Traffic Volume - up until ConRail 1976

How many freights per day (LV and others) ran on the following LV trackage segments prior to inclusion in ConRail in 1976?

1. west of Sayre
2. west of Coxton
3. west of Allentown/Bethlehem
4. east of Allentown/Bethlehem
5. east of the RDG tie in near Bound Brook.

I assume the volume increased going from 1 to 5 above (please correct me if not correct), thanx 4111

Somewhere I have an issue of FD&S with a flowchart of all the trains that ran on the LV, CNJ and RDG. There were 4 pair of mainline trains that ran the entire LV, plus locals. Some of them changed symbols at Sayre or other places, but the two symbols combined made one train that ran through.

I don't remember additional regular trains on the east end, but there may have been one or two pair. The reason traffic really increased down there post-Conrail is it ended up replacing the Northeast Corridor route.

If you are interested in this kind of info on the LV at the end, I strongly recommend purchasing the DVD put out by the Anthracite RR Historical Society from their convention in Bethlehem in 2006 (I think thats the right year). They had a presentation by Dick Whitehead, who was the LV's supervisor of Train Operations (boss of the train dispatchers) for the last 4 years before Conrail. Very informative and enjoyable presentation, about 2 hours or so. Check out the ARHS website, I don't have the link handy at the moment. Dick was featured in the classic Bob Mohowski article from the early days of Railfan magazine "Tracking the Apollos".

For that matter, the article itself, from Winter 1975 Railfan I believe, can also be informative.

There is a chart showing all trains on the road at 12:01 PM July 10 1975:

8 trains west of Sayre or in Sayre including 2 locals, yard drill, and the D&H interchange train to Binghamton.

15 east of Sayre including a weed spray train, 6 locals, and one of the D&H runthroughs, which added two pair of trains between Wilkes Barre (DuPont) and Allentown. I'd forgotten about those.

Trains on the LVRR west of Sayre, PA in early 1976:

Final destination is in parenthesis unless otherwise noted.

Through freights, eastward

AP-2 Daily except Monday, turned over to the LV by N&W at Williams St., Buffalo (Oak Island)

LV-2 Daily, origionated at Tifft terminal (Oak Island)

ME-2 Daily Buffalo-Sayre, turned over to the LV by N&W at Williams St. , Buffalo.

COJ-32 Daily, origionated at Niagara Falls (Sayre)

Westward

Origin in parenthesis unless otherwise noted.

AP-1 Daily except Saturday & Sunday. Turned over to the N&W at Williams St., Buffalo. (Oak Island)

ME-1 Daily, assumes AP-1 schedule Sat. & Sun. Turned over to the N&W at Williams St., Buffalo. (Oak Island)

JB-3 Daily except Tuesday, terminated at Tifft Terminal. (Oak Island)

NE-1 Daily, terminated at Niagara Falls. (Oak Island)

Notes:

ME 1 & 2 would rarely run in two sections, as did AP-2, JB-3 and LV-2 . On some Wednesdays or Thursdays there would be a Advance AP-1.

Local Freights

SI-7 & IS-8, daily except Sunday. Commonly known as the "Salt Train". Sayre-Ithaca and return.

IL-1 & LI-2, daily except Sunday. Ithaca-Ludlowville/Lake Ridge and return.

GC-2 & CG-1, daily except Sunday. Geneva-Cayuta and return.

GA-1 & AG-2, daily except Saturday & Sunday. Geneva-Auburn and return.

MR1 & RM-2, daily except Saturday & Sunday. Manchester-Rochester/Limon and return.

BPL-6 & PLB-5, Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Tifft Terminal-P&L Jct.

TTN-2 & NTT-1, Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. Tifft Terminal-Niagara Falls. Known locally as the Cross-Town Pickup.

Notes: MR-1 would work as far as P&L Jct. on dispatcher's instructions. BPL-6 would work as far as Rochester Jct. on dispatcher's instructions.

The Cortland locals plus Binghamton interchange trains, both LV and D&H were left off the above list on purpose, as were all yard jobs.

Information is from the Lehigh Valley Freight Schedule plus conversation with J. Sorge, Assistant Buffalo Division Chief Dispatcher, Niagara Jct.