Tracks behind Abington Shopping Center in Clarks Summit?

On the hill directly behind the Abington Shopping Center in Clarks Summit, there is some railbed that was possibly abandoned in the 80s when D&H owned the CP tracks there. It begins about at the bridge on Knapp Rd and curves away from the main line to the east, then curves back towards it and crosses under the tracks under a bridge built in 1914, curves away from the tracks again towards the west, then curves back and rejoins the line by the Turnpike (I-476) bridge. Basically, it forms an S-shape with the middle crossing beneath the current CP tracks. A topo map from '95 shows the tracks still there, though I am quite certain they were already gone by then.

Does anyone know what the purpose for these tracks was and when they were pulled out?

DL&W origonal main line! Later the Clark's Summit team track after the Cut Off was built...used into EL times but not DH.

Are you sure? I thought the old main only ran on the west side of the new line.... in fact, I've walked along the old main, and the eastern curve of the S-shaped segment runs on the east side while the old main runs on the west... I didn't think the old main was that wide. Plus I find it strange that they built a bridge over the old main line. Not to mention the topo map shows it as being part of Conrail, but maps have been known to lie to me about such things. I also saw a photo from a book on the Northern Electric. It is a picture of the park at the top of the hill in Clarks Summit, and it shows the track splitting off the from the main in approximately the same spot below the bridge... I should look again and see what the date is.

OK. I am at work and not at home to check. So I must restort to the mantra people hate to hear from me: Look for the history books...Tabers' three volumes on the Lackawanna, and W.S. Young's recent history of the Hallstead Cut Off, TUNKHANNOCK VIADUCT are four of you best bets as is the book about the trolley line north from Scranton to New Milford. I did not look at your "location" but if you inquire at your library you should be able to be led in the right direction. Steamtown in fact carries most of the books I have mentioned and more. If you are not in the Scranton area, then check your local hobby shop or other rail oreinted groups. The magazine all have ads for books, too. Your reference to the track splitting may also be looking east (south) where there was a low grade track off the Keyser Valley branch that looped under and came up the westbound side of the line to connect just east of that bridge you mentioned. Again, the books and the maps would do you best. And Conrail was indeed one of the operators between the EL and DH.

The mystery has been solved by a calendar. It is the Keyser branch that you suggested. The ROW was used by the DL&W as a track for heavy slow-moving trains. There was a junction by the Knapp Road bridge where this ROW joins the mainline. Going south, the ROW passes beneath the main and then continues alongside it all the way to Scranton in the east. A more careful inspection of the map confirmed this. Still not sure of when the tracks were removed, as the calendar simply states that it went out of use when traffic declined.

Here's the area we're talking about:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=41.48540,-75.69653&z=16&t=H
nice high-resolution photo. You can see that the bridge is still in place under the main line. zoom in and look on the south side.

Just another quick question about this -- was this low grade used to cross under the old main as well? Someone sent me a diagram of the old main with a heavy track crossing underneath as this ROW does, and told me the underpass was not used with the new alignment, only the old. I am inclined to think that perhaps it was used by both or that a heavy track passed under the old main somewhere else. Any thoughts?

Yes, I think there was an eastbound track the went under.