Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad summary
The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad (DL) is a short line railroad that operates in northeast Pennsylvania. The line is owned by the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority and leased to the Genesee Valley Transportation Company. Headquartered out of Scranton, the railroad diverges into multiple lines totaling more than 90 miles of standard-gauge track, one heading to Slateford Junction and the other to Carbondale.
History
The Pocono Line to Slateford Junction was once part of the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad that famously hosted the Pheobe Snow passenger train. The Carbondale Line was once part of the important Pennsylvania Division of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad until being shut down in favor of DL&W’s Binghamton, New York-Scranton main line that the D&H purchased from Conrail in the 1980s.
Through a series of ownership changes shortly afterwards, the Carbondale Line was purchased by the Lackawanna County Railroad Authority. This was followed by the Monroe County Rail Authority acquiring the Pocono Line to Mount Pocono in 1994, later extending to Slateford Junction and acquiring the interurban Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad’s Laurel Line. Looking to expand into the Pennsylvania market, Genesee Valley Transportation was selected to operate the lines under the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad in 1993. The two county authorities merged in 2006 as the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority.
Operations
The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad’s freight traffic ranges in a vast variety including grain, forest products, paper, plastics, petroleum and fuel products, chemicals, and aggregates. Ardent Mills’ flour facility in Mount Pocono is the railroad and Genesee Valley Transportation’s largest customer as a leading flour supplier and grain innovator. A 5.5-acre bulk transfer yard in Carbondale is operated by the Linde Corporation where frac sand and other equipment for gas drilling is brought in on the DL. Highlighted as a top business for the parent company, multiple T3 transloading facilities are located along the Carbondale Line in Scranton, Archbald, and Carbondale. The Scranton Operations Center provides dispatching for the Delaware-Lackawanna.
The railroad rosters Genesee Valley’s growing fleet of diesels from Alco and Montreal Locomotive Works. Most are painted in the company’s “Corporate White” color scheme. A new locomotive shop was constructed in the Green Ridge section of Scranton to repair and maintain the company’s diverse roster.
Norfolk Southern serves as the sole interchange partner to the DL. Connections are made at the Class I railroad’s Taylor Yard south of Scranton and at Slateford Junction. The National Park Service’s Steamtown Historic Site operates periodic passenger excursions over the Delaware-Lackawanna’s two main lines out of Scranton. Scranton is also home to the Electric City Trolley Museum where the railroad provides the historic trolleys trackage rights over the Laurel Line, which has overhead wire for most of its length.
Read more about the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad in Trains’ December 2021 issue.
