Basic history of the Laurel Line?

Thank you for the info, that is most helpful!

-otto-

Otto,

I would not characterize the LL as being the same as the Westchester. While both had unrealised grandiose plans, the LL was actually a viable railroad as built with both frieght and passenger service.

JH

[quote="Otto Vondrak"]Hrm, an overbuilt, little-used, high-speed electric interurban? THAT sounds familiar (see my website on the Westchester - www.nywbry.com).

-otto-[/quote]

You are correct- the NYWB and the LL are not exactly alike- but similar in many ways.

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Here is the map...

On April 23, 2006, Davis Street grade crossing seemed to be gone, all others were paved over. There were 2 tracks crossing Kane St. to General Electric, but the sign on the building said "Compression Polymers"! There was an extra track (Passing Siding?) on the opposite side of the street from the words "Cemetery St." The West track to the bed company was gone from beside the building and the parking lot to the North, but there seemed to be an extra switch just North of there. The overhead trolley wire on the South side of Davis St. has been greatly improved, probably to provide support for people on top of the rail cars.

The state of PA just announced dollars this week to upgrade capactiy of the track at the end of the branch.

[quote="JimBoylan"][quote="Otto Vondrak"]Here is the map...[/quote]On April 23, 2006, Davis Street grade crossing seemed to be gone, all others were paved over. There were 2 tracks crossing Kane St. to General Electric, but the sign on the building said "Compression Polymers"! There was an extra track (Passing Siding?) on the opposite side of the street from the words "Cemetery St." The West track to the bed company was gone from beside the building and the parking lot to the North, but there seemed to be an extra switch just North of there. The overhead trolley wire on the South side of Davis St. has been greatly improved, probably to provide support for people on top of the rail cars.[/quote]

I stumbled across this plan for a Laurel Lines car in HO scale this morning:

http://www.eastpenn.org/moore_laurel.pdf

In my "stuff" I have a brochure for the Laurel Line. It is an Industrial Brochure, advertising the merits of establishing industries along the L&WV line. The Brochure has some early photos, some of which I have not seen published in any of the books. One photo of the Scranton Terminal yards shows donkey steam engines pulling L&WV freight. I scanned the brouchure, I wanted to record it electronically as my copy is getting well worn. I posted an Adobe Acrobat file on the web. Caution the file is huge, over 2 MEG but it shows real well once downloaded. It is in a slide show format, if you don't have the slide show program, just click page after page in Acrobat. When I have more time I will try to scale down the size without sacrificing clarity.
The link to the file is on http://lackawannatrail.railfan.net Enjoy!!

Thanks so much for posting the brochure. I found one on Ebay and got into a bidding war (which I lost) and really wanted to see it. Especially since I have spent the last 15 years calling on industries in the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys.

Referenced in "Laurel Line" by James N.J. Henwood and John G. Muncie, there were two L&WV industrial brochures. One published in 1906 In Color and one in 1917 not in color. Reference my earlier post of one of the Brochures, I posted a link to it where the first page is colored, and most of the rest in Sepia tones except for the three page color map. I am assuming that this is the 1906 version. Has anyone a copy of the 1917 Black and White version to confirm the data? Thanks, Splitrimz