Newtown Creek Railroad Bridge

The Newtown Creek Railroad Bridge carried the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad over Newtown Creek. It is a Baltimore Truss, although it has an uncommon configuration. This bridge has a heavy skew which required additional bracing and vertical endposts. Unfortunetly there is no information about the history of this bridge, but it is likely the original bridge from the early 1880’s.

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also called the DL&W) opened it’s first section of track in 1851, which connected Scranton with Great Bend in Pennsylvania. Additional track was opened in 1856 which connected Scranton to the Deleware River. These tracks were originally built with wide gauge, but the whole system was re-gauged to standard gauge on March 15, 1876. At this point, the system included track rights on a variety of other railroads. In the early 1880’s, addional tracks were built in NY connecting to Utica, Syracuse, Ithica, Oswego, Buffalo, and the International Bridge to Ontario. In 1911, the Lackawanna Cutoff, a low grade cutoff in northwestern New Jersey, was opened. The Pennsylvania Cutoff (also called the Summit-Hallstead Cutoff) was constructed from 1912 to 1915. This rebuilt the hilly and winding sections between Clarks Summit and Hallstead in PA and also provided a quicker low-grade line between Scranton and Binghamton.

The profibatility of the railraod startred to decline in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Then, in August of 1955, Hurricane Diane devastated the Pocono Mountains region. The floods cut the tracks in 88 places, and destoyed over 60 miles of track. The railroad rebuilt the tracks, but suffered millions of dollars in damages and lost revenue, and would never fully recover. In January of 1959, the Knox Mine Disaster flooded mines along the Susquahanna River, which further cut into the railroads profit. The Lackawanna mainline trackage between Binghampton and Buffalo (including this bridge) was abandoned in 1958.

The DL&W’s most profitible commodity was coal, although it also carried other freight and passengers.

The merger, forming the Erie Lackawanna Railroad Company, took effect on October 17, 1960.

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This rail line is now closed and it has been turned into the Lackawanna Rail Trail.

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad was completed through Elmira in 1882 as it connected Buffalo, New York, with Hoboken, New Jersey. The popular Phoebe Snow passenger train, advertised as burning cleaner coal than its competitors and having the smoothest ride of any passenger train, traveled this route from 1949 to 1966. The line merged with its rival in 1960 to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad, which later succumbed to flooding and declining economic conditions.

This unusual bridge is noted for its heavy skew, and unusual bracing to accommodate this, and the skew may also be the reason for the unusual vertical endposts. The uncommon Baltimore truss configuration adds to its significance. The bridge has been converted for rail-trail usage.