This page will cover the former Erie Railroad mainline along the Delaware River from Port Jervis to Binghamton, NY.  This very scenic, but also very rural, area allowed the Erie to by-pass the mountain grades faced by the Lackawanna over in Pennsylvania and the Ontario & Western a few miles east in New York.  The only real grade was from Deposit to Starucca, PA.  Today the line is very quiet.  The only activity is the one night train operated by the Susquehanna.  The trains head west one night and turn back east on the next.  Sundays, there is no activity at all. 
Just west of Port Jervis the railroad crosses over to the Pennsylvania side of the river for a few miles.  The bridge at Mill Rift was a regular spot for lucky railfans.  I was not amongst that group.  I never did see a westbound or any through trains for that matter during any of my visits to Jervis.  Oh well, can't win 'em all.

The first image is of Lackawaxen, PA.  It is here that the Erie built a branch west toward Scranton, PA.  The line wound through the hills passing through Hawley and Honesdale, PA.  After the Conrail takeover, the line was home to several passenger excursions out of Honesdale.  I do not know of the current status of operations over the branch today.

Back on July 27, 1975 I was fortunate enough to chase one the EL's premier freights east from the Starucca Viaduct all the way to this location at Narrowsburg, NY.  The train is NY-100, the hot, mostly UPS trailers, from Chicago to Croxton.  Despite its status, the train didn't seem to be zooming along.  Perhaps because it was a Sunday and the train would be in Croxton by morning, the crew seemed to be loafing along at a modest pace.  This was OK by me since it allowed time to get to the next location. 

The next station is at Cohecton, NY.  This is from a November 1988 visit so it is very much a Conrail era photo.  The station signs are still very much in evidence.  While Conrail had very little interest in using this line, there were two things that kept in it service.  One was the pressure from the New York politicians that did not want to see the line pulled up like the Lackawanna main across New Jersey.  They even mandated Conrail to move certain number of cars per week over the line.  Rumor had it that Conrail would simply move a train of mostly empties back and forth each day just to keep the politicians happy.  The other reason Conrail kept this line was to ensure another railroad would not buy up the former EL from Buffalo to New Jersey.  If the CN, for example, bought up the EL track, it could have given Conrail some tough competion.  I'm only making a logical assumption, but it does sound plausible.

This location is somewhere near Damascus, PA, but over on the New York side of the river.

This is the station at Callicoon, NY.  This would be about the half-way point between Port Jervis and Binghamton. 

I'm sorry for the quality of this one as I only had a small Instamatic camera back then.  Over the Memorial Day weekend, 1973, the E-L ran a fantrip using the former Reading T-1 2102 disguised as Delaware & Hudson 302 from Hoboken to Binghamton.  The trip went up on the Erie side and went back via Scranton on the old Lackawanna side.  On both days the weather was cloudy and dark.  The train stopped at Callicoon for coal and water and was probably one the biggest days in this towns history.  BTW, the trip included the two day train fare, a banquet at a hotel in Binghamton with dinner and a hotel room for $39.00.  Yep, thirty-nine bucks.

Here is NY-100 again near Callicoon.  Possibly Hankin?

This is the town of Hancock, NY from November 1988.  The bridge crosses the East branch of the Delaware River on the southeast side of town.  The other photo is of the small downtown area.

On the west side of town is the location of the former Ontario & Western Scranton Branch bridge over the Erie and the river.  You can see the old concrete bridge abutment in the photo.  Downtown Hancock is just beyond the trees in the distance.

More images from Hancock to Binghaton to come along shortly.


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While we were at Callicoon, this eastbound freight arrived and waited things out on the siding.  More politics, I know, but at the time most of the E-L through freights were operating via the Erie side due to the easier grades and the straight in entrance to Croxton yard in Secaucus, NJ.  A rather powerful Scranton area Senator was informed of this and did not like the railroad by-passing 'his' city.  Some time in the latter half of 1973 or early 1974, most trains then had to go via Scranton.