CNJ Map of Trackage Rights Over D&H
MP 183.25
South of Taylor, PA, the CNJ mainline crossed
over to the east bank of the Lackawanna River and ran into the D&H
at Minooka Junction (MP
187.26).
Between Minooka Junction and Union Junction (MP
177.60), a distance of
approximately 9.6 0 miles, the CNJ operated on trackage rights originally
granted by the D&H Canal
Company1 to the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company in 18872. At Avoca, PA, the D&H passed under what remained of
the once impressive Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad (Laurel Line)
viaduct, which spanned the Mill Creek valley at South Avoca. It was known as
both the Avoca Viaduct and the Heidelberg Viaduct, the later name
derived from the nearby Heidelberg Colliery No. 1. A little
eastward of the location in this view, the D&H crossed over the LV (out of view
behind photographer). The bus at the upper right is rolling along US Route 11. The LV also passed under this viaduct, but at lower
level (to the left of the D&H in this view). By 1965 much of the D&H
had been reduced to a single-track mainline governed by a Centralized Traffic
Control (CTC) system. - northward view, January 1968 - A.
W. Kovacs.
1This southern section of the D&H mainline was pieced together after the Civil War from rail assets of the Plymouth & Wilkes-Barre Railroad & Bridge Co., the Howard Coal & Iron Co., the Northern Coal & Iron Co. , and the Union Coal Co.
2Trackage Agreement between the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company dated January 27, 1887, for a term of 999 years. Clause Eight of the agreement provides that the LC&N shall have the right to assign its interest in the contract to the CNJ for the term during which that company shall be the lessee of the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad.
A
CNJ rail fan enthusiast special to Scranton - consisting of two Budd rail
diesel cars - stops for a photo-shoot at Avoca near the US Route 11 overpass at
the point the D&H crossed over the LV on a through plate girder
bridge (one girder is visible beneath the highway overpass). The sign
on the hillside advertises Stegmaier Beer, a local brand brewed in nearby
Wilkes-Barre between 1863 and 1974 by the Stegmaier Brewing Company.
- northwestward view, September 19, 1954 - Jack DeRosset
collection.
MP 180.94
A CNJ westbound freight hauled by three EMD
SD-35 diesels passes the D&H 8-mile marker between Laflin and Pittstown, PA.
Prior to CTC, this section of the D&H had three main running
tracks. - northward view, May
1971 - Martin S. Zak
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On a snowy day back in the winter of 1967, an eastbound CNJ
double-headed freight led by No. 2501 rattles over Union
Street grade crossing at Ridgewood, PA, just north of Hudson Yard. -
Left: southwest view, Center: northeast view, Right:
southwest view; March 10,
1967 - A.
W. Kovacs.
The western terminus of the CNJ-leased Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad
was at
Union
Junction (MP 177.60)
a short distance beyond the junction of the CNJ's Everhart
Branch, a line which ran eastward to a connection with the ERIE's Westminster
Branch on the old NYS&W's Wilkes-Barre & Eastern Railroad.
Between Union Junction and Hudson, PA, a distance of
approximately 1.46 miles, the CNJ shared the right-of-way with the
D&H. Of the three main tracks running between these two points, the D&H
trains utilized two tracks and the CNJ one track. All three tracks were operated as a
single-track line. The D&H's Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad
joined the D&H mainline at Hudson
(MP
176.15). The Wilkes-Barre Connecting
Railroad had opened on March 29, 1915, from a connection with the
Pennsylvania Railroad at Buttonwood, PA. In this view a westbound CNJ
train leaving Hudson proceeds westward toward Scranton. -
northward view, March 10, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
In this eastbound view of Hudson in the
vicinity of Hudson Junction, the connection where
the Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad joined the D&H mainline,
the Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad is visible branching off
to the right. The weed-grown track at the left was primarily used by CNJ trains. -
southwest view, circa 1967 - James Dalberg
Until 1891 the town of Hudson was known as Mill
Creek. It was renamed Hudson by petition of its inhabitants to
acknowledge their town's proximity along the D&H right-of-way. In this scene D&H
No. 703 is working at the east end of Hudson Yard. The mainline tracks to
Wilkes-Barre are in the foreground beyond the D&H milepost. -
westward view, May 1, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
Both of these picturesque shanties were used by flagmen
to protecting vehicular traffic over D&H grade crossings.
the CNJ was responsible for maintaining all of the bridges between Union
Junction and Hudson. -
May 1, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
The D&H wooden combination passenger and freight station at Hudson had been erected
during 1886 and sat on the mainline south of where Hudson
Yard connected to the mainline. -
northwest view, May 1, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs