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  • Lehigh Valley-Area Railroading History Project

  • Discussion related to the Lehigh Valley Railroad and predecessors for the period 1846-1976. Originally incorporated as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company.
Discussion related to the Lehigh Valley Railroad and predecessors for the period 1846-1976. Originally incorporated as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company.

Moderator: scottychaos

 #880570  by therudycometh
 
I'm working on my history honors thesis (~100 page paper) on the bankruptcy of northeastern railroads, the formation of Conrail, and these events' effects on the Lehigh Valley region's economy, transportation, and population. This is a project that will take me from January to December of 2011 to complete, but I'm trying to get a bit of a head start on looking for resources. The overarching goal of my project is to analyze change in the Lehigh Valley region due to changes in railroading.

I'm looking to do a lot of personal interviews with people who would have been directly affected by the bankruptcy of the railroads and the coming of Conrail. Conrail employees constitute one of the primary groups of interviewees that I need. Ideally, I'd like to interview employees that started working for a Conrail predecessor before the Penn Central bankruptcy in 1970 and continued to work into Conrail in 1976. However, I'd also be interested in anyone that started their railroading career within the 1970-76 timespan, as they might also have insight into the effects that it had on them.

I am also looking for people that would have been tangentially related to Lehigh Valley-area railroading from the mid-1950's through the late 1970's. People that worked in shipping or receiving departments in Lehigh Valley-area businesses or people that commuted to and from work via railroads would be exceptional interviewees in this case. Even employees of other railroads that weren't absorbed by Conrail that would have noticed a change in shipping procedures or a downturn in business during the late 1960's/early 1970's would be excellent candidates.

If there is anyone that you know that could possibly fit any of these criteria and would be willing to be interviewed at their convenience any time between January and May, it would be greatly appreciated if you could put me in contact with them.

Thanks in advance!
 #893783  by therudycometh
 
Hey guys,

I'm actually looking for a little help on this project. I need to locate a lot of articles from train magazines dating back to the 1960's, and as a college student, I can't afford to pay $400-$500 to buy all of the back issues (some of which aren't even available). I know that a lot of people collect older magazines or keep them after reading them... if anyone happens to have any of the following issues and articles, if it would be possible for you to scan the article or even just take pictures of the pages (as long as I can read it, it doesn't matter what medium I have it in), it would be greatly appreciated if you could send it to me!!!!

Trains
February 1965 – “A Tale of Two Railroads: Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley”
July 1965 – “Can NYC Live Happily Ever After with its 34,000 Commuters? Central’s Second Look at Commuters” (p. 20)
April 1967 – “Thank You, Mr. White: William H. White Put Erie Lackawanna in the Black” (p. 18)
November 1967 – “PRR vs. Car, Plane, and Bus: The Northeast Corridor Project” (p. 18)
February 1968 – “The Demise of a Dream: New York Central’s Southwestern Limited Now Consists of One Coach” (p. 18)
February 1969 – “The Kankakee Belt is Back in Business: Penn Central’s Chicago Bypass” (p. 20)
April 1969 – “Journey Into the Unknown: New York to Washington Compared with Earth to Moon” (p. 35)
July 1969 – “What’s Right (and Wrong) with the Metroliner: Its Significance is in the Promise, Not the Performance” (p. 26)
January 1970 – “How Penn Central Plus New Haven Equals Penn Central: What is Happening to the Former New Haven within Penn Central?” (p. 20)
March 1970 – “Turbotrain Revisited: The Stepchild of the Northeast Corridor” (p. 32)
August 1970 – “Is This the Way to Washington? The Metroliner Can’t Afford to be Just Another Train” (p. 25)
April 1971 – “Where On Time Means in the Station, Not in Sight of It: Erie Lackawanna’s Commuter Operation” (p. 38)
May 1971 – “PC: No Time for a Minuet: It’s Time for Draconian Measures” (p. 20)
June 1971 – “Second Chance for Turbo: A Continuation of the Demonstration Project” (p. 29)
August 1971 – “Amtrak Q. & A.: Answers to Questions about Amtrak” (p. 10)
September 1971 – “The Trains Amtrak Forgot: The Trains Amtrak Didn’t Take Over” (p. 28)
December 1971 – “Turntable: Curtain, Please: Penn Central Has No Reason for Continued Existence” (p. 58)
January 1972 – “Tale of a Timetable: Amtrak’s 11/14/71 Timetable” (p. 12)
March 1972 – “Jersey Central Had a Great Fall: The Cause of Central Railroad of New Jersey’s Problems” (p. 20)
April 1972 – “Amtrak Approaches a Three-Way Stub Switch: There Will Be Some Budget Cutting on July 1, 1973” (p. 14)
July 1972 – “Can You Match That, Amtrak? On-Time Train Riding” (p. 48)
August 1972 – “Is Amtrak Legal: Amtrak’s Status” (p. 37)
October 1972 – “Turntable: Dear Amtrak: The Average Rider Doesn’t Understand” (p. 58)
November 1972 – “Ironies of Penn Central: When Will PC be De-Nationalized” (p. 25), “An Amtrak Sampler: Notes on 17,451 Amtrak Miles” (p. 20)
May 1973 – “D&H: 150 Years Old and Still Solvent: Status of Delaware & Hudson” (p. 26)
June 1973 – “Turntable: Why Should Railroads Cooperate with Amtrak? Revenue, Showcase for Railroading”
August 1973 – “Turntable: Good News from the Lehigh Valley: The Classic Redundant Railroad” (p. 58)
October 1973 – “Turntable: Requiem for the Pennsylvania: A Decline and Fall as Squalid as that of the Roman Empire” (p. 58)
August 1974 – “A Conversation with A. E. Perlman” (p. 42)
October 1974 – “The Railroad that Stayed Out of Amtrak: Southern Railway” (p. 26)
November 1974 – “Extra Board Diary: Working on the Extra Board” (p. 43)
December 1974 – “Amtrak: How Much Money is Enough Money? Amtrak’s Five-Year Improvement Plan” (p. 12)
February 1975 – “Turntable: End the Miseries of Amtrak” (p. 66)
May 1975 – “Patching Up the Amtrak Statute: The Amtrak Act Needs Some Changes” (p. 52)
September 1975 – “Kneiling vs. USRA: Dim Prospects for Conrail” (p. 52)
January 1976 – “Turntable: A Pennsy Believer Shows Up: A Few Stockholders Still Have Faith in the Company” (p. 66), “Amtrak at 6 p.m., May 1, 1975: Where the Trains Were on Amtrak’s 4th Birthday” (p. 48)
April 1976 – “We Can Catch the Turbotrain Tomorrow: Watching E8’s on Commuter Trains” (p. 20)
December 1976 – “Big Little D&H: Expansion of the Delaware & Hudson” (p. 12)
Feburary 1977 – “Turntable: An Open Letter to Amtrak: Service Is Not Demeaning It Is a Fine Art” (p. 66)
June 1977 – “Instead of a Tower: Operator Working from a Car and a Telephone Box” (p. 62), “Jervis Langdon Jr. Contemplates Conrail: Conrail Isn’t Going to Make It” (p. 40)
September 1978 – “This Can’t be Millburn. There’s No Bar Across the Street: Commuting on Erie Lackawanna” (p. 28)
January 1979 – “Turntable: On Avoiding Third-Degree Burns and Gas Pains: Amtrak Needs a Chance to Develop a Nationwide System” (p. 66)
February 1979 – “How Big Was Big? The Dimensions of the Standard Railroad of the World” (p. 44)
April 1979 – “What Are We Stopping Here For? A Customer Critique of the Northeast Corridor”
October 1979 – “Turntable: USRA vs. D&H a Rebuttal: Reference to Turntable in December 1978 Trains” (p. 66)
January 1981 – “Conrail from the Inside Out: A Thorough Study of Conrail” (p. 32)
February 1981 – “Rebounding from the Low Point: Conrail from the Inside Out” (p. 44)
July 1981 – “Little Giant, Free Again: Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Out from Under Penn Central Control” (p. 36), “Crane on Conrail: An Interview with L. Stanley Crane” (p. 14)
August 1981 – “The Massive Century, Flame at the Stack: Conrail Alcos in Ohio” (p. 50)
September 1981 – “Weekend Before Amtrak: An Excursion on the Eve of the End of Individuality” (p. 34)
November 1981 – “Congress on Conrail: Changes for Conrail” (p. 22)
September 1983 – “Want to Buy Conrail? What’s the Price?” (p. 12)
February 1984 – “Would Crane Manage the Cubs: Conrail Looks Better and Runs Better than its Predecessors”
April 1984 – “The 4000-Mile CR Alternative: Guilford Unites Delaware & Hudson, Boston & Maine, Maine Central” (p. 10)
July 1984 – “A Pro Answers Questions about Conrail: The Future of Conrail” (p. 8)
January 1986 – “How to Get Amtrak Out of the Woods: Strategy for Eliminating Dependence on Subsidy” (p. 24)
October 1986 – “Conrail Blues: Action on Conrail as Good as What Went Before” (p. 54)
March 1988 – “Selected Railroad Reading: My Train: Yard Clerk on the Penn Central” (p. 51)
February 1989 – “Glad for the Amtrak Alternative: Amtrak is an Alternative to Flying and Driving” (p. 82)
June 1991 – “At the Dawn of Amtrak: The Events Surrounding May 1, 1971” (p. 34)
February 1992 – “Life and Death of Erie Lackawanna: A Railroader’s Railroad Disappears” (p. 32)
October 1992 – “Merger, Money, and Men: What Happened when NYC fought C&O for B&O?” (p. 48)
December 1992 – “Hot Spots: Allentown, Pennsylvania: On Conrail’s Main Line between Harrisburg and Northern New Jersey” (p. 86)
August 1994 – “Al Perlman Was Right: NYC’s Flexi-Van Service” (p. 70)
February 1997 – “On Location: Conrail’s New Jersey Mountain Crossing: Former Lehigh Valley Route” (p. 46)
January 1999 – “Dirty Black Rags to Shiny Blue Riches: Evolution of Conrail’s Locomotive Fleet” (p. 60), “Readers’ Platform: Success at What Cost? Conrail Owes Its Success to Labor” (p. 82)
January 2002 – “Conrail’s Predecessors: Map of Conrail Showing Predecessor Railroads” (p. 65)
June 2002 – “The Late Great Lehigh: Was it the Most Interesting of the Eastern Regional Lines?” (p. 36)
March 2003 – “Map of the Month: PC vs. Conrail: Penn Central’s 1974 Tonnage Compared with Conrail’s 1998 Tonnage” (p. 60)
January 2004 – “Railroad Reading: Braking Toward Bethlehem: Ore Trains from Philadelphia to Bethlehem” (p. 72)
March 2005 – “An Awful, Beautiful Life: The Story of Erie Lackawanna” (p. 32), “No Surrender: Penn Central in Brief” (p. 44)
February 2006 – “Whatever Happened to the Pennsylvania? The Pennsy in 1965 and 2005” (p. 40)
June 2006 – “Metroliner’s Amazing Race: History of Metroliners” (p. 44)
August 2006 – “Railroading Reading: Blue-Chip Investment: Lehigh Valley Stock” (p. 64)

Railmodel Journal
February 2006 – “Time Capsule: Allentown, PA on the Lehigh Valley and Conrail: Circa 1975, 1980” (p. 14)

CTC Board
February 1996 – “Bethlehem Steel: Bethlehem’s Last Blast Furnace: The Final Days”

Railroad Model Craftsman
March 1970 – “RMC Rides the Metroliner” (p. 19)
October 1971 – “Amtrak – End of an Era” (p. 20)

Model Railroader
August 1981 – “The Ghosts of Allentown Terminal” (p. 93)

Model Railroading
October 1987 – “Consists, VI: Allentown, PA, 4/16/76; The Yard in Color” (p. 32)

Railfan & Railroad
June 2004 – “Four Railroads, Four Boroughs: Watching Trains in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania” (p. 48)

Railroad Modeler
May 1979 – “Amtrak – Before and After” (p. 10)

NMRA Bulletin
October 1971 – “Pre-Amtrak Train Travel” (p. 41)
February 1974 – “Easton, PA – Lehigh Valley Station” (p. 30)
March 1977 – “Remember When – The Black Diamond Ran” (p. 75)
July 1977 – “Evolution of the Railroad Herald – Conrail” (p. 29)
October 1977 – “Amtrak – Yes or No” (p. 13)
January 1981 – “Before and After Amtrak” (p. 23)

Also, if anyone has The Historical Guide to North American Railroads, Second Edition:
“Central Railroad of New Jersey” (p. 71)
“Conrail (Consolidated Rail Corporation)” (p. 129)
“Erie Lackawanna Railroad” (p. 166)
“Lehigh & Hudson River Railway” (p. 213)
“Lehigh & New England Railroad” (p. 215)
“Lehigh Valley Railroad” (p. 217)
“Penn Central Company” (p. 326)
“Reading Company” (p. 358)

And, finally, Guide to North American Railroad Hot Spots:
“Pennsylvania: Allentown” (p. 157)
 #897563  by therudycometh
 
Due to a few contributions (one being 41 magazines from a single person), my list of things that I still need has shortened considerably...

Trains
February 1965 – “A Tale of Two Railroads: Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley”
July 1965 – “Can NYC Live Happily Ever After with its 34,000 Commuters? Central’s Second Look at Commuters” (p. 20)
April 1967 – “Thank You, Mr. White: William H. White Put Erie Lackawanna in the Black” (p. 18)
November 1967 – “PRR vs. Car, Plane, and Bus: The Northeast Corridor Project” (p. 18)
February 1968 – “The Demise of a Dream: New York Central’s Southwestern Limited Now Consists of One Coach” (p. 18)
February 1969 – “The Kankakee Belt is Back in Business: Penn Central’s Chicago Bypass” (p. 20)
April 1969 – “Journey Into the Unknown: New York to Washington Compared with Earth to Moon” (p. 35)
July 1969 – “What’s Right (and Wrong) with the Metroliner: Its Significance is in the Promise, Not the Performance” (p. 26)
January 1972 – “Tale of a Timetable: Amtrak’s 11/14/71 Timetable” (p. 12)
March 1972 – “Jersey Central Had a Great Fall: The Cause of Central Railroad of New Jersey’s Problems” (p. 20)
April 1972 – “Amtrak Approaches a Three-Way Stub Switch: There Will Be Some Budget Cutting on July 1, 1973” (p. 14)
July 1972 – “Can You Match That, Amtrak? On-Time Train Riding” (p. 48)
August 1972 – “Is Amtrak Legal: Amtrak’s Status” (p. 37)
October 1972 – “Turntable: Dear Amtrak: The Average Rider Doesn’t Understand” (p. 58)
November 1972 – “Ironies of Penn Central: When Will PC be De-Nationalized” (p. 25), “An Amtrak Sampler: Notes on 17,451 Amtrak Miles” (p. 20)
October 1979 – “Turntable: USRA vs. D&H a Rebuttal: Reference to Turntable in December 1978 Trains” (p. 66)
February 1984 – “Would Crane Manage the Cubs: Conrail Looks Better and Runs Better than its Predecessors”
April 1984 – “The 4000-Mile CR Alternative: Guilford Unites Delaware & Hudson, Boston & Maine, Maine Central” (p. 10)
July 1984 – “A Pro Answers Questions about Conrail: The Future of Conrail” (p. 8)
January 1986 – “How to Get Amtrak Out of the Woods: Strategy for Eliminating Dependence on Subsidy” (p. 24)
October 1986 – “Conrail Blues: Action on Conrail as Good as What Went Before” (p. 54)
March 1988 – “Selected Railroad Reading: My Train: Yard Clerk on the Penn Central” (p. 51)
February 1989 – “Glad for the Amtrak Alternative: Amtrak is an Alternative to Flying and Driving” (p. 82)
June 1991 – “At the Dawn of Amtrak: The Events Surrounding May 1, 1971” (p. 34)
August 1994 – “Al Perlman Was Right: NYC’s Flexi-Van Service” (p. 70)
January 1999 – “Dirty Black Rags to Shiny Blue Riches: Evolution of Conrail’s Locomotive Fleet” (p. 60), “Readers’ Platform: Success at What Cost? Conrail Owes Its Success to Labor” (p. 82)
January 2002 – “Conrail’s Predecessors: Map of Conrail Showing Predecessor Railroads” (p. 65)
June 2002 – “The Late Great Lehigh: Was it the Most Interesting of the Eastern Regional Lines?” (p. 36)
March 2003 – “Map of the Month: PC vs. Conrail: Penn Central’s 1974 Tonnage Compared with Conrail’s 1998 Tonnage” (p. 60)
January 2004 – “Railroad Reading: Braking Toward Bethlehem: Ore Trains from Philadelphia to Bethlehem” (p. 72)
March 2005 – “An Awful, Beautiful Life: The Story of Erie Lackawanna” (p. 32), “No Surrender: Penn Central in Brief” (p. 44)
February 2006 – “Whatever Happened to the Pennsylvania? The Pennsy in 1965 and 2005” (p. 40)
June 2006 – “Metroliner’s Amazing Race: History of Metroliners” (p. 44)
August 2006 – “Railroading Reading: Blue-Chip Investment: Lehigh Valley Stock” (p. 64)

CTC Board
February 1996 – “Bethlehem Steel: Bethlehem’s Last Blast Furnace: The Final Days”

Railroad Model Craftsman

March 1970 – “RMC Rides the Metroliner” (p. 19)
October 1971 – “Amtrak – End of an Era” (p. 20)

Model Railroader
August 1981 – “The Ghosts of Allentown Terminal” (p. 93)

Model Railroading

October 1987 – “Consists, VI: Allentown, PA, 4/16/76; The Yard in Color” (p. 32)

Railfan & Railroad

June 2004 – “Four Railroads, Four Boroughs: Watching Trains in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania” (p. 48)

Railroad Modeler

May 1979 – “Amtrak – Before and After” (p. 10)

NMRA Bulletin

October 1971 – “Pre-Amtrak Train Travel” (p. 41)
February 1974 – “Easton, PA – Lehigh Valley Station” (p. 30)
March 1977 – “Remember When – The Black Diamond Ran” (p. 75)
July 1977 – “Evolution of the Railroad Herald – Conrail” (p. 29)
October 1977 – “Amtrak – Yes or No” (p. 13)
January 1981 – “Before and After Amtrak” (p. 23)

The Historical Guide to North American Railroads, Second Edition
“Central Railroad of New Jersey” (p. 71)
“Conrail (Consolidated Rail Corporation)” (p. 129)
“Erie Lackawanna Railroad” (p. 166)
“Lehigh & Hudson River Railway” (p. 213)
“Lehigh & New England Railroad” (p. 215)
“Lehigh Valley Railroad” (p. 217)
“Penn Central Company” (p. 326)
“Reading Company” (p. 358)

Guide to North American Railroad Hot Spots
“Pennsylvania: Allentown” (p. 157)

Any help would be appreciated!!!!
 #897906  by therudycometh
 
A bunch of people have sent me Trains magazines already, which I was then able to use as coercion to convince my dad that there were articles that he would like to read and that HE should buy the DVD so that he could read them. So he's picking one up!!!! I still need the other ones though....
 #897990  by Ken W2KB
 
therudycometh wrote:I'm working on my history honors thesis (~100 page paper) on the bankruptcy of northeastern railroads, the formation of Conrail, and these events' effects on the Lehigh Valley region's economy, transportation, and population. This is a project that will take me from January to December of 2011 to complete, but I'm trying to get a bit of a head start on looking for resources. The overarching goal of my project is to analyze change in the Lehigh Valley region due to changes in railroading.

I'm looking to do a lot of personal interviews with people who would have been directly affected by the bankruptcy of the railroads and the coming of Conrail.
You could try contacting the owner of this Harley Davidson motorcycle dealership. He was CEO of Conrail:

http://www.battlefieldharley-davidson.com/
 #898785  by Franklin Gowen
 
Ken W2KB wrote: You could try contacting the owner of this Harley Davidson motorcycle dealership. He was CEO of Conrail:

http://www.battlefieldharley-davidson.com/
David LeVan? Ahhh, yes.....excellent catch, Ken! :)
 #901909  by therudycometh
 
Interesting! He's a bit after the 1965-1979 time period that I'm focusing on, but he'd be cool to track down anyway.
 #905512  by therudycometh
 
For anyone who's interested in following along with some of my research and even chiming in every once in a while, I've just created a Yahoo! group and mailing list for my project and invited all of my interviewees to join.

This rather interesting list of invitees includes Hays Watkins, president of the C&O/Chessie/CSX from 1971-1988, and Jim McClellan, the subject of the well-known book The Men Who Loved Trains. Mr. McClellan just joined, and I'm waiting for a response from Mr. Watkins. This could be YOUR chance to ask some questions of them, as well! Who knows, maybe your questions can help out with my project!

The other people I've invited include a whole host of railroaders from almost all of the component railroads of Conrail. While almost all of these people worked in the Lehigh Valley region between 1965 and 1979, most of them had experience elsewhere on their respective railroads, as well. Remember, there's never a dumb question!

So come join the fun! Heck, maybe you'll even learn sumthin'.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/l ... railroads/
 #913344  by Otto Vondrak
 
therudycometh wrote:Due to a few contributions (one being 41 magazines from a single person), my list of things that I still need has shortened considerably...

The Historical Guide to North American Railroads, Second Edition
“Central Railroad of New Jersey” (p. 71)
“Conrail (Consolidated Rail Corporation)” (p. 129)
“Erie Lackawanna Railroad” (p. 166)
“Lehigh & Hudson River Railway” (p. 213)
“Lehigh & New England Railroad” (p. 215)
“Lehigh Valley Railroad” (p. 217)
“Penn Central Company” (p. 326)
“Reading Company” (p. 358)

Guide to North American Railroad Hot Spots
“Pennsylvania: Allentown” (p. 157)

Any help would be appreciated!!!!
Those books are widely available at most public libraries... or through interlibrary loan.

-otto-
 #916051  by therudycometh
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:
therudycometh wrote:Due to a few contributions (one being 41 magazines from a single person), my list of things that I still need has shortened considerably...

The Historical Guide to North American Railroads, Second Edition
“Central Railroad of New Jersey” (p. 71)
“Conrail (Consolidated Rail Corporation)” (p. 129)
“Erie Lackawanna Railroad” (p. 166)
“Lehigh & Hudson River Railway” (p. 213)
“Lehigh & New England Railroad” (p. 215)
“Lehigh Valley Railroad” (p. 217)
“Penn Central Company” (p. 326)
“Reading Company” (p. 358)

Guide to North American Railroad Hot Spots
“Pennsylvania: Allentown” (p. 157)

Any help would be appreciated!!!!
Those books are widely available at most public libraries... or through interlibrary loan.

-otto-
Oh, right, libraries... forgot they existed! Haha, that idea actually slipped my mind... I'll look into it. Thanks Otto!
 #916052  by therudycometh
 
Hello all,

For a variety of reasons, I’ve decided to consolidate the topic of my honors thesis paper. My angle of analysis will remain the same, but I am going to focus specifically on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, its inclusion in Conrail, and the resulting effects on the Lehigh Valley region from 1965-1979.

This benefits me in multiple ways. The biggest reason is that I have an overabundance of sources on all of the northeastern railroads that can now be cut down to a manageable amount for a single railroad. I only have to write a 100-page paper, not a book. However, this paper may become a chapter in a book later on, as I certainly do not intend to waste the research that I have already done on other railroads in the region.

Additionally, with this change, I do not need to deal with passenger service in my paper at all, as the LVRR ended all passenger service in 1961, which is before the time period I am studying.

The LVRR was connected to almost all of the other railroads in the region through mergers, ownership, or physical takeovers. It was owned by the PC, and it took over the CNJ’s Pennsylvania division, which included the L&NE branch and the L&HR’s and D&H’s trackage rights into Allentown Yard. The LVRR also jointly owned the Ironton Railroad with the RDG.

The final benefit to me was that the LVRR was the primary shipper for most of the major businesses in the region, such as Bethlehem Steel, Ingersoll-Rand, and Whitehall Cement, and this relationship allows me to still draw connections between the region and the railroad. The consolidation of my thesis will not affect the scope of the economic impact that the railroad had on the region.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped me thus far. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from your information and input, and I’m enjoying my research immensely. I’ll continue to keep everyone updated periodically on the status of my research up until the final project is due in mid-November.
 #988915  by therudycometh
 
Well, here's an update. The paper's done and submitted, and I've emailed it out to the professors that need to read it and grade it as well as the various people I interviewed for the project.

I'll keep you guys posted on publication status - I'm working with the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society to get this out into the world. In the meantime, placate yourself with a quick summary of the paper:

http://rudystrains.com/lehighvalley.aspx