The Warwick Valley and Other Railroads West of the Hudson

The Warwick Valley Rail Road Company became the Lehigh & Hudson River.
Shown above is Lehigh & Hudson River No 29 at Warwick.

Welcome to our Lehigh & Hudson River Railway WebSite

Including some "West of the Hudson" Neighbors

Here's a preview of some of the exciting projects we have put together for you:

Our feature article is how the Warwick Valley became the Lehigh & Hudson River RR .

Find out about Switch Station XA: Where was it???

Why did the L&HR end?

Lehigh & Hudson River RR Map

Find out about Lehigh & Hudson River "Firsts" , and learn about Campbell Hall .

We cover the New York, Susquehanna & Western , sometimes called New Jersey's Answer To Tehachapi .

We cover the NYS&W Hanford Branch , the Lehigh & New England Railroad , the Central New York Railroad , and the Rahway Valley RR

Don't miss our reference section .

Delaware Otsego took over the NYS&W in 1980

Shortly after Delaware Otsego took over the NYS&W in 1980, Walter Rich told the employees that he wanted to go to Allentown. That would have meant taking the NYS&W over the L&HR to Belvidere and then trackage rights beyond. I assume the goal was to interchange with the D&H for that coveted second interchange partner. As we know they ended up going north and connecting at Binghamton. Conrail quickly tore up the remaining L&HR track south of Sparta Jct. It would be nice if it had survived but can't we say that about a lot of lines now gone forever? Conrail was so afraid of competition they couldn't wait to get rid of trackage and put the track or ties somewhere else . By doing this also it was less tax they had to pay with the track not there . Conrail did the same with trackage from the Maybrook line to Maybrook yard and to the Poughkeepsie bridge .

See KC Jones BLOG about Railroad History

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Interested in Penn Central? New York Central? Pennsylvania Railroad? New Haven Railroad? or in the smaller Eastern US railroads? Then you will be interested in "What if the Penn Central Merger Did Not Happen". You will also enjoy "Could George Alpert have saved the New Haven?" as well as "What if the New Haven never merged with Penn Central?"

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Railroads On The Rebound

Over the last 50+ years, railroads have changed a lot. Now they are about to change again.

It is all about a combination of economic factors and climate factors.

Since 1950 , railroads have consolidated. Freight moved from a "box car mentality" to a "unit train,mentality". Passenger went from a robust business to a "caretaker" arrangement called AMTRAK. This happened as everybody could drive for free on the Interstate Highway System or fly on an airline system where the government subsidized both airlines and airports. In the meantime, railroad express and railroad post offices went "down the tubes". The old Post Office Department and the Railway Express Agency could not adjust to the new way. UPS and Fex Ex could.

Carbon Calculator
What's the most environmentally-friendly way to transport goods? The answer is freight rail. The EPA estimates that every ton-mile of freight that moves by rail instead of by highway reduces greenhouse emissions by two-thirds. But what does that really mean? Our easy-to-use carbon calculator will estimate the amount of carbon dioxide that can be prevented from entering our environment just by using freight rail instead of trucks. We'll even tell you how many seedlings you'd need to plant to have the same effect.

Our HAND TOOL WebSite is intended in aiding you to locate HAND TOOL suppliers. You may search by product or by manufacturer. We add both products and manufacturers, so keep checking back.

In addition we are a full service MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operational Supplies) supplier. If you are in the construction or farming business, we are your source.

Recently a good friend of mine found a stock certificate for the Warwick Valley Rail Road Company. I knew a little bit about it and decided to investigate even further. The Lehigh & Hudson River began as a small line, the Warwick Valley Railroad that connected the town of Warwick, NY with the Erie Railroad at Greycourt, NY. The line expanded south into New Jersey, and in 1882 the Warwick Valley and its affiliates merged to become the L&HR. The line extended from Belvidere, NJ to Maybrook, NY where the New Haven Railroad provided a gateway to New England. The L&HR built a bridge between Phillipsburg, NJ and Easton, PA and ran via trackage rights on the Pennsylvania RR and the Jersey Central Railroad to Allentown, PA. The L&HR handled zinc traffic from the area around Franklin, NJ but mostly it was a bridge line carrying overhead freight. The mergers and abandonments of the 1960 did the L&HR harm, but the New York Central - PRR merger in 1968 caused much traffic to be diverted. The line went bankrupt in 1972 and inclusion in Conrail spelled the end in 1976. The line north of Sparta Jct. became part of the New York, Susquehanna & Western main line in 1982 and the line south of that point was abandoned by Conrail in 1986.

Stations and Interchanges in 1964

Miles	Stations	Interchange	Telegraph office calls	Other details
0.0	Maybrook	New Haven	BK	Station open days Yard Limit board
1.1	Burnside
3.7	Girarde			112 car passing siding
9.4	Greycourt	Erie Lackawanna
10.2	Hudson Junction			116 car passing siding
10.6	Chester		K	Station open days except weekends
13.0	Sugar Loaf
14.5	Lake			109 car passing siding
16.2	State School
17.6	Wisner
19.5	Warwick		Q	Station open day and night Yard Limit board
22.4	New Milford
27.2	Vernon		RN	Station open days except weekends 83 car passing siding
30.8	McAfee
33.7	Hamburg
35.7	Franklin		FJ	Station open days 112 car passing siding 75 car passing siding Yard Limit board
41.3	Woodruff's Gap
42.3	Sparta Junction	New York, Susquehanna & Western		68 car passing siding 57 car passing siding
43.4	Lima Crest
48.6	Andover	Erie Lackawanna	AD	Station open day and night 70 car passing siding 123 car passing siding Yard Limit board
57.9	Port Morris	Erie Lackawanna
52.9	Tranquility
54.5	Allamuchy
55.7	Long Bridge
59.8	Vienna			112 car passing siding
60.6	Great Meadows		MO	Station open days except weekends
65.7	Pequest			112 car passing siding
69.6	Oxford			83 car passing siding
71.3	Mansfield St.
72.0	Belvidere		G	Station open day and night Yard Limit board
83.8	Hudson Yard
85.8	Easton	Pennsylvania, Central RR of NJ, Lehigh Valley

TRAIN MOVEMENTS
5 --	Eastward trains are superior to westward trains of the same class.
N. Y. 0. & W. CROSSING AT BURNSIDE
23 --	An automatic interlocker is in service governing the crossing with the N. Y. 0. & W. at Burnside. Should a train find the signal governing movement over this crossing at stop, a member of the crew must obtain permission from the N. Y. O. & W. train dispatcher, observe that no train is approaching on the N. Y. O. & W. crossing in either direction, then operate the push button located at the crossing. After three (3) minutes, the signal should clear. If the signal does not then clear, it must not be passed until authorized by both the N. Y. O. & W. and the L. & H. R. train dispatchers, and then only on hand signal from the trainman standing on the crossing. Trains must not enter the main track of the N. Y. O. & W. without permission from the N. Y. O. & W. train dispatcher.
MAXIMUM SPEED RESTRICTIONS
29 --	Passenger trains must not exceed a speed of 50 miles per hour.
30 --	Freight trains must not exceed a speed of 45 miles per hour.
31 --	Trains hauling cars loaded with zinc ore must not exceed a speed of 30 miles per hour.
32 --	Trains must not exceed a speed of 10 miles per hour over the N. Y. S. & W. R. R. crossings at Sparta Junction and Franklin.
33 --	Regardless of the indication of the crossing signals, all trains carrying passengers must stop at the signals before proceeding over the N. Y. S. & W. R. R. crossings at Sparta Junction and Franklin.
34 --	Trains will not exceed a speed of 20 miles per hour over Elm, Main and South Streets and Forester Avenue crossings at Warwick, N. Y.
35 --	Trains handling steam derrick will not exceed a speed of 20 miles per hour.
36 --	Trains must not exceed a speed of 20 miles per hour upon the bridge over the Delaware River between Phillipsburg, N. J., and Easton, Pa.
37 --	Trains crossing from one track to another, entering or leaving main trades or sidings, or taking diverging routes, must not exceed a speed of 15 miles per hour.
Speed signs located on the right of track and 500 feet in advance of points of curve indicate maximum speed in miles per hour permitted on that curve.
MAXIMUM SPEEDS ON CURVES Unless Otherwise Restricted

Location	From	To	MPH
West of Maybrook ------------	0.6	0.8	40
West of E. & J. Bridge ------	2.4	2.6	40
East & West of Craigville ---	7.0	7.8	35
West of Greycourt -----------	9.3	10.3	35
West of Chester -------------	11.4	11.6	40
West of Sugar Loaf ----------	13.3	13.8	40
East end Lake Siding --------	14.1	14.3	40
West of Warwick -------------	21.4	22.0	40
West of New Milford ---------	22.6	23.1	40
East & West of Hamburg ------	33.3	34.2	35
Lake Grinnell ---------------	39.3	40.2	35
West of Great Meadows -------	61.5	61.6	40
East & West of Townsbury ----	62.6	63.1	30
West of Pequest Crossing ----	66.1	66.3	30

CAR CAPACITY OF TRACKS Other Than Passing Sidings
	46 Ft. Per Car	Cars
Burnside-
	North wye --------------------------	14
	South wye --------------------------	8
	South wye siding -------------------	7
Greycourt-
	No. 1 -------------------------------	17
	Hill --------------------------------	8
Chester-
	Grange and Fuel Gas Co ------------	10
	Station ------------------------------	4
	Conklin Siding ---------------------	4
Sugar Loaf	---------------------------------	3
State School	-------------------------------	4
Wisner	----------------------------------	6
Warwick-
	No. 52 ------------------------------	13
	No. 54 ------------------------------	4
	No. 57 -----------------------------	13
	No. 1 ------------------------------	73
	No. 2 ------------------------------	69
	No. 3 -------------------------------	65
	No. 4 ------------------------------	61
	No. 5 ------------------------------	57
	No. 6 ------------------------------	53
	No. 7 ------------------------------	48
Price's Creamery	---------------------------	2
Vernon Station	-----------------------------	7
McAfee - Team Track	---------------------	8
Hamburg - Commercial	--------------------	17
Franklin
	Mine Hill --------------------------------	20
	No. 1 ------------------------------------	23
	No. 2 ------------------------------------	20
	No. 3 ------------------------------------	11
	West Commercial --------------------------	50
Monroe Coal	------------------------------------	11
Woodruff's Gap Station	-------------------	5
Sparta Jct - Interchange	----------------------	20
Extension to Sparta 1	------------------------	23
Andover
	No. 1 ----------------------------------	29
	No. 2 ----------------------------------	25
	Freight --------------------------------	8
	Miller's -------------------------------	5
Tranquility	Station ----------------------------	5
Allamuchy
	Station -------------------------------	8
	Creamery ------------------------------	4
	Freight House -------------------------	10
Long Bridge	--------------------------------	3
Great Meadows
	Gamma Chemical -----------------------	3
	Station ------------------------------	31
Pequest	Commercial -------------------	21
Belvidere
	Oxford 1 ------------------------------	65
	No. 1 ---------------------------------	27
	No. 2 ----------------------------------	30
	No. 3 ----------------------------------	26
Hudson Yard
	No. 1 ---------------------------------	72
	No. 2 ----------------------------------	70
	No. 3 ----------------------------------	53
	No. 4 ----------------------------------	50
	Tail Track -----------------------------	69