Lehigh Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad

The Lehigh Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad (a.k.a. Lehigh and Northern Railroad) was a regional railroad operating in eastern Pennsylvania out of in the historic valley of the Schuylkill Valley, on the fringe of the Southeastern Anthracite Coal Region. The railroad has taken over a series of abandoned track from a number of defunct railroad operations once thriving when Anthracite was an industrial energy of choice. The rail road had a short career as a corporate name and reporting mark, and is today the repeat award winning Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad.
History
Originally known as the Blue Mountain and Lehigh Railroad, the Lehigh Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad was founded in 1986 to provide freight service. Starting in 1985, the BM&L began operating passenger excursions over the line, and one steam locomotives, ex-Canadian National 2-6-0 475. The BM&L also began operating 3 additional state owned lines. Additionally, the BM&L entered into a partnership with the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society, and the Reading & Northern who leased track space in Leesport, PA and in return leased two diesel locomotives and assorted passenger cars for use on the line.
In 1990, The Blue Mountain and Lehigh took ownership of 150 miles of track located in the Coal Region north of Reading. Shortly thereafter, the company was renamed Reading Blue Mountain and Northern and relocated its headquarters from Port Clinton to Allentown, PA.
Main lines
LBMN operates the following three main lines on of track:
* Reading Division: Reading, Pennsylvania-Packerton, Pennsylvania along the Lehigh River,and the Lehigh Division: Allentown-Easton, Pennsylvania.
** The line runs from Reading to Allentown along former Conrail and Lehigh Valley lines. At its south end, it connects to the Norfolk Southern Railway's Reading Line; its east end is at the Norfolk Southern's Lehigh Line which parallels the LBMN's Lehigh Division.
 
*Lehigh Division: Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania-Allentown, Pennsylvania (was Mehoopany, Pennsylvania).
** This line forms a fork from Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania one branch running easterly through Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania and connecting via a junction to Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania or Hazleton, Pennsylvania and the second branch runs northerly via the Delaware River, climbs to Mountain Top, Pennsylvania with a double track running from there most of the way to the Allentown (or Bethlehem Yard, or Jim Thorpe Yard) at Allentown,Jim Thorpe, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Taylor Yard in Taylor, Pennsylvania outside Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu