NS Purchase of D&H lines?

The D&H "Penn Division" was the line coming out of Carbondale. They abandoned it in the early 1980s in favor of the "Lackawanna" line out of Scranton which was shorter and had less demanding grades. Canadian Pacific has used this line since they took over the D&H. 

Paul did a great job explaining the northern half of what CP now calls the "Sunbury Sub".  As for the southern half...

The "old" D&H mainline terminated in Wilkes-Barre, PA where they maintained a small yard and engine terminal/roundhouse, and shared a passenger station with the Legigh Valley & PRR.

On a side note, the D&H and PRR shared ownership of the Wilkes-Barre Connecting RR, which connected the D&H's mainline at their yard in Hudson, PA (just north of W-B) with the PRR's Buttonwood Yard (just south of W-B).  The WBCRR allowed the two roads to interchange cars and avoid the congestion of downtown Wilkes-Barre.  These two RR's, plus the LV, Jersey Central and the "Laurel Lines" all had tracks/yards/facilities in downtown Wilkes-Barre!

At the formation of Conrail, the D&H was granted ownership of the former PRR (then Penn Central) line from Buttonwood Yard to Sunbury, PA. 

A few years later, and as Paul mentioned above, the D&H opted to use the former Lackawanna line north out of Scranton to reach Binghamton, NY and abandoned their own Penn Division trackage.

With these changes, and in general terms, the D&H (current CP Sunbury Sub) mainline became the former Lackawanna from Binghamton to Taylor Yard, just south of Scranton, then their own rails to Hudson, then the WBCRR to Buttonwood, then the former PRR/PCC to Sunbury.

Hope this explains things a bit!

As a side note NS purchase of the D&H gives NS direct access to their joint venture with Pan Am RR at Mechanicville, NY and points east.  Rumor has it NS may purchase all of Pan AM to directly compete with the CSX B&A line.  I can only hope as Pan Am sucks when it comes to customer service and community relations.

I can only hope as Pan Am sucks when it comes to customer service and community relations

 

And you think that NS culd do better? Maybe with Community Relations but customer service?

A great deal better.  NS has spent millions in upgrading the Fitchburg line to 40 Mph running.  Pan Am would have never done that.  Just as Yankee Candle how bad Pan Am is.

Thanks for the info.  That area has always been confusing.  So many redundant lines.  

 

Oddly...I have a RR map that shows the line out of Carbondale as being a former Erie Line?  Looks like D&H ended right at the PA border?  Could be bad info though.

The map is correct. The Erie Railroad built the line over Ararat Summit. They owned it from its completion in 1870 until 1955 when the D&H purchased it outright. The D&H always operated the most trains over the route beginning in 1898 when they obtained trackage rights from the Erie.

Interestingly Erie trains from Carbondale headed toward Ararat were designated Westbound and D&H trains were designated as Northbound.....all at the same time.    

Actually Mike, the Erie owned the D&H "Penn Division" which was also the Erie "Jefferson Division" until I believe 1956 or so when they sold it to the D&H which had trackage rights. The D&H used the line considerably more than the Erie anyway. You thought you were confused before? 

Thanks for the info.  This does clear up my confusion.  Now, with NS in charge...will they put some money into bringing the line up to mainline status with CTC.  Its still some welded rail, some jointed, some areas that need a good tamping, etc...