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  • CP activity in NEPA

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania

Moderator: bwparker1

 #1191700  by frank754
 
I'm trying to get a more clear picture on current CP operations in PA. On the current CP rail map, it shows the CP owning the ex-D&H from Montreal to Binghamton, the ex-DL&W from Binghamton to Scranton, the ex-D&H from Scranton to Hudson, the ex-WBCRR from Hudson to Hanover Township (Buttonwood area), and the ex-PRR line from there to Sunbury.
I just noticed today that along one part of the WBCRR line off River Road, Plains, they have installed quite a bit of new welded rail and have done some major renewal work on the bridge over the old LV line including a brand-new walkway grate, so this line must be fairly profitable. I'm wondering if this has been done and/or planned fro the entire line... will have to take a few trips and see...
I read that they outright purchased the line from Binghamton to Scranton, which allowed them to abandon the old D&H Penn Division by 1982. I'm not sure of the ownership of the short segment between Hudson and downtown Wilkes-Barre, as it seems the Luzerne Susquehanna is the major presence there. Who operated the ex-PRR portion from Buttonwood to Sunbury, and when did it change hands?
I'm also wondering on the amount of traffic on this line currently, and if they run the crews all the way to Harrisburg, and what the main commodities/customers would be. I'm assuming mostly long-haul traffic rather than local.
I've seen also that the D&H runs through freights over the Reading & Northern from Pittston to Lehighton and beyond,
and someone told me they ran to Newark from there. So I'm also wondering if the crews go all the way through to NJ on that line, and frequency of traffic/commodities, etc. I do know they carry automobiles on it fairly often, possibly from Canada? And the R&N probably uses that line less often, and for more short-haul traffic. That being said, is there still much activity on the R&N north from Coxton to Mehoopany and the connecting line to Sayre?
 #1192760  by 2nd trick op
 
Yahoo has a very active group called "cpsunburysub" which ought to provide just about everything, including current status of notable traffic moves, that any railfan might want to know, Frank.

But the history of the line between the destabilization of its status as PRR's principal feeder into northern New England, Quebec and Atlantic Canada (involving D&H, B&M, and MEC), through the disastrous Penn Central merger, and finally stabilizing as a similar feeder for Norfolk Southern has a huge number of twists and turns.

The line has developed two "anchors"; one at NS' rebuilt hub at Enola and the other at Allentown. Between the two, they can generate up to about seven moves a day in each direction on the portion north of the connection at Dupont. There are three other Yahoo groups dedicated to connecting lines -- "buffaloline" covers the former PRR Northern Division via Williamsport, "aands sightings" monitors the former D&H between Binghamton and Albany, and "tiersightings" the former Erie mainline over the Southern Tier.

CP has been on an economy binge for the past year or so, and it's my understanding that traffic to Philadelphia via Allentown has been curtailed somewhat; the prospects for long-term stabilization in the price of fuel and the completion of PANAMAX might also make prospects for expansion in the near future not quite so bright as was the case a few years ago, But south of Buttonwood, at least, the line is almost as busy as when I was growing up in the early Sixties.
 #1193078  by SecaucusJunction
 
Don't think you're going to find 7 trains in each direction anywhere on the line. North of Taylor it is generally 4 and south is 2. Philly trains and operations have been abolished. Allentown might be next according to information on the group you speak of. 2 each way per day on the whole line might be the max you see in the near future.