bear Creek Jct. to Laurel Run - gone

Cuttoff Laurel Run to Pittston Jct. - R&N

Old main (Canal Branch) Penobscot to Ashley - gone

Ashley to Pittston Jct. L&S

And there you have it!

Rob Davis


trains@robertjohndavis.com

> Rob, don't forget the Huber.. p.s. rumor has it St Nick is not long for this world

superheater@beer.com