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The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway, Bridge Route And Anthracite Coal Hauler
The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway was the smallest of the many anthracite railroads that once proliferated the Northeast like the Reading Railroad, Lehigh Valley, Erie, Jersey Central, Lehigh & New England, and others. Located right along the intersecting corners of eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, and southern New York the L&HR had major connections with the CNJ; Lehigh Valley; Pennsylvania; Erie; New York, Susquehanna & Western; and Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. In the early 1970s after teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for a number of years the L&HR finally succumbed in the early 1970s, following a path of most of the other railroads in New England, and was forced into Conrail in 1976. It’s few overall miles and system that was considered more circuitous than other surrounding lines; Conrail elected to abandon most of the former Lehigh and Hudson River Railway soon after it began operations. Today, virtually nothing remains of this famous little anthracite carrier.
In the early 1840's the New York and Erie Railroad was built through Orange County and in 1852 through direct acquisition this was extended into Jersey City which gave a more direct and much quicker route to the New York City market. This through route prompted a meeting of prominent farmers and merchants of Warwick, N. Y. in 1859, and resulted in the organization of the Warwick Valley Railroad Company. The charter to build a railroad from Warwick, N. Y. to Greycourt, N. Y. where a connection could be made with the New York and Erie, as well as its New- burgh branch, was granted in 1860 On April 1, 1862, the first trains operated over the Warwick Valley Railroad, but they were manned by Erie crews with Erie motive power and equipment under an agreement between the two companies. By 1880, the Warwick Valley Railroad had acquired sufficient equipment to take over its own operation and the arrangement with the Erie to furnish the crews and equipment was discontinued in that year. The Warwick Valley Railroad not only connected with the main line of the New York and Erie at Greycourt, but also ran through to Newburgh over the Erie branch line. Soon afterwards plans were adopted to extend the line southerly to reach the Delaware River. Action on this was hastened by the prospects of competition, a charter having been issued by the State of New Jersey to the Pequest and Wallkill Railroad Company to construct a line from Belvidere easterly to the New York State line, fifty miles. The Warwick Valley people secured a charter for the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad Company in 1881 to build a road from Belvidere to Great Meadows, N. J. The two interests got together, and the Pequest & Walkill was merged into The Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad. Construction was immediately begun and the new line completed to Hamburg, N. J., and extended to McAfee by purchasing three miles of existing trackage between those two villages from the Sussex Railroad Company. On April 1, 1882, there was formed The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway Company, a consolidation of the Warwick Valley Railroad Company and The Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad Company, making a line from Belvidere, N. J. to Greycourt, N. Y., of 61 miles.
After the official creation of the L&HR in 1882 the railroad was able to stretch its length somewhat further than its terminus points up to that time (Belvidere and Greycourt), eventually reaching a connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Maybrook, 10 miles north of Greycourt (through the Orange County Railroad of 1888), and Easton, Pennsylvania (through the South Easton and Phillipsburg Railroad of 1889) where it connected with the Lehigh Valley and CNJ. While the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway was mostly just a bridge route stretching between Easton and Maybrook (a distance of roughly 86 miles) it did have one branch from Franklin, New Jersey to Sterling Hill where it hauled zinc and iron from mines located in the area. In later years these mines had been worked out and the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway abandoned the branch returning the railroad to a linear bridge line. Although not a branch it owned, the railroad also had a connection with the Lackawanna at Port Morris via trackage rights from Andover Junction. What resulted in the eventual bankruptcy of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway was a simple railroad bridge. While traffic had been steadily declining, by the 1960s and early 1970s the Northeast could simply no longer handle so many railroads, the traffic just was not there. After the Penn Central, which was the merger between the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central in 1968, chose to no longer route interchange traffic over the Poughkeepsie Bridge, located just a few miles from the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway northern terminus at Maybrook, the railroad lost a significant portion of its remaining revenue. This coupled with the 1970 bankruptcy of the PC itself forced the Lehigh & Hudson River into bankruptcy as well (and to make matters worse, a 1974 arson of the bridge was too expensive for the L&HR to repair). The result of the PC’s bankruptcy was a ripple effect throughout the entire Northeast, as other railroads, which depended on the Penn Central to ferry traffic, no longer had a means to move their freight. It became so bad that the Penn Central was facing total shutdown if financial assistance were not located. Realizing the severity of the situation the federal government stepped and setup the Consolidated Rail Corporation, which comprised the skeletons of several bankrupt Northeastern carriers, and began operations on April 1, 1976. With federal backing Conrail began to slowly pull out of the red ink (it took many years) and by the late 1980s was a profitable railroad after thousands of miles of access trackage was abandoned and/or upgraded. Part of Conrail’s abandoned trackage included the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway. And, although much of the railroad is gone today portions do remain in operation under Norfolk Southern and the New York, Susquehanna & Western. Lehigh and Hudson River Railway All-Time Locomotive Rosters
For a more indepth history and look at the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway you might want to consider the book Lehigh & Hudson River from famed author Ed Crist. The book is an older publication dating back to the 1980s. However it includes a good history of this little anthracite hauler and if you have any interest in the L&HR or want to learn more about it I would highly recommend Mr. Crist’s book. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit The Railroad Diamond by clicking the tab in the menu to your left marked "TRD Store".
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