Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name =Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad
logo_filename =dl_logo.gif
logo_size =200
marks =DL
locale =Northeastern Pennsylvania
start_year =1993
end_year =Present
hq_city =Batavia, New York

The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad reporting mark|DL is a class III railroad operating in Pennsylvania.

The DL began service in August of 1993 and is the designated operator for 85 miles of trackage in Lackawanna and Monroe Counties. It is a subsidiary of holding company Genesee Valley Transportation Company, Inc.

Overview

GVT began in 1985 in Upstate New York marketing rail-related services to both private and public industry throughout the northeast.

The Lackawanna County Rail Authority approached GVT to operate its owned rail lines within Lackawanna and Monroe Counties. From Scranton north to the city of Carbondale on lines of the former Delaware and Hudson Railway's Pennsylvania Branch, from Scranton east into Monroe County on lines of the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and from Scranton south to Montage Mountain, Moosic on lines of the former Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad third-rail interurban streetcar line.

These are the lines hosting the seasonal passenger trains of both the Steamtown National Historic Site and the Electric City Trolley Museum and now under the jurisdiction of the new Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority.

Poconos expansion

Since the summer of 1998, the D-L, under a haulage agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway, has been running unit Canadian grain trains between Scranton and the Harvest States Grain Mill at Pocono Summit, PA. Operated by D-L crews these trains average about 45 cars and up to 4 locomotives provided by the CPR. Even though CPR EMD SD40-2s are the rule, occasionally a rare specimen will make its way onto the D-L.

The D-L Railroad, according to its website, provides "friendly customized service" to over 25 customers in the Scranton / Pocono region, and interchanges with two Class I carriers: Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific Railway.

Delaware-Lackawanna is renowned as a bastion for both rebuilding and operating 50-year-old ALCO diesels up and down the Pocono Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania on a daily basis.

A new unified color scheme of gray and white with red and yellow stripes has begun to be applied to GVT system units in 2006 as they exit the South Scranton shops this year.

Recent activity

*A new 2,000-foot extension connects the county's trolley line, the Electric City Trolley Museum, from the Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, to a new station and trolley restoration facility, immediately adjacent to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees stadium off Montage Mountain Road, Moosic.

*The 2006 Annual Convention of the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners (AAPRCO) took place in Scranton on the D-L at the Steamtown National Historic Site on site behind the Mall at Steamtown September 20, 2006-September 24, 2006, travelling a Cincinnati – Chicago – St. Albans, VT – Steamtown, PA – Chicago – Cincinnati route over the 14-day event. Many past Presidential and historic rail cars attended with a round-trip steam-powered run to the Delaware Water Gap on September 21, 2006.

References

* [http://www.gvtrail.com/ Genesee Valley Transportation Company, Inc.]

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/stea/ Steamtown National Historic Site]
* [http://www.ectma.org/ Electric City Trolley Museum Association]
* [http://www.aaprco.com/ American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, Inc.]