Lehigh Valley Railroad - Surviving Segments

Surviving Segments

On April 1, 1976, major portions of the assets of the bankrupt Lehigh Valley Railroad were acquired by Conrail. This primarily consisted of the main line and related branches from Van Etten Jct. (north/RR west of Sayre, Pennsylvania) to Oak Island, the Ithaca branch from Van Etten Jct. to Ithaca, New York, connecting to the Cayuga Lake line and on to the Milliken power station in Lake Ridge, New York, and small segments in Geneva, Batavia, Auburn and Cortland. Additionally, a segment from Geneva to Victor, later cut back to Shortsville to Victor, plus a small segment west from Van Etten Jct., remained with the Lehigh Valley Estate under subsidized Conrail operation. The Shortsville to Victor segment became the Ontario Central Railroad in 1979. Most of the rail equipment went to Conrail as well, but 24 locomotives (units GP38-2 314-325 and C420 404-415) went to the Delaware & Hudson instead. The remainder of the assets were disposed of by the estate until it was folded into the non-railroad Penn Central Corporation in the early 1980s.

The mainline across New Jersey and Oak Island Yard remains important to Norfolk Southern, CSX, and Conrail Shared Assets today. This section became important to Conrail as an alternate route to avoid Amtrak's former PRR/PC Northeast Corridor electrified route. Most of the other remaining Lehigh Valley track serves as branch lines, or has been sold to shortline and regional operators. These operators include, in alphabetical order:

• Finger Lakes Railway/Ontario Central Railroad
• Genesee Valley Transportation (Depew, Lancaster & Western)
• Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad
• New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
• Reading & Northern