Front cover image for The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the nineteenth century, 1828-1899 : the Road of Anthracite : the history of the formation and development of the D.L. & W. "family" of railroads, and their locomotives, which, in the following century became one of our most admired and beloved railroads

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the nineteenth century, 1828-1899 : the Road of Anthracite : the history of the formation and development of the D.L. & W. "family" of railroads, and their locomotives, which, in the following century became one of our most admired and beloved railroads

Thomas Townsend Taber
The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western was not one of America's "BIG" railroads, as it only stretched four hundred miles form New York City to Buffalo, on Lake Erie. However, it was never in bankruptcy; was free of scandal; was well run; and during much of its corporate existence was profitable. Its greatness was in the hearts of men -- those who made and ran the railroad; those who faithfully patronized it; and its unseen army of admirers. Generations of loyal commuters sang its praises, and the friendship between the train crews and their daily passengers was one of the Lackawanna's valuable and unique assets. Because there never was -- and never will be again -- a railroad like it, its life story must be chronicled so that future generations may know of it. This volume covers approximatley the first half of the corporate life span of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad -- up to the end of an era -- the close of the nineteenth century. It was a very different railroad in the twentieth century. The D. L. & W. was created in 1853 as the result of an end-to-end merger of two predecessor railroads. Its corporate entity was ended by the side-by-side merger in 1960. This book includes the history of each of the railroads which, during the nineteenth century became a part of the D. L. & W. "Family of Railroads". Also included is a description and geneology of the locomotives used on these railroads, and their disposition in the reorganization of the motive power department in 1899. Although the Lackawanna always had, and still has, a host of admirers, today few are alive who knew the railroad in the nineteenth century. It is the purpose fo this work to convey a picture of the railroad and its growth in the nineteenth century to serve as background for its tremendous development and accomplishments in the twentieth century, which are known to far more friends of the Lackawanna
Print Book, English, ©1977
Thomas T. Taber III, Muncy, Pa., ©1977