And it was a sin to rip most of it out.( I had to make a tobbaco run hitch down and ride up with cigs at 10.00 a pak) The Lackawanna pioneered concrete constuction and did a butiffull job of it way before it was used enmass in the federal highway program..The Lackawanna had straighter routes and straighter tracks then the old and weary. So straight thats right of way was used in highway 17 and I 86....and they built it without any federal or state money...(The Erie had to be baled out by the state of NY)...If anyone in there lifetime sees passenger service on the Lackawanna between Jersey and Binghamton in there lifetime they will know that is the 8th wonder of the world
Route 17, now I86, west of Vestal was primarily built on the former DL&W right of way but not always on the road bed...and it was deeded to the State of NY in exchange for the State not opposing the merger of the DL&W with the Erie.
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Bonas,
From what I've read (and I'm sure Henry knows a lot more about this than I do) the Delaware Lackawanna and Western was from the outset better built and better operated than the Erie. The DL&W was also quite profitable for many years until the bottom fell out of its coal hauling.
But the original purpose of the two roads was quite different. The DL&W was built and acquired by mine owners to haul their anthracite to the New York harbor. The Erie was built to provide New York Farmers in southern counties a way to get their products to market and it did succeed at that mission. An especially notable example is the hauling of fresh milk to replace the "swill milk" that had been the only milk available in New York. So the Erie, for all of its faults, did its job. Perhaps we should shed a tear for the scarlet woman of Wall Street even though at the end age had taken her beauty and sin had left its sad scar.
John
The Erie was built to compete with the Erie Canal in tying the Hudson River and New York City to the Great Lakes and and mid west agriculture. The DL&W looked to move anthracite to markets in the midwest, Canada and NYC. The Erie soon was into the anthracite region on their own. Both roads had pride in their ranks with many giving the DL&W the nod for roadbed and route but only to Buffalo; the Erie had a longer and more twisting route, may leaps of single track, but went first to Dunkirk on Lake Erie, then west to Chicago bypassing Dunkirk. Theyh did get to Buffalo and Rochester, and into the western oil fields of PA while the DL&W went to Lake Ontario, Syracuse and Utica. Yes, built later, the DL&W did have a better route across NY while the Erie went through manufacturing centers..
PS. But you could take the Eire to Callicoon. Several years ago I read about the mystery of getting off the train at Callicoon and it has never left me.
Didn't the nickname "Old and Weary" refer to the NYO&W?
bedell Didn't the nickname "Old and Weary" refer to the NYO&W?
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
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