Laurel Line switchback map - near Scranton

Thought you might enjoy seeing the map I created for an article that never got published.

http://otto.tsny.com/images/map_LaurelLine.gif

This line is currently served by the DL.

-otto-

Otto, how about publishing the article here?

Andyt293 wrote:Otto, how about publishing the article here?

That would be a great idea. I know I'd be interested in seeing it

John

More sidings have been built since 1948. There is a passing siding along Cemetery St., General Electric's siding is double track, a newer building on the SouthWest corner of Kane & Cemetery Sts. seems to have a siding, and there are sidings across the tracks from the Trane Corporation. Most of Harris-Hub's sidings have been torn up, and Trane's may not have been built, or were torn up later.
This is a good time of year to confirm on the ground. Anyone up for a hike?

Everything north of Davis Street is now gone and well as the Trane siding (if it was ever built).

RS

My comments about tracks North of Davis St. were based on a hike in April, 2006, and the photos on Google Earth. Thanks for the update.

OK Jim, then I'll defer to you on site checking as my last visit there was a couple of years ago. . Let me restate my comment to say "nothing north of Davis Street has seen a train in a long, long time!":-)

It would be neat to see service north of Davis Street again!

RS

The trees and paved over crossings agree with you. Also, the rail may be gone from the Davis St. crossing.

I can tell you that the crossing at Davis Street has been gone since at least 1991. I drove on that street on an almost daily basis around that time and never realized that tracks once crossed there until I started researching old industrial sites (I sold industrial chemicals and naturally had an interest) and realized that GE was once located in the "Minooka Industrial Park."

FWIW... There is a Nice map of the month of the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area circa 1939 in this month's issue of TRAINS. The only negative, in my opinion, is that they don't show what remains today versus back then...

I like the Then and Now type maps.

Brooks

Andyt293 is right that the rails have been covered over since 1991. The good news now since that time is that the rails south of the road have been brought back to service for Compression Polymers (I could be wrong on the name, since they tend to change from time to time). In the late 80s and early 90s the track was dead and overgrown.

I doubt if the crossing will ever reopen, since the road is much busier now than it was. In 1990, Montage Mtn Road was still new, and so was the ski area, WNEP's studio, and the stadium. Now there are homes, shopping centers, concerts, theaters, etc. that create more street traffic. A single train crossing will create havoc in that part of town.

The last time freight regularly crossed Davis St., it just reached the Interstate, and that alone probably made for difficult times for train crews and drivers.

While I don't see trains crossing Davis Street any time soon, I don't think the traffic issue would be a problem. The time it takes for a 3 or 4 car train to cross Davis Street would be no more than the time it takes for any normal traffic light. Now, if they could just get a customer north of Davis Street ...

RS

FYI...

Here is a really good site that shows the current remains of rails in the Scranton area:

http://www.piczo.com/nepaview?g=12070163&cr=4

Brooks

^Thanks! I love that website.

Another site which has extensive maps and information about this area is [email protected]. You may have to sign up for Yahoo to get in but you'll find a lot there.