In its heyday, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western was a super railroad. Visionary management rebuilt and modernized the line in the early years of the 20^th century, spending vast amounts of private capital on massive line relocations characterized by massive concrete viaducts.

I can only imagine what the railroad would have been like with its multiple track mainline, numerous signal towers, and a steady flow of freight and passenger trains.

On the afternoon of October 17th, Pat Yough and I revisited the DL&W line over Pocono Summit, and explored the area around Slateford Junction and Portland, Pennsylvania.

I made these views of the old Lackawanna infrastructure. While the old ‘Lackawanna Cut-off’ built in 1908 was abandoned by Conrail in the 1980s, other portions of the DL&W in the area remain active, although it’s a shadow compared to the intensively traveled mainline of a century ago.

Yet, the decayed vestiges of this once super railroad remain a fascinating testimony to the earlier era. A time when coal was the railroad’s life blood, and the dull roar of interstate highways and jet aero planes was still far in the future.

Stay tuned tomorrow: the DL&W Lives on with Norfolk Southern and Delaware-Lackawanna freights.

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