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  • BIG FREIGHT - Q&A session

  • Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.
Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.

Moderator: blockline4180

 #100565  by BlockLine_4111
 
Back during the hey day of the E-L how many BIG freight trains operated on a daily basis each way between:

1a. Croxton and Port Jervis
1b. Port Jervis and Binghamton (and beyond)

2a. Croxton and Scranton
2b. Scranton and Binghamton (and beyond)

 #100600  by johnpbarlow
 
As luck would have it, the March 2005 Trains Magazine has an excellent article about the last years of the EL that sort of addresses your query. In 1973 "symbol freight" density was as follows:

Croxton - Port Jervis: not clear (note that Maybrook closed in 1970)
PJ - Binghamton: 3 east and 4 west

Croxton - Scranton: 4 east and 4 west
Scranton - Binghamton: 7 east and 5 west


Side note: in 1975, EL could run UPS pigs from Croxton to Chicago in < 29 hours or about the same schedule as today's CSX Q109.

 #106705  by BlockLine_4111
 
When CR took over did ex-EL freights via Scranton get switch to the Tier and LV first and then later to the ex-PC River Line ?

 #107314  by njt4172
 
By 1975 I think EL was sending at total of 12 through freights between Croxton and Scranton (via Boonton line). Something like 7 westbounds and 5 eastbound or something of that nature....


Here are the list of trains that went via the DL&W routing per my February 1974 EL employee timetable

Eastbound
1) NY-74 Marion, OH-Croxton
2)BC-2 Buffalo-Croxton
3) SC-8 Scranton-Croxton
4) NY-100 Chicago-Croxton (UPS trailers)
5) NY-98 Chicago-Croxton

Westbound
1) HB-1 Croxton-Buffalo
2) CS-9 Croxton-Scranton
3) ND-91 Croxton-Buffalo
4) NY-99 Croxton-Chicago
5) ACX-99 Croxton-Chicago
 #107949  by Matt Langworthy
 
Blockline, Conrail operated trains on the Delaware (Erie) and Pocono (DL&W) Divisions at first. I lived in/near Elmira in the late '70s and operations looked very similar to EL- for a few years. The auto racks, pigs and merch trains all ran at frequent intervals. Plus the line west of Waverly was handling the Apollos, since D&H had taken that service over from LV. CR also routed up to 3 daily trains in each direction between Allentown and Buffalo- LV to Waverly then EL to Buffalo. So at the time, I thought Conrail was a good thing (despite the loss of LV) because the Tier was busier than ever, and the explosion of color was very cool.

In 1979, Conrail downgraded most of the Pocono Division and shifted the remaining traffic to the Delaware Division. The ex-DL&W between Bingo and Scranton was sold to D&H the following year, with the remants in Scranton being sold a few years later. Around the same time, CR also began routing trains off EL altogether via either the West Shore or ex-PRR lines. So that basically ended big freight runs on the Pocono Division.

Hopes this helps...
 #108175  by henry6
 
...EL schedules posted above were subject to advanced and, more commonly, second and possibly 3rd sections as traffic warrented. Sometimes these section would run only part of the route.