Lehigh Valley Railroad

Lehigh Valley Railroad

The Lehigh Valley Railroad system: the Lehigh Line, the railroad's first rail line and main line, is in bold black and the branch lines (feeder lines) are in non bold black (lighter black).
Reporting mark	LV
Locale	New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
Dates of operation	1846–1976
Successor	Conrail (the main line and branch lines were transferred to Norfolk Southern Railway)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

The Lehigh Valley Railroad (reporting mark LV) was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, wares, merchandise and minerals in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the railroad was incorporated/established on September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. On January 7, 1853, the railroad's name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad. It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported. At the time, anthracite was transported by boat down the Lehigh River; the railroad was meant to be faster transportation. The railroad ended operations in 1976 and merged into Conrail along with several northeastern railroads that same year.

During its existence, the Lehigh Valley Railroad used a rail line that later became known as the Lehigh Line in order for it to operate. The Lehigh Line was the railroad's first rail line constructed which was built in 1855 between Easton, Pennsylvania and Allentown, Pennsylvania and it served as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Serving as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the rail line expanded past Allentown to Buffalo, New York and past Easton to New York City, bringing the Lehigh Valley Railroad to these metro areas. During the early years, the line served as the body of the Lehigh Valley Railroad until the railroad either built more rail lines or railroads, acquired more rail lines or railroads, and merged other railroads into their system. The line was known as the Lehigh Valley Mainline during the majority of its time under the ownership of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, starting in the 1930s. The line was absorbed with the Lehigh Valley Railroad into Conrail and they maintained the line as a main line into the New York City area; the line became known as the Lehigh Line during the Conrail ownership. Conrail shortened the line by abandoning most of its route to Buffalo. The Lehigh Line still exists and retains its original route but it now also doesn't reach close to New York City but still maintains trackage into the New York City area. The Lehigh Line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway and has lost its trackage miles between Manville, New Jersey and Newark, New Jersey.