| Railroad Name: | Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad |
| Logo Filename: | Official logo - D-L - TM GVT Rail - uploaded by co. officer.png |
| Marks: | DL |
| Length: | 88miles |
| Locale: | Northeastern Pennsylvania |
| Start Year: | 1993 |
| End Year: | Present |
| Predecessor: | Conrail Delaware and Hudson Railway |
| Hq City: | Batavia, New York (GVT Corporate headquarters), Scranton, Pennsylvania (DL main office) |
| Website: | Genesee Valley Transportation Co., Inc. |
The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially the Scranton area.
DL began service in August 1993 and is the designated operator for 88miles of trackage in Lackawanna, Wayne, Northampton, and Monroe Counties. It is a subsidiary of holding company Genesee Valley Transportation Company, Inc. (GVT). It was founded by Jeffrey Baxter, Charles Riedmiller, John Herbrand, Michael Thomas and David Monte Verde who continue to make up its corporate ownership.[1]
GVT began in 1985 in upstate New York marketing rail-related services to both private and public industry throughout the northeast.
Under contract with the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA), who owns the rail assets and properties,[2] GVT operates within Lackawanna, Wayne, Monroe, and Northampton counties on these following lines:
As of 2022 there are about 25 active rail industries in the region with the possibility of several new rail dependent industrial prospects for the region.
These are the lines hosting the seasonal passenger trains of both the Steamtown National Historic Site, the Electric City Trolley Museum, and the Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society. The Pocono Mainline has hosted a number of excursions out of Steamtown, including excursions of the Nickel Plate 765.[3] [4]
In 2015 the authority extended DL's lease for five years.[5]
The DL interchanges with Norfolk Southern Railway in Taylor, Pennsylvania, Norfolk Southern in Portland, Pennsylvania via Slateford Junction near Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, and the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad via Duryea Yard outside Pittston, Pennsylvania, thus connecting to the Great Lakes via Sayre Yard and New Jersey and New York City via former Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ).
In the summer of 1998, under a haulage agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), the DL had operated unit Canadian grain trains between Taylor, Pennsylvania and the Ardent Mills Grain Mill at Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania. Operated by DL crews, these trains averaged approximately 52 cars. The grain trains to Ardent Mills Grain Mill still continue, but the haulage agreement is now with Norfolk Southern since NS now owns Taylor Yard.
The DL is renowned as a bastion for both rebuilding and operating 70+ year-old ALCO diesels on a daily basis. It is the only railroad operating four ALCO RS-3s and the owner of the only remaining ALCO C636 in existence.
A new unified color scheme of gray and white with red and yellow stripes was to be applied to GVT system units beginning in 2006 as they exit the South Scranton shops; the most recent being rebuilt ALCO C425 No. 2457 in the summer of 2016. No. 3000 appeared in September 2016.