L&NE Equipment After Abandonment

Hi folks,

Does anyone recall seeing unrepainted L&NE rolling stock (boxcars, covered hoppers, open hoppers etc). after the railroad's demise in 1961? I have seen photos of several black billboard "LNE" boxcars on the Susquehanna in 1969. Who owned these cars after the L&NE was abandoned? Were they still in service?

While growing up in my house in Hazlet, NJ along the former New York & Long Branch RR (former PRR-CNJ subsidiary), there used to be a "sand train" run by Conrail with many rusty, battered covered hoppers, which mostly belonged to the CNJ. Supposedly many of these cars were of LNE heritage, but by the time I saw them (late 70s- early 80s), they were ready to be scrapped.

Anyone else recall seeing L&NE equipment?

-Mike D'Amico
[email protected]

Not sure if they are still there...but I saw 2 LNE box cars (boxcar red in color) out in New Hope, PA about 3 years ago. They did not have trucks to them and from what I understood they were up for grabs. Yup...if you always wanted a box car in your back yard you could take them. They were in storage behind the New Hope & Ivyland enginehouse. Through the rust you could make out the LNE white circle in the top right corner, as well as the smaller LNE lettering in the top right of the sides

After the LNE was abandoned, the CNJ took over some operations in the cement country in PA. Along with this came the LNE boxcars and hoppers, which they operated for another ten years or so. I recall seeing empties at the E'port shops in the 60's. I also photographed the cars for modelling purposes. If I remember correctly, the Equipment Registers from this era listed the LNE reporting marks and cars under the CNJ.

There's also an old wooden L&NE caboose in New Hope that served more recently as an Amtrak caboose/work car. It had been covered in plywood and painted orange. There is no cupola, and no evidence of its existence, so no one seems to be sure if it had one. One certainty is that it wasn't a bay-window caboose, because there is steel framing in the center of the car in the form of an X. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about the equipment could better inform us. Restoration work has begun, however. The Amtrak plywood sheathing has been removed, exposing the original tounge-and-groove, which is rotting away. The only identifyable marks are the "L&NE" stamps on the trucks

Remember seeing at least one LNE caboose running on the L&H in 1961-62.

It seemed to be assigned to the OA-3/AO-4 crews.

Don't know ownership status and whether it filled a shortage - with only 8 running there never was a surplus.

The July 1977 Official Railway Equipment Register lists 47 Covered hoppers with LNE reporting marks dedicated to sand service and 1 listed for Sugar Service.

Interestingly, by comparison, there is only One car listed as having LHR reporting marks.

I saw a number of L&NE and CNJ hoppers move over the DAV&P. These cars were repaired at Warren Car in Starbrick. They were in pretty rough shape and covered with white dust, so I assumed they were used in stone service or moving debris.

This was in the early / mid 70s and I believe the cars were interchanged with the EL at Falconer.

I have seen a L&NE Gondola at the Valley Railroad in Essex CT.
It is used on their passenger trains .

I was a teenager along the northeast corridor in the seventies and recall LNE equipment. I believe I remember it because I had a HO gondola painted for the road and I was always interested in whether the road really existed. I remember covered hoppers, gondolas and I'm reasonably certain some short boxcars. Thinking back I can hear the cars with not-so-round wheels going by.

Warren