Delaware and Hudson Railway

The Delaware and Hudson Railway ( D & H) was a railway company in the northeastern United States and was once the oldest American railway companies operating continuously. It was founded in 1823 as the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company to construct a canal from Honesdale (Pennsylvania ) to Rondout (New York) on the Hudson River. In this mainly anthracite from several mines was transported to New York in the northeast Pennsylvania.

Rail traffic as a ship shuttle

Between a coal mine near Carbondale (Pennsylvania ) and the channel in Honesdale was begun in April 1826 a railway line. The course consisted of a series slate rope levels that were associated with horizontal lines, which should be driven by locomotives. The company imported to 1829 four steam locomotives from England, including the Stourbridge Lion. This locomotive first test drives for a commercial steam locomotive operating on a railroad track in the United States was conducted. The locomotive was too heavy for the rails of the train, which consisted of little weather-resistant beams Hemlocktannenholz with nailed metal plates. The locomotives were therefore shut off after the test drive and the trains between the inclined cable planes drawn with horses.

As of 1843, the railroad of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company for connecting additional mines was gradually extended towards the west, where in 1863 the about 70 km from Honesdale Scranton away the largest town of the region has been reached. Since 1860, in addition to the freight - which was still mostly conducted in the load direction ( to the channel ) without locomotives, utilizing the force of gravity - even a modest passenger offered on the rail link.

Expansion

From the mid- 1860s, the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company its focus began to shift from the shipping operation on the rail and to further distances her train network - run completely contrary to the existing topography and operationally limited gravity railway with locomotives - to expand. This was done not only by building your own tracks, but especially through the acquisition of existing railway companies and isolated over the acquisition of Trackage Rights, rights of use of rail routes of other companies. The result was a network of routes, starting from the Northeast Pennsylvania mainly covered the northern part of the State of New York, but also reached Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec.

The original canal was last used in November 1891 and sold on 13 June 1899. In the same year, on 28 April 1899 it was renamed the former Delaware and Hudson Canal Company in Delaware and Hudson Company ( D & H). Also in 1899, the original gravity railroad was shut down, having already since 1870 was a largely parallel full train track.

His greatest extent reached the route network of the D & H from 1915 until the late 1920s, with a length of around 1440 km before some short sections abandoned for economic reasons and the D & H subsidiary, Quebec, Montreal and Southern Railway sold in 1929 to the Canadian National Railway were. On April 1, 1930, the Delaware and Hudson Company was reorganized into the already founded on December 1, 1928 Delaware and Hudson Railroad.

Further development in the 20th century

In the 1930s, the anthracite shipments that continue to constitute the backbone of the D & H freight began to date, clear back. In response, the D & H began to refocus as a bridge line 1938 and recruiting greater numbers on regional transportation, the D & H used in transit. This strategy was successful and gave the D & H significant increases in traffic.

1968 acquired the holding company DERECO the D & H, which was also renamed Delaware and Hudson Railway. The D & H was one of the few railroads in the Northeast, which was not in the 1970's in bankruptcy. After the founding of the state company Conrail in 1976, the D & H expanded its route network and received rights of passage on a large part of the Conrail network. The company was taken over in 1984 by Guilford Transportation for only $ 500,000, making the meantime reached the state of finances and infrastructure of the D & H was reflected. Guilford Transportation declared the D & H on June 20, 1988 as insolvent. While sections were acquired in Pennsylvania by the Lackawanna County took over on the other D & H network, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway provisional operation.

In 1991 the D & H was eventually sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway ( CPR), which thus could increase their presence in the northeastern United States. The CPR has invested large sums in the infrastructure of the D & H lines, but initially could not post the expected traffic growth. From 1996 to 2000, the former D & H was spun off into a CPR subsidiary, St. Lawrence and Hudson Railway, was thought at times about their sale. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the D & H lines but again play a greater role as part of the access of the CPR in the Greater New York City.