Description
The railroad carried coal from Carbondale over the Moosic Mountains to the D&H Canal in Honesdale. Construction of the gravity railroad was completed in 1829. In its final form, the railroad used separate loaded and light tracks. Unpowered trains ran by gravity to the bottom of a grade, where they were attached to a cable and hauled up a short, steep plane by a stationary steam engine. The loaded tracks had planes pointing in the direction of Honesdale; the light tracks had planes pointing in the direction of Carbondale.
The gravity railroad operated until 1899, when the canal was abandoned and the railroad was broadened to standard gauge and made into an ordinary steam railroad. Many traces of the tracks remain in the Moosic Mountains. They can still be located on current aerial photographs.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal Gravity Railroad Shops have been demolished, but were once listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
See also: Delaware and Hudson Canal and Delaware and Hudson RailwayRead more about this topic: Delaware And Hudson Gravity Railroad
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