Finding aid for the Erie Lackawanna Railway Company Records

History of Erie Lackawanna Railway Company

The Erie Lackawanna Railroad Company resulted from the merger of two companies in 1960. These were the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (known as Lackawanna). Both roads were based primarily in the northeastern states of Pennsylvania and New York. The Erie offered service from Jersey City, New Jersey (metropolitan New York) to Hammond, Indiana (metropolitan Chicago).

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (DL&W) was known as the "Road of Anthracite" and popularized the mythical Phoebe Snow. It also operated the Hoboken Ferry Company which carried passengers from Hoboken to Manhattan. The road ran from northern New Jersey (Denville and Port Morris) to Scranton, Pennsylvania. One branch went southwest from Scranton to Northumberland, Pennsylvania. North of Scranton the line continued to Binghamton and Buffalo, New York, with branches to Ithaca, Utica, and Syracuse/Oswego. Both the Erie and the DL&W provided freight transshipment services from northern New Jersey to Manhattan and Long Island through their marine divisions, which made use of harbor tugs, barges, and ferry boats.

The original Lackawanna and Western was organized as a going concern in 1851 and ran from Scranton to a connecting point with the Erie. It was merged with the Delaware and Cobb's Gap Railroad to become the Delaware, Lackawanna access to New York City. The railroad never went bankrupt, but post-World War II losses prompted the merger with the rival Erie in 1960. A great deal of physical as well as financial damage was done by Hurricane Diane in 1955. With both roads losing money, the Erie and DL&W began sharing track, first at Elmira and Binghamton, New York. During 1959, the two roads submitted their merger proposal to the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Some points of interest on the Lackawanna lines were: The Delaware Water Gap - the gorge of the Delaware River near Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The track here ran along the river bank through the narrow gorge and was subject to washouts and rock slides.

Tunkhannock Viaduct - near Nicholson, Pennsylvania. This was the largest viaduct on the DL&W. It was built of reinforced concrete. Completed in 1915, it was 2,375 feet long and 240 feet high.

Delaware River Viaduct - near Columbia, New Jersey. Constructed of reinforced concrete, it was 1,450 feet long and completed in 1911. Paulins Kill Viaduct - near Hainesburg, New Jersey. The first of the reinforced concrete viaducts; it was built in 1910.

A unique feature of the Erie Railroad was its "high and wide" clearance as a shipper of freight. Like the DL&W (whose lines ran nearly parallel to the Erie in parts of New York), it was originally a broad gauge road. The Erie offered service to Newark and Jersey City from points west. It also served commuters in suburban New York City. Several suburban branches, including the Greenwood Lake, Caldwell, Orange, and Dundee, carried traffic to Jersey City.

At Port Jervis, New Jersey, the line crossed the Delaware River. The main line continued through Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania and on to Binghamton, New York. The Wyoming and Jefferson divisions handled traffic to Scranton, Carbondale, Susquehanna, crossing the famous Starucca Viaduct. From Binghamton, the line ran to Elmira, New York with a line branching off to serve Avon and Rochester. At Hornell the road branched north to Buffalo. The Dunkirk branch left the main line at Salamanca. From there the main line continued through Jamestown to Meadville, Pennsylvania. Another branch line served Johnsonburg and Dubois, Pennsylvania. From Meadville, the line ran west to Pymatuning and Warren, Ohio. Branches in western Pennsylvania ran to New Castle and Oil City. In Ohio, the Mahoning division served Cleveland, Lisbon, and Niles carrying both passenger traffic as well as freight. From Warren the main line continued west through Akron, Mansfield, and Marion, Ohio. Branching off at Marion was the Cincinnati division, serving Dayton, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. From Marion, the main line continued through Decatur, Huntington, and North Judson, Indiana en route to Hammond. Traffic to and from Chicago was serviced through various trackage agreements.

Chartered in 1832 as the New York and Erie Railway, the initial track on the Hudson River to Great Lakes route was laid in 1841. Completed to Dunkirk, New York on Lake Erie by 1851, the opening ceremonies were attended by Millard Fillmore and Daniel Webster. The road reached Chicago with completion of the Marion to Hammond section in 1883.

The railroad was plagued by monetary problems. Throughout its history, the Erie was bankrupted on five separate occasions. The railroad generally profited during wartime and suffered during economic downturns, like the panic of 1893 and the Great Depression. During the 1920s the road was controlled by the Van Sweringen brothers of Cleveland, who sought to merge the Pere Marquette and the C&O with the Erie. By 1937 the railroad sought reorganization, and during the process acquired the Cleveland and Mahoning Valley division (formerly the Nypano railroad). Emerging from bankruptcy in 1941, the Erie paid dividends to shareholders during the prosperous war years. For a decade after the war, the railroad profited and completed the shift to dieselization. During the 1950s, several factors changed the face of railroading in the northeast and throughout the industry. This time the Erie sought relief via a merger with the DL&W. The Delaware and Hudson was also included in the initial talks but later dropped out. The transportation consulting firm of Wyer, Dick, and Company was hired to study and prepare a report on the proposed merger. Following hearings before the Interstate Commerce Commission, the merger took place on October 17, 1960. The two railroads would be known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad Company.

The newly merged railroad also experienced financial problems. President William White was able to upgrade rolling stock by bringing on line a new car repair shop at Meadville. The railroad also abandoned duplicate lines and aging facilities. Long distance passenger service was also phased out, with the last runs of the marquee trains Phoebe Snow in 1969 and The Lake Cities in the 1970s. The road also fought the Interstate Commerce Commission over the discontinuance of commuter service, long an unprofitable sector of company operations. While eliminating its passenger services, the EL expanded its piggybacking freight service. Nonetheless, the financial drain could not be stopped, and in 1968 the Erie Lackawanna became a part of Dereco, a holding company owned by the Norfolk and Western, and the railroad name changed to Erie Lackawanna Railway Company. This company included other Northeastern roads such as the Delaware and Hudson, Reading, and the Jersey Central.

In 1972 weather effects from Hurricane Agnes did considerable damage to track and bridges in New York and Pennsylvania. On June 26, 1972 the EL again petitioned for bankruptcy. Judge Robert B. Krupansky of the U.S. District Court named Cleveland businessmen Ralph S. Tyler and Thomas F. Patton trustees during the reorganization proceedings. With the passage of the Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, the stage was set for the absorption of the EL into the Conrail System. This officially took place in April of 1976.

From 1977 thru 1992, the Conrail restructuring of the former EL took place. EL Properties abandoned by Conrail were sold by the Erie Lackawanna trustees. Collapsing the estate of the former railroad into a corporation known as Erie Lackawanna Inc., the process of selling real estate, equipment, and even memorabilia continued in an effort to pay tax liabilities, creditors, and shareholders. Upon completion of the liquidation process, Erie Lackawanna Inc. dissolved itself.

Scope and Content

The Erie Lackawanna Railway Company Records primarily contains legal and financial documents. It consists of materials used and produced throughout the railroad's final reorganization and liquidation process which began in 1972 and ended in 1991. Included are a large number of Interstate Commerce Commission valuation maps, real estate sales files, land agreements, leases, mortgages, conveyance documents, and other legal and financial materials. There are also board minutes, annual reports, and reports to the ICC. Materials from and about the 1938 Erie reorganization and the 1960 Erie Lackawanna merger are also included. The bulk of materials in the collection dates from 1960-1991. However, the collection also contains inherited records from the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western and Erie Railroads, some of which date from as early as 1850.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to reproduce or publish materials in this collection must be secured in writing from Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron.

Restrictions on Access

No restrictions on access; except not available through interlibrary loan.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Organizations/Corporations:

Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], Erie Lackawanna Railway Company Records, Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Erie Lackawanna, Inc. in April 1989.

Other Finding Aid

Inventory available in the repository.

Detailed Description of The Collection