BMB #91 - Why an amazing Railroad Superhighway -- the Lackawanna Cutoff -- was ABANDONED 

That presentation was very good ! I did not know why the Lackawanna Cutoff was discontinued. I am looking foreward to seeing it being reopened again. Thank You !

Another factor in why NJ didn't stop Conrail from taking out the track in the 1980s is because at the time Pennsylvania wanted to allow casinos in the Poconos. NJ didn't want passenger rail service hauling people to the Poconos instead of the then new Atlantic City casinos. Amtrak was looking to establish a Pocono/Scranton service at the time.

"Until it was dwarfed- DWARFED!!!" Love the passion. It makes me excited to keep watching.

I thought I knew everything about the Cutoff, having watched Chuck Walsh's series. But I still learned from this.

The fills are still incredible to contemplate. On the Cutoff--apparently no speed restrictions around curves, no slow-downs on hills, double track, Wow! What a vision. I watch Chuck Walsh's uploads on the Cut-off too. I think he's up to #20.

I actually learned a lot from this video

I was quite young when the Eerie Locowana was dismantled in Indiana. It came though Huntington. As well as the Wabash RR. I do miss them both. 😕

Erie Lackawanna was folded into Conrail at the last minute. Conrail already had a system plan by that time, and it didn't include the EL system.

Crazy that Tunkhannock actually featured anti aircraft batteries during wartime. It was vital, and obviously such a massive marvel of engineering wouldn’t be fast or easy to replace if destroyed.

You make good points, but ignore one other important reason: After the Erie/Lackawanna merger in 1960, the dominant management team was mostly from the Erie. Whenever duplicate trackage had to be trimmed down, it was always the Lackawanna trackage that got the ax, even though the Lackawanna physical plant was generally in better shape than Erie. Years later, in the Conrail era, an ex-Erie official admitting that abandoning the Cutoff was a huge mistake.

Mike a great job! These cutoffs should be reopened. They should have been put in mothballs rather than being dismantled! No vision!

Thank you for this information. I’m a fan of this railroad. Didn’t know that the n mine accident and the hurricane really did them in. Thanks. What a beautiful railroad.

The Lackawanna Cutoff project needs to get it completed anytime soon!

Great information on the New Jersey cutoff on the Lackawanna railroad. I have on my coffee table the book Trackside around Scranton, PA 1952 to 1976. It has short stories on the railroads before Conrail. The Lehigh Valley where 7 members of my family worked on it out of Coxton Yard. My paternal grandfathers longtime friend worked on the Lackawanna which became the Erie Lackawanna on my 7th. Birthday October 17,1960. I'm an N scale model railroaded & my model railroad is the Pacific West Coast.

Loved the video. Very informative. You sir have earned a like and gained a subscriber!

My dad always told me stories of the Knox mine disaster his grandfather was a politician and went to go see it with him and watched the train cars get sucked into the hole and remembered people telling him the river will flow into it forever

I ran a greaser cart on the Erie Lackawanna RR back in 1970-72 out of Deposit NY

Truly enjoyed your enjoyment!!

Another factor in the abandonment of the Jersey Cut-Off was the fear by ConRail that the Delaware and Hudson Railroad would be granted operating rights over it to access Northern New Jersey to create competition. Pull up the tracks and you have no way for another railroad to compete with you.

Erie and Lackawanna merged and shifted most of the freight to the Erie line. Erie Lackawanna sold the right of way section for rt 80 to be built. It could have kept one track but chose to sell the whole right away for 2 million dollars. They were broke and needed the money.

Nice work!!! Live in SW Florida. A nice girl named Irma came through 17 months ago and changed a lot of things. Now to help the dog burn off some energy.

Your videos are great. My son and I learn lots and enjoy the presentation

Good job brother 👍 Now we have a bunch of great tunnels to visit!!

At 2:27 is CR 6669 formerly EL 3638. I saw 3638 once as EL. I would catch 6669 many times. All still in red/white/blue. CR 6670 is the only surviving SDP45 in the USA.

Terrific summary of the demise of the Cutoff and the mighty EL. When any of you out there have the time and resources,, visit Scranton, PA and Steamtown National Historic Park and enjoy the roundhouse and ongoing yard work by restored Alcos and other classic locomotives. Thanks.

Mike just revisited this site where you discuss the cutoff. Funny in today’s world I see a renaissance in rail travel. It is exciting! America and Canada have beautiful scenery seen from the railroad. The adventure of traveling by train to faraway places may again be happening. Imagine traveling to Chicago on a newly rebuilt Twentieth Century limited train outfitted with the exact same livery as they did in the thirties and forties with the streamlined J on the front end. The red carpet in Grand Central station as well. Or the long slant nosed E6 GM diesel pulling the orange blossom special to Florida.

On the ladder of life if you don't improve and educate yourself the view at the top never changes! Think about that! I go through the viaduct in Andover quite often. US 206 goes under it there. I always wondered why did they build such a high level track! It's got to be at least 100 feet high at that point! Now I know!

True reason, nobody wanted to pay for a boiler tech on the lift bridge at Rutherford on the Passaic river...

I’ve always wanted to visit the abandoned nj transit trains there

The CNJ also went through this same area up towards Scranton

The severing of the Boonton Branch around Garret Mountain by Erie Lackawanna also did not help. Heavy freight trains now had to battle the grade on the Greenwood Lake Line at Great Notch in Little Falls. Then of course later on Conrail was formed which now had several lines going generally the same way.

Another reason was the Erie Lackawanna abandoning the Boonton branch which was the most efficient connection between the Lackawanna Cut-Off and New York City. This meant that they needed to use slower track to get to the Cut-Off which defeated the purpose of having such a high-speed rout.

Save the Alford Station and Towers! Great Video!

I like this guy, he's neat.

Good job! Mention Chuck Walsh's work sometime soon. Thanks.

This was interesting

Yes visit Pennsylvania it's the most beautiful place it's so ancient!

Britain's Great Central met the same date.. Fastest , most modern , best grades and curvature no grade crossings etc etc.

the Lackawanna Cutoff is being rebuilt by NJ transit ! :)

Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸

the Lackawanna could have been a super rail road but the following problems got in the way bad grades on both sides of Scranton Pa needed helper services to get out of town. Dansville Ny grade was also very tought

Mike, could you create a video about the California Zephyr? I rode the full line in 2004 both ways. If the video takes 15 or 30 minutes to cover it, I'll watch the whole thing! -Chris

Given the enormous growth of the region abandoning (vs simple shutdown) of such infrastructure was stupid and foreseeably so! Every commuter on a train is one less car choking the roads. Rail built the northeast long before cars were common. Done right it's convenient (I loved sleeping en-route), energy-efficient and a vital enhancer to regional infrastructure.

This is honestly the most engaging train history video I have seen yet. Great delivery style. Please do more of them.

Well, yes this is some of the story. Erie & DLW merged 10/17/60. Both were in shaky financial shape, hence the merger. They ran both routes the Erie via Port Jervis and the DLW. They favored the Erie at first, then shifted in the 70's to the DLW. What really killed the Cut-Off was New Jersey. Conrail had the LV,NYC,PRR and EL all going to Buffalo. Well,you don't 4 routes from NYC to Buffalo. So they picked the NYC,from North Jersey to Albany and then west. No grades,it had on-line business and Selkirk is the major yard for New England and NY/NJ. The others are pretty much gone,servered or shortlines. Now New Jersey. New Jersey heavily taxes railroad property it's one of the reasons CNJ,was bankrupt by 1967. In the USRA plan,rationalizing rail routes was key. Density,on line business,population etc was all evaluated. Unfortunately the Cut-Off while a great piece of engineering didn't measure up. Conrail did use it until 1978. By then the rehab of the NYC,allowed them to discontinue using the Cut-Off. So it was really modern day reality, that ended it. Regarding the re-opening. I don't know if it's worth it for just 3 trains each way a day. I would rather see it extended to Binghamton or Buffalo. I know everyone is excited about this, but these questions need to be answered. The ridership figures look a little high at 480,000 a year on 6 trains a day. You can't build a railroad and walk away. It needs to be maintained,on a regular basis,track,signals,bridges etc. It has no signals or PTC, or even dispatching,that will be necessary costs with everything else.

The expanded D&H bought the "other side" of the cutoff, from Scranton to Binghamton, and they were eying the Pocono Mountain Route covetously. That would have been REAL competition, and Conrail couldn't have THAT. CR removed the NY Cutoof rails despite a court order not to do so.

would freight train's use the rail line of it gets rebuilt ?

Wow

That sounds similar to The Milwaukee Road bankruptcy

Sure hope Chuck gets to see it restored before he dies!

How can you do a video about the reasons the Cut Off was abandoned and NEVER EVER (!) MENTION ConRail??

I thought you were going to answer why the Cut-off was abandoned. Simply click-bait!

William Truesdale the Father of the Cutoff!!

5:10. 10,000 jobs, man that had to hurt the coal mining industry.

Can’t imagine how costly it would be to construct the Cutoff in today’s currency

Greyhound and Martz I can assure you are dead set against any restoring of the Lackawanna Route. They benefit from any government programs and road improvements and they don't want competition nor sharing of any government funding. Use your head! Plus the commuter airlines to Scranton they have government grants, traffic control etc. The trains disappeared when the mail was put on GM trucks.

You've covered my 4 favorite viaducts. Thank you.

The NJ cutoff is coimg back.

If it was such a fast line, with lighter degree curves, why wasn't it kept if even by another road instead of inferior routes?

the Lackawanna cutoff was killed because conrail decided to do so in favor of pen central employees!!

I thought Phoebe Snow was real. She had a few hit songs.

Such a big handsome man, and so passionate about the topic at hand. I just love watching your warm smile and the enthusiastic way in which you express yourself. Killer smile, too! I just watched this and know of what you are speaking: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qWlcaZ8MtVs.html

steam is king

0:26 because conrail became a piece of crap not wanting to run trains but to get rid of as much track as possible

Why no creamery's? I love Blue Bell Dairys' milk and goods... It's Pennslyvania, for Christs' sake.

Why? Because of the auto industry. Simple.

Thanks to stupid Conrail

That's terrible

Those train sound effects are giving me anxiety, please make it stop