Lehigh and Hudson River Railway
standard gauge | |
Length | 97 miles (156 kilometres) |
---|
The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) was the smallest of the six
History
The roots of the L&HR begin with the founding of the Warwick Valley Railroad. The Warwick Valley Railroad was organized March 8, 1860 by a group of local dairymen and business owners led by Grinnell Burt (1822-1901) as a means of connecting the mainline of the
The Pequest and Wallkill Railroad was chartered by 1870 to build an extension in
In April/May 1881, the three companies merged to form a new Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad and on April 1, 1882, the Warwick Valley Railroad joined, forming the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR). Grinnell Burt would serve as the president of the newly consolidated line, as he had with the WVRR, up until his death in 1901 and would be instrumental in progressing the L&HR to become a "link in a great chain" of transportation in the northeast.
In the meantime, the
For several years, the L&HR carried freight from its western connections to Greycourt where the Erie operated a branch to the car floats at
The South Easton and Phillipsburg Railroad of New Jersey, and the South Easton and Phillipsburg Railroad of Pennsylvania was organized on July 25, 1889 to build a bridge over the
In 1905, the L&HR eventually obtained
The Mine Hill Railroad was the only branch built. It ran south from a junction at
Year | Traffic |
---|---|
1925 | 373 |
1933 | 183 |
1944 | 418 |
1960 | 274 |
1967 | 404 |
From October 1912 until January 1916, the L&HR hosted the PRR's Federal Express passenger trains on the
Operations
At its peak, L&HR stretched 72 miles between Belvidere and Maybrook with trackage rights on the PRR's Belvidere Delaware Railroad from Belvidere to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, across its own bridge over the Delaware River to Easton, Pennsylvania, thence via trackage rights over the CNJ to their Allentown yards.
The main purpose of the L&HR was to act as an extremely important "bridge line" forwarding traffic from the coal and manufacturing regions to New England via the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge. Because nearly 100% of its ownership stake was split between the larger railroads that the line interchanged with, and with none having a controlling interest, the L&HR could rely on steady business forwarding this freight while maintaining independent control. The railroad ran almost exclusively through trains between Allentown and Maybrook with some exceptions. As the L&HR was built along a length of the Great Appalachian Valley, grades were relatively mild and long flat stretches of rail made speeds of over 60mph common. The L&HR was an extremely efficient operation and it was possible to make the full run in less than 3 and a half hours. With the exception of a short portion of double-track at Belvidere, the entire line was single-tracked with occasional passing sidings every 5-10 miles to handle the high volume of trains. Due to this streamlined operation, trains out of Allentown ran directly to Maybrook without having to be switched or otherwise handled as almost of the freight was destined to the Poughkeepsie Bridge and New England. Trains destined to Allentown would have to be re-blocked in Warwick for the connecting carriers such as the DL&W, LV, Reading, and PRR. The DL&W interchange at Port Morris via trackage rights on the Sussex Branch at Andover Jct. proved to be incredibly important and a source of much of the L&HR's business.
Online business, once the very impetus for the original construction of the Warwick Valley Railroad, became increasingly over time, a much smaller part of the L&HR's business and operations. With a few exceptions, there were no major online heavy industries besides the dozens of creameries and ice houses that dotted the line along its entire length. The dairy industry was especially strong in Warren, Sussex, and Orange Counties where the L&HR serviced numerous farming communities and forwarded their products to the interchange with the Erie and Greycourt where they would then be sent to market in New York City. As trucks began to replace rail as the preferred method of shipping for dairy products, this business all but dried up by the late 1930's. The L&HR was also an important supplier of coal for these communities serving as a link to the anthracite mining regions of Pennsylvania via their connections with the DL&W and CNJ. However, when home heating oil began to replace coal as the primary method to heat homes, the L&HR ceased not only local coal deliveries, but saw a reduction in the volume of coal cars destined for New England via Maybrook.
There were several Limestone quarries and gravel pits along the line in New Jersey including at Limecrest and McAfee, but the largest online customer was the
With the exception of the Federal Express between 1912 and 1916, passenger operations were always a minor part of the business. Service would be truncated several times over the course of the late 1920's and 1930's with the rising usage of the automobile until the only portion of the line that retained service was the original Warwick Valley line between Warwick and a connection with the Erie Railroad at Greycourt. July 8, 1939 would be the last passenger train for the L&HR as it had been petitioning New York State to discontinue the service since at least 1938.
The L&HR was headquartered and dispatched out of Warwick, New York and had their locomotive servicing facilities there off River Street. These yards were built between 1907-1910 in order to handle the increase in traffic brought on by the opening of the DL&W interchange. At its peak, the yard included a 16-stall roundhouse, turntable, coaling tower, machine shop, scale, transfer shed, and an 8-track classification yard for sorting inbound trains from Maybrook. Earlier rail yards included one on Elm Street and the original terminus of the Warwick Valley Railroad at South Street. There was also a small classification yard and engine servicing terminal at Hudson Yard just north of Phillipsburg along the PRR's Bel-Del, a yard to service New Jersey Zinc at Franklin, and an interchange yard shared with the Erie at Greycourt.
Motive Power
During the Warwick Valley years and up until 1880, the railroad operated as a branch of the Erie Railway's broad gauge system, but when the Erie converted to standard gauge in 1880, the Warwick Valley bought their only two locomotives, a pair of 4-4-0's, from Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works. From the early years of the L&HR up until the turn of the century, most of their locomotives were bought from Cooke.
From 1894 until the end of steam in 1950, all of their locomotives were built by the
Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Locomotive Roster; 1950
Number | Wheel arrangement (Whyte notation) |
Build date | Builder | Notes | Disposition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
52 | 2-8-0 | 1904 | Baldwin | Camelback | Scrapped Dec. 1950 |
60,63 | 2-8-0 | 1908 | Baldwin | Camelback | Scrapped Dec. 1950 |
70-73 | 2-8-2 | 1916 | Baldwin | Scrapped Jan. 1951 | |
80-83 | 2-8-2 | 1916 | Baldwin | USRA Light 2-8-2 Design | Scrapped Jan. 1951 |
90-93 | 2-8-0 | 1925 | Baldwin | Scrapped Jan. 1951 | |
94-95 | 2-8-0 | 1927 | Baldwin | Scrapped Jan. 1951 | |
10-12 | 4-8-2 | 1944 | Baldwin | Copied from Boston & Maine R1d | Completely overhauled and renumbered 40-42 in late 1950 but never ran again and scrapped in Feb. 1951 |
Despite having been a customer of Baldwin since 1894, when the end of steam came in December 1950, the replacements would be exclusively from
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/lhr_rstr.html
Bankruptcy
A profitable railroad for nearly its entire existence, The L&HR filed for
Post-bankruptcy, the L&HR continued to operate a nocturnal daily freight. During the mid-1970s, the L&HR became part of a proposal to run "Bunny Ski Trains" between
As such, in 1976 the L&HR was merged into
The L&HR Today
Approximately 42 miles of the original 72 miles of the original L&HR-built right-of-way is still in place from Limecrest in the township of Sparta, New Jersey to the "new" Hudson Junction within the town of Hamptonburgh, New York.
In New Jersey, the NYS&W owns the L&HR line from Sparta Junction to Pelton Crossing, a point just 3 miles north of the NY state line and at the throat of the former yards in
From Pelton Crossing in Warwick to the "new" Hudson Junction in Hamptonburgh, the line is owned by NS which had acquired the line during the
In 1988, the NYS&W built a connecting track bypassing Maybrook by curving west onto the former Erie Graham Line (current Metro-North Railroad) at a point just north of Sarah Wells Trail in the town of Hamptonburgh. This bypass eliminated pulling through trains north to Maybrook and running around the train before continuing west through Campbell Hall. As a result of this "new" Hudson Junction, the original three miles of L&HR right-of-way from HJ to Maybrook were abandoned. HJ or Hudson Junction is not to be confused with the original Hudson Junction where the Warwick Valley Railroad to Greycourt met the 1888-built Orange County Railroad (which leapt over the Erie Mainline at Greycourt north to Maybrook).
South of Limecrest just south of Sparta Junction, the line is abandoned to Belvidere; however the former PRR-owned Bel-Del, L&HR-owned Hudson Yard in Phillipsburg and the L&HR-owned South Easton & Phillipsburg Bridge over the Delaware River are still in service on the Norfolk Southern.
Although the line had always operated in a west to east orientation from Allentown to Maybrook, the NYS&W operates the line from Sparta to Warwick as east to west.
The final stretch of the L&HR running west from Janes Chapel Road in Oxford, NJ[7] to Belvidere has been preserved as a hiking trail,[8] the Pequest Wildlife Management Area Trail. [9] This trail crosses the Pequest river at 4 locations including the when it passes under the Pequest Viaduct carrying the Lackawanna "Old Road" across the Pequest River.[10] The remains of old signal towers, rail ties, power lines, and mile markers can be found in the forest along this trail.
Another section of the line running north from Kennedy Rd in Green Township, NJ has been preserved as the Lehigh & Hudson Rail Trail.[11] Whistle markers can still be found along the trail between Whitehall Rd and Rt 603.[12] The pass under the Lackawanna Cutoff Pequest fill, despite being state owned land, has been fenced off and is not passable. The trail terminates[13] in Andover, NJ where it crosses the Sussex Branch Trail. A new section of hiking trail has been restored beginning just to the north in Andover along the south east corner of Gardners Pond.[14] Entering Kittatinny Valley State Park the trail continues along the east coast of Lake Aeroflex 3.5 miles until terminating at Mulford Road in Andover Township, NJ.[15] It is unclear if any other sections of the abandoned line have been preserves as hiking trails. A full description of the line along with all bridges and stations can be found here.[16]
References
- ^ a b Lehigh Valley Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (1979) [1956, 1962]. Railroads In the Lehigh River Valley. pp. 37–40.
- ^ Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 5. State of New York Eighth Annual Report of the Public Service Commission Second District For the Year Ended December 31, 1914; Albany, 1915; Page 12.
- ^ 1917 Legislative Documents of State of New Jersey. Documents of the One Hundred and Forty-Second Legislature of the State of New Jersey and the Seventy-Fourth Under the New Constitution, Volume 2, Documents 12 to 16 Inclusive. Star Gazette Publishing Co.; Trenton, NJ, 1918; Page 564.
- ^ "Alphabet Route - Lehigh & Hudson River Railway". www.alphabetroute.com. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
- ^ "PRR Chronology 1972" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society. June 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 4, 2012.
- ^ "Home". Middletown and New Jersey Railroad.
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ^ "Lehigh & Hudson River Railway". www.danbalogh.com. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ^ "Pequest Wildlife Management Area Trail". AllTrails.com. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ^ "Pequest Viaduct · 263 US-46, Oxford, NJ 07863". Pequest Viaduct · 263 US-46, Oxford, NJ 07863. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ^ "Lehigh and Hudson Rail Trail · X6CF+7P, Green Township, NJ 07821". Lehigh and Hudson Rail Trail · X6CF+7P, Green Township, NJ 07821. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
- ^ "40°59'49.9"N 74°44'44.5"W · Andover Junction, Andover, NJ 07821". 40°59'49.9"N 74°44'44.5"W · Andover Junction, Andover, NJ 07821. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
- ^ "41°00'08.7"N 74°44'19.3"W · Andover Township, NJ". 41°00'08.7"N 74°44'19.3"W · Andover Township, NJ. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
- ^ "Lehigh & Hudson River". www.metrotrails.org. Retrieved January 16, 2024.