- For the geographical area of US state of Pennsylvania, see Lehigh Valley.
The Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company was incorporated April 21, 1846 in Pennsylvania. On January 7, 1853 the name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad. It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported.
The railroad was built for the primary purpose of hauling anthracite. At the time, anthracite was transported by boat down the Lehigh River. The railroad was meant to be a faster means of transportation.
By the 1890s, it stretched from New York Harbor to Tifft Terminal in Buffalo, New York, passing through the Lehigh river valley in Pennsylvania, and the Finger Lakes region of New York. Coal traffic declined steadily after the 1940s and by 1962 the Pennsylvania Railroad had acquired majority stock control.
On June 24, 1970, Lehigh Valley Railroad declared bankrupcty, just three days following the bankruptcy of the Pennsylvania Railroad's successor, Penn Central.
In 1976, the assets of the bankrupt Lehigh Valley Railroad were acquired by Conrail.
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