Bethlehem Railroad

Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad

Company type	Railroad company
Industry	Rail transport
Predecessor	Bethlehem Railroad (chartered 1862)
Founded	1864
Defunct	1904
Fate	Merged into Lehigh and New England Railroad
Headquarters	Bethlehem , United States
Area served	Pennsylvania, United States

The Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad was a railroad enterprise in the United States, incorporated in 1864. Its first operational route, inaugurated in 1867, connected Bethlehem with Chapman. At its height, the railway stretched from Bethlehem all the way to Wind Gap. In 1904, it was integrated into the Lehigh and New England Railroad. Certain sections were discontinued in 1962, while the remaining portions currently belong to the Norfolk Southern Railway's Cement Secondary line.

History

Initially chartered as the Bethlehem Railroad in 1862, its purpose was to construct a rail line heading northward from the Lehigh River at Bethlehem, following the course of Monocacy Creek. The route to Chapman officially opened on November 28, 1867. Within Bethlehem, it connected to the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (L&S), which later came under control of the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ). The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (LC&NC), owner of L&S, took a lease on the Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad in 1868; subsequently, CNJ leased both railroads in 1871.

Under the administration of CNJ, the line was extended beyond Chapman to reach Wind Gap by August 14, 1878. This extension linked with the Pennsylvania and New England Railroad, an antecedent of the Lehigh and New England. Further connectivity was established when the Wind Gap and Delaware Railroad completed a stretch from Wind Gap to Bangor in 1883, connecting with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

The company underwent reorganization as the Lehigh and Delaware Railroad on July 7, 1904. Shortly thereafter, by December of that year, it was merged by LC&NC into the Lehigh and New England Railroad (L&NE). The segment running from Bethlehem to Benders Junction was designated as L&NE’s Bethlehem Branch, while the portion from Benders Junction to Wind Gap became part of L&NE’s main line.

Following World War II, reductions in coal shipments combined with changes in cement transportation caused L&NE to cease operations on October 31, 1961. The Central Railroad of New Jersey then established the Lehigh and New England Railway to acquire certain lines including the stretch from Bethlehem to Bath; other sections were abandoned in 1962. Experiencing financial difficulties during the 1970s, this railway was absorbed into Conrail in 1976. Conrail merged the Bethlehem Branch with segments of the Martins Creek Branch, forming what is known as the Cement Secondary, which runs between Bethlehem and Forks Township passing through Nazareth. This line was transferred to the ownership of Norfolk Southern Railway during Conrail’s division in 1999.