By the 1790s, industrializing eastern population centers were having increasing troubles getting
charcoal to fuel their growing kilns, smithies, and foundries. As local timber was denuded, efforts to find an alternative energy source began. During a fuel shortage in
Philadelphia during the
War of 1812, an employee at the direction of industrialist
Josiah White conducted a series of experiments and discovered a number of ways that
anthracite coal could be successfully ignited and burned. The fuel had been seen more as a way to put out a fire than a fuel to build one up, so its use also had to overcome prejudice. White and his partner
Erskine Hazard founded the
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, creating the
Lehigh Canal, and inspiring the exploitation of anthracite deposits found by William Wurts in and around
Carbondale, Pennsylvania, which led to the development of
Scranton. By 1824, the mills of White and Hazard, and the regular large boatloads of anthracite they proved they could supply, tipped the prejudice against anthracite in Philadelphia when the Lehigh River was damaged by flooding. The news of its rapid repair and restoration together with the fact anthracite stocks had for a time run down, but not out, establishing the reliable sourcing finished off the bias, so took a trip to explore the sparsely settled regions of
Northeastern Pennsylvania. Finding coal outcrops, he immediately realized the value of the extensive anthracite deposits. Returning to Philadelphia, he successfully interested his brothers in backing the idea of building a
canal to make easier transporting coal to New York City. The city was still feeling the effects of the depletion of stands of woodlands providing heating and cooking firewood and also squeezed by continuing post-
War of 1812 import restrictions on British
bituminous coal, on which it had once been relying. The canal he proposed (the first sections of the
Erie Canal, opened in 1821, creating news coverage) would also tie the developing industries along the Delaware to the Hudson, which helped raise financing. At the time, nearly all the eastern cities were experiencing energy cost increases and difficulty in getting large quantities of fuel, as most nearby timber stands had been used up, often for charcoal production enabling
foundries to start up, which now needed fuel to stay in business. This general condition around most long established cities and towns in the United States is one reason so much venture capital was raised for coal and coal transportation projects after 1823 and into the early 1840s, once
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company had blazed a way forward steadily increasing annual shipping to over a remarkable by 1825. The
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company originates from the 1823
New York corporation charter listing the unusual name of "The President, Managers and Company of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co." authorizing an establishment of "water communication" between the
Delaware River and the
Hudson River. The D&H was chartered by separate laws in the states of New York and
Pennsylvania in 1823 and 1826, respectively, allowing William Wurts and his brother Maurice to construct the
Delaware and Hudson Canal and the gravity railroad that served it. In January 1825, following a demonstration of anthracite heating in a Wall Street coffeehouse, the D&H's public stock offering raised a million dollars. At the time, the Lehigh Canal had established a reliable flow of increasing annual tonnages, To get the
anthracite from the Wurts' mine in the
Moosic Mountains near
Carbondale to the canal at Honesdale, the canal company built the
Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad. The state of Pennsylvania authorized its construction on April 8, 1826. On August 8, 1829, the D&H's first
locomotive, the
Stourbridge Lion, made history as the first locomotive to run on rails in the United States. Westward extensions of the railroad opened access to new mines at
Archbald in 1843,
Valley Junction in 1858,
Providence in 1860, and
Scranton in 1863. Passenger service began west of Carbondale in 1860. The canal was a successful enterprise for many of its early years, but the company's management realized that railroads were the future of transportation, and began investing in stock and trackage. In 1898, the canal carried its last loads of coal and was drained and sold. The next year, the company dropped the "Canal" from its name. The remaining fragments of the canal were designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1968.
Delaware and Hudson Company As railroads grew in popularity, the canal company recognized the importance of replacing the canal with a railroad. The first step of this was the Jefferson Railroad, a line from Carbondale north towards New York, chartered in 1864, financed by the D&H, built by the
Erie Railroad in 1869, and opened in 1872. This was a branch of the Erie, running south from the
main line at
Lanesboro to Carbondale. Also built as part of this line was a continuation from the other side of the D&H's gravity railroad at Honesdale southeast to the Erie's Pennsylvania Coal Company railroad at
Hawley. The Jefferson Railroad (and through it the Erie) obtained
trackage rights over the D&H between its two sections, and the D&H obtained trackage rights to Lanesboro. The other part of the main line was the
Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, which was leased to the D&H on February 24, 1870 in perpetuality for $490,000 per year. The Delaware and Hudson already had a history of working with the Albany and Susquehanna, agreeing in 1866 to jointly build an extension to Nineveh and subsequently ship coal across the entire line. The connecting
Lackawanna and Susquehanna Railroad, chartered in 1867 and opened in 1872, was also absorbed. The Albany and Susquehanna provided a line from
Albany southwest to
Binghamton, while the Lackawanna and Susquehanna split from that line at
Nineveh, running south to the Jefferson Railroad, south of Lanesboro. Also leased in 1870 was the
Schenectady and Susquehanna Railroad, connecting the Albany and Susquehanna at
Duanesburg to
Schenectady, opened in 1872 (reorganized as the Schenectady and Duanesburg Railroad in 1873). On March 1, 1871, the D&H leased the
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad Company, which, along with its leased lines, provided a network stretching north from Albany and Schenectady to
Saratoga Springs, and continuing northeast to
Rutland, Vermont, as well as an eastern route to Rutland via
trackage rights over the
Troy and Boston Railroad west of
Eagle Bridge. The D&H also obtained a quarter interest in the
Troy Union Railroad from this lease. On March 1, 1873, the D&H got the
New York and Canada Railroad chartered as a merger of the
Whitehall and Plattsburgh Railroad and
Montreal and Plattsburgh Railroad, which had been owned by the
Rutland Railroad. This provided
an extension, completed in 1875, north from
Whitehall to the border with
Quebec; a branch opened in 1876 to
Rouses Point. Lines of the
Grand Trunk Railway continued each of the two branches north to
Montreal. The D&H obtained trackage rights over the
Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad in 1886, extending the main line southwest from Scranton to
Wilkes-Barre. On July 11, 1889, the D&H bought the
Adirondack Railway, a long branch line heading north from
Saratoga Springs along the Hudson River. Upon gaining control of the
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad Company in 1871, new repair shops were built north of Albany, New York at Green Island. The following year, shops and a locomotive terminal were added midway between Albany and Binghamton at Oneonta. For 40 years the Green Island Shops and Oneonta Shops were the primary back shops for the system. Some company directors questioned the wisdom of acquiring extensive rail systems in northern New York. A direct line to Albany existed for many years through the canal and river system, so most of the coal markets in the area were already accessible. These concerns were overruled by the majority, who believed great benefit would accrue to having an all-rail route to
Upstate New York that was not nearly as vulnerable to winter weather as the canal. Avoiding situations in which the company would have to rely on other railroads to reach its markets also would be desirable. The effort was helped by a report that estimated necessary upgrades to the canal would cost $300,000, an expenditure that would not be needed if rail routes could be purchased or leased. On April 1, 1930, the property of the Delaware and Hudson Company was transferred to the
Delaware and Hudson Railroad Corporation, incorporated December 1, 1928. In 1938, the D&H started to act as a
bridge line, carrying large amounts of freight between other connecting lines. After the Second World War the D&H, like all railroads in the United States, gradually curtailed passenger service. By 1957, the D&H had ended service between Albany and
Lake George (via Fort Edward) and between Albany and
North Creek (via Saratoga Springs) in the southeast part of
Adirondack Park. The D&H had also ended service on its branch between Plattsburgh and Lyon Mountain during this period. By 1960, service consisted of the following trains: the daytime
Laurentian and overnight
Montreal Limited between New York City and Montreal, unnamed local trains between Albany and Rouses Point and Albany and Binghamton, and a commuter train between Albany and Saratoga Springs. The D&H discontinued the Rouses Point locals in July 1960, the Albany–Saratoga commuter train in late 1962, and the Binghamton train on January 24, 1963. The
Laurentian and
Montreal Limited remained in operation through the 1960s until April 30, 1971, when Amtrak thereafter assumed most long-distance passenger-train service. After more than three years of lapsed service, Amtrak introduced the daytime
Adirondack over the D&H line on August 6, 1974.
Delaware and Hudson Railway (1968–1988) passing Train 9, The Montreal Limited'', near
Delson, Quebec, in September 1968 in
Montreal, in August 1970 In 1964, Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) filed an application to purchase the
Nickel Plate Road and the
Wabash Railroad. The
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) approved their purchase, under the condition that they take over the D&H and the
Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL). The N&W subsequently placed the EL and D&H under their new holding company, Dereco, and the D&H company was reorganized as the Delaware and Hudson Rail
way. Following the bankruptcy of numerous northeastern U.S. railroads in the 1970s, including EL, N&W lost control of Dereco stock. After several merger plans fell through, EL petitioned for and became included in the formation of the federal government's nascent
Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail). The D&H was left out of Conrail to maintain a semblance of competition in the northeast. While the D&H was still owned by N&W, they were given no financial support and told to "sink or swim" as an independent railroad again. In 1980, Conrail sold their former DL&W main line from Binghamton to Scranton to the D&H; being a more level and direct route to Scranton, this acquisition allowed the D&H to abandon its famed Penn Division between Carbondale and their former Erie/EL connection at Jefferson Junction. The success of this action has often been discredited, since the D&H was too small to compete with the services provided by Conrail, and the railroad doubled in size by gaining trackage rights over Conrail to Newark, Philadelphia, Buffalo, and
Washington, D.C.. The remainder of the Penn Division from Lanesboro, Pennsylvania, to Nineveh, New York, was abandoned after the
Belden Hill tunnel was enlarged in 1986. In 1984,
Guilford Transportation Industries purchased the D&H as part of a plan to operate a larger regional railroad from
Maine and
New Brunswick in the east, to New York City and the
Midwest in the west,
Montreal in the north, and the Philadelphia and
Washington metropolitan areas to the south. Guilford paid for the D&H for $500,000, a price that reflected the D&H's poor financial problems and the poor condition of its physical plant. At the time of the purchase, the D&H had little remaining freight traffic, relying on federal and state money to continue operations. Guilford's plans for expanded operations did not come to fruition. On June 20, 1988, following two intense labor strikes, Guilford filed the D&H for bankruptcy, and they disbanded all of the D&H's operations and assets. Guilford stated that the D&H's assets were worth $70 million at the time of the bankruptcy. Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, officials purchased the Carbondale-Scranton route, and it later began to serve a growing number of industries in the valley under the auspices of the designated operator,
Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad. The ICC opted to arrange for the D&H to be absorbed into Conrail. Walter G. Rich, the president and CEO of the
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W), quickly lobbied against the arrangement, since the D&H had a contract in place to jointly operate
intermodal trains with the NYS&W and
CSX Transportation. On November 17, 2014, NS acquired the Schenectady, New York, to Sunbury, Pennsylvania, and Delanson to Voorheesville, New York, segments for $217 million. On September 19, 2015, NS assumed ownership and operations of its newly-purchased portion of the old D&H mainline. ==Legacy==