East Stroudsburg station

Last updated
East Stroudsburg
East Stroudsburg railroad Station.jpg
General information
Location5 South Kistler Street, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Owned by Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority [1]
Line(s) Pocono Mainline
Tracks1
Construction
Parking228 spaces (proposed) [1]
Other information
Station code82 (D&LW) [2]
History
Opened1856
ClosedJanuary 5, 1970 [3]
Former and proposed services
Preceding station Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Following station
Analomink
toward Buffalo
Main Line Delaware Water Gap
toward Hoboken
Proposed services
Preceding station NJT logo.svg NJ Transit Following station
Analomink
toward Scranton
Lackawanna Cut-Off Delaware Water Gap
toward New York or Hoboken
East Stroudsburg Railroad Station
East Stroudsburg Station.jpg
The East Stroudsburg station in July 2010, in the process of demolition.
USA Pennsylvania location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationCrystal Street, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 40°59′56″N75°10′55″W / 40.99889°N 75.18194°W / 40.99889; -75.18194
Area0.2 acres (0.08 ha)
Built1856
Architectural styleQueen Anne
NRHP reference No. 80003572 [4]
Added to NRHPJune 27, 1980

East Stroudsburg is an historic train station built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1856. The station served as the local stop for both East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The depot, recently known locally as the Dansbury Depot for the restaurant that used the building, is located on Crystal Street in East Stroudsburg. Service to East Stroudsburg ended on January 6, 1970, when the Erie Lackawanna Railway discontinued the Lake Cities . [3] A proposal is currently in place to extend NJ Transit service to a rebuilt East Stroudsburg station. In spring 2021, Amtrak announced plans for potential New York–Scranton route. It is currently used by some of Steamtown National Historic Site's excursion trains.

Contents

History

Erie Lackawanna Railroad timetable documenting trains making stops at East Stroudsburg station in 1961 ERIE TABLE1 19610625.png
Erie Lackawanna Railroad timetable documenting trains making stops at East Stroudsburg station in 1961

The station had served several Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and then Erie-Lackwanna passenger trains. Aside from the Lake Cities, these included the Owl/New York Mail,Twilight/Pocono Express and the DL&W flagship train, the Phoebe Snow. [5] [6]

Station building

Redevelopment

The Stroudsburg area is served by Interstate 80, which links the Pocono Mountains to North Jersey and New York City. High traffic volumes on the highway routinely cause congestion beginning at the Delaware Water Gap (just east of the Stroudsburg area) and extending across New Jersey towards New York City. The former DL&W "cutoff" mainline roughly parallels I-80 across New Jersey, and could potentially alleviate congestion on the highway once tracks are fully-restored between Slateford Junction, PA and Port Morris, NJ (28.6 miles).

On October 26, 2009, a fire rushed through the station depot. [7]

In early July, 2010 local developer Troy Nauman entered a contract to purchase the East Stroudsburg station, and announced plans to demolish the historic station and replace it with a new three-story apartment building. The impending loss of the station caught the community by surprise, and several preservation movements were started by residents, several of whom coalesced under the Save the Dansbury Depot Citizens Group. [8] The group lobbied elected officials for a "cooling-off" period and attempted to negotiate a waiting period with the station's new owner, who had announced plans to redevelop the site. [9] Its Facebook page attracted over 3,600 members who were urged to attend local public meetings and donate funds to save the building.

Preservation efforts included a pledge of $500,000 from Dr. Joseph Mattioli, who owned Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. [10] Although a judge delayed the demolition with an injunction on July 24, 2010, [11] it was reversed by another judge only four days later and demolition had begun, despite much outcry. [12] [13]

New location

East Stroudsburg station in May 2015, post-restoration East Stroudsburg Station - May 2015.jpg
East Stroudsburg station in May 2015, post-restoration

In response to public outcry, a plan for rehabilitation and reuse of the oldest part of the original station was implemented by The Eastburg Community Alliance. [14] In spite of the start of demolition, no significant part of the original station was lost. The station itself was moved temporarily to a public parking lot on the eastern side of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority railroad track, to await a concrete pad on which to be set permanently. [15]

As of the Summer of 2011, the station has been set on a new permanent foundation across the tracks from its original site. Renovation work was underway to return the station to its earlier appearance with the Lackawanna railroad. The side of the station facing the tracks is the face that had originally faced the tracks; the station was spun 180 degrees during its move.

The station is just a stone's throw from the Lackawanna Signal Tower, also being preserved by a local group.

Even though the DL&W railroad has long been out of business, one track from Stroudsburg west to Scranton and beyond is still in use. The Delaware–Lackawanna Railroad runs a short-line freight service on the line. Scranton is also the home of Steamtown National Historic Site. Some tourist excursions from Scranton (less than 50 highway miles away) to Stroudsburg also use the remaining track. Crossing signals have been upgraded to meet current standards.

The original station site has been developed—the proposed apartment building has been built next to the track. The original platform shed, closed-in when the station was converted to other commercial uses, still exists as an extension of the new apartment building.

NJT station

NJ Transit, the commuter railroad primarily feeding the New York City and Philadelphia areas, has purchased the former DL&W right-of-way in New Jersey and has begun re-laying track at the eastern end of the New Jersey Cutoff, with the intent of relaying track westward across New Jersey to re-connect the DL&W rails through to Stroudsburg.

As part of that rebuilding, New Jersey and Pennsylvania plan to include a station stop in East Stroudsburg. The plan is for a station just south of the former station site, located between the track and Crystal Street. [1] It is proposed to have 228 parking spaces and one side level platform. [1] The station is about 80 miles (130 km) from New York City, and would become part of the new Lackawanna Cut-Off line ultimately sought between Port Morris, New Jersey and Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is underway for restoring passenger service to East Stroudsburg and the Pocono Mountains. The NJ Transit board approved in April 2022 a $32.5 million contract for improving a tunnel and restoring track to part of the line between Blairstown, New Jersey and Port Morris, New Jersey, [16] a segment in which trackage had been removed in the 1980s.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania</span> Borough in Pennsylvania, United States

East Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and part of the Pocono Mountains region of the state. Originally known as Dansbury, East Stroudsburg was renamed for geographic reasons when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad opened a station in East Stroudsburg. Despite its name being derivative of its bordering borough, Stroudsburg, it has almost twice the population. East Stroudsburg is the largest municipality in Monroe County and in the East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area as designated by the Office of Management and Budget based on data from the 2010 US Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad</span> Former U.S. Class 1 railroad

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of 395 miles (636 km). The railroad was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853, and created primarily to provide a means of transport of anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeast Pennsylvania to large coal markets in New York City. The railroad gradually expanded both east and west, and eventually linked Buffalo with New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erie Lackawanna Railway</span> Transport company

The Erie Lackawanna Railway, known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad</span>

The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially the Scranton area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lackawanna Cut-Off</span> Rail line between Port Morris, New Jersey, and Slateford, Pennsylvania

The Lackawanna Cut-Off was a rail line built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). Constructed from 1908 to 1911, the line was part of a 396-mile (637 km) main line between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York. It ran west for 28.45 miles (45.79 km) from Port Morris Junction in Port Morris, New Jersey, near the south end of Lake Hopatcong about 45 miles (72 km) west-northwest of New York City, to Slateford Junction in Slateford, Pennsylvania near the Delaware Water Gap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newark Broad Street station</span> NJ Transit rail station

Newark Broad Street station is a New Jersey Transit commuter rail and light rail station at 25 University Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. Built in 1903, the station's historic architecture includes an elegant clock tower and a brick and stone façade on the station's main building. In June 1984, the station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its historical significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Hopatcong station</span> NJ Transit rail station

Lake Hopatcong is a commuter railroad station for New Jersey Transit. The station, located in the community of Landing in Roxbury Township, Morris County, New Jersey, United States, serves trains for the Montclair-Boonton Line and Morristown Line at peak hours and on holiday weekends. Service from Lake Hopatcong provides to/from Hackettstown to New York Penn Station and Hoboken Terminal. The stop is located on the tracks below Landing Road next to the eponymous Lake Hopatcong. The station consists of one active and one abandoned side platform, along with a shelter on the active platform. There is no accessibility for handicapped persons under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netcong station</span> NJ Transit rail station

Netcong is an NJ Transit station in Netcong, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Located on Route 46 at Main Street in downtown Netcong, the small, 1-low level side platform station service passengers for the Morristown Line and the Montclair-Boonton Line. These lines provide service to Hoboken or to New York City via Midtown Direct on the Morristown Line at Dover station and Montclair-Boonton at Montclair State University station. Midtown Direct service can also be transferred at Newark Broad Street station in Newark. There is one track and one platform on the north side, adjacent to the station. NJ Transit maintains a substantial train servicing yard east of the Netcong station at Port Morris in Roxbury Township. Port Morris Yard is proposed to return as the junction of the Montclair-Boonton and Morristown lines for the Lackawanna Cut-Off line to Scranton. Transfers would be provided at Lake Hopatcong station in Landing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackettstown station</span> NJ Transit rail station

Hackettstown is a New Jersey Transit station in Hackettstown, New Jersey. The station is located at the intersection of Valentine Street and Beatty Street and is the western terminus of the Morristown Line and the Montclair-Boonton Line, which both provide service to Hoboken Terminal or to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan via Midtown Direct. Hackettstown station is the only active New Jersey Transit station in Warren County. The line from Hackettstown–Dover is diesel powered, requiring a transfer at Dover, Montclair State University or Newark Broad Street to an electrified train to New York Penn Station. Proposals exist of an extension of the Montclair-Boonton Line, including an extension to Washington and possibly Phillipsburg further along the Washington Secondary.

The Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad (WB&E) was a railroad that operated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States from 1892 to 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel</span> Hotel in Pennsylvania, United States

The Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, which was built as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station, is a French Renaissance-style building in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobyhanna station</span>

Tobyhanna station is a proposed NJ Transit commuter rail station that is located in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The station forms part of a site owned by a number of public and private entities including the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pocono Mountain station</span>

Pocono Mountain is a proposed New Jersey Transit Rail Operations (NJT) station located in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania and is part of a site that was formerly utilized as a summer camp. The proposed station site, which will include a 1,000-space surface parking lot, is located northwest of a multi-phased planned development for this area. Access will be from Pennsylvania Route 611 via Pocono Municipal Road/Mount Pocono Road and a local access road and the platform would be situated east of the track.

<i>Phoebe Snow</i> (train) American passenger train (1949–1966)

Phoebe Snow was a named passenger train which was once operated by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) and, after a brief hiatus, the Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roseville Tunnel</span> Rail tunnel in New Jersey

Roseville Tunnel is a 1,024-foot (312 m) two-track railroad tunnel on the Lackawanna Cut-Off in Byram Township, Sussex County, New Jersey. The tunnel is on a straight section of railroad between mileposts 51.6 and 51.8 (83 km), about 6 miles (9.7 km) north by northwest of Port Morris Junction. Operated for freight and passenger service from 1911 to 1979, it is undergoing work intended to return it to passenger service by 2026.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project</span> American railway infrastructure project

The Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is a New Jersey Transit and Amtrak effort to restore passenger service to the Lackawanna Cut-Off in northwest New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greendell station</span>

Greendell is one of three original railway stations built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W) along its Lackawanna Cut-Off line in northwestern New Jersey. The station, which still stands in Green Township at milepost 57.61 on the Cut-Off, began operations on December 23, 1911, one day before the line itself opened and the first revenue train arrived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andover station (NJ Transit)</span>

Andover is a planned New Jersey Transit passenger railroad station in Andover Township, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States, providing service on its Lackawanna Cut-Off line. The line remains under construction. The station will be built at a site on Andover's Roseville Road, about 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from U.S. Route 206 and about 0.9 miles (1.4 km) from County Route 517. On the rail line, it will be located about 7.3 miles (11.7 km) west of Port Morris Junction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blairstown station</span>

Blairstown was one of the three original Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad stations on the Lackawanna Cut-Off rail line in northwestern New Jersey. Built by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke, the station opened in 1911. Most passenger trains, such as the Lackawanna Limited and, later, the Phoebe Snow, plus the Twilight/Pocono Express and the Westerner/New Yorker stopped at Blairstown, which also sold commuter tickets. It was the only station on the Cut-Off to be open during the Erie Lackawanna years, and remained so until passenger service ended on January 6, 1970 with the discontinuing of the Lake Cities. After 1970, the building housed a radio station, WHCY-FM, until the 1990s. The station building is currently privately owned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gravel Place, Pennsylvania</span> Former rail yard in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Gravel Place is a location within Arlington Heights, Pennsylvania, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of East Stroudsburg. It is neither incorporated nor a census-designated place, but has a name recognized by the USGS. From the 1880s to about 1950, it was a railroad yard of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) on its mainline from Hoboken Terminal in New Jersey, which served New York City by ferry, to Scranton, Pennsylvania, continuing northwest into New York State with its western terminus in Buffalo, New York. It is just north of present Mill Creek Road.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "New Jersey – Pennsylvania Lackawanna Cut-Off Passenger Rail Service Restoration Project Environmental Assessment" (PDF). U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, and New Jersey Transit in cooperation with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. June 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  2. ↑ "List of Station Numbers". Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad . 1952. p. 1. Retrieved June 2, 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 "Final E-L passenger trains pull away from E.S. station". Pocono Record . January 5, 1970. p. 9. Retrieved July 17, 2016– via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  4. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  5. ↑ 1954 Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad timetable http://viewoftheblue.com/photography/timetables/DLW042554.pdf
  6. ↑ 1961 Erie-Lackawanna timetable https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/ERIE_TABLE1_19610625.png
  7. ↑ Scott, Andrew (October 27, 2009). "Dansbury Depot fire remains under investigation". Pocono Record. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Dow Jones Local Media Group, Inc. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  8. ↑ "Save Dansbury Depot". Archived from the original on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
  9. ↑ Adam, McNaughton (July 19, 2010). "Efforts to save East Stroudsburg's Dansbury Depot likely too little, too late". Pocono Record. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Dow Jones Local Media Group, Inc. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  10. ↑ "Raceway owner pledges $500,000 to save Dansbury Depot". Pocono Record. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Dow Jones Local Media Group, Inc. July 25, 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  11. ↑ Brelje, Beth (July 24, 2010). "Judge delays Dansbury Depot's demise". Pocono Record. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Dow Jones Local Media Group, Inc. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  12. ↑ "Judge denies injunction; Dansbury Depot demolition to proceed". Pocono Record. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Dow Jones Local Media Group, Inc. July 28, 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  13. ↑ Brelje, Beth (July 30, 2010). "Dansbury Depot demolition begins". Pocono Record. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Dow Jones Local Media Group, Inc. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  14. ↑ "Eastburg Community Alliance |". Archived from the original on 14 April 2013.
  15. ↑ Beth Brelje. "Dansbury Depot makes it to new home - News - poconorecord.com - Stroudsburg, PA". poconorecord.com. Retrieved 2016-12-26.
  16. ↑ Trains, April 13, 2022, "NJ Transit awards contract to restore tunnel on Lackawanna Cutoff: Roseville Tunnel subject of $32.5 million rehabilitation project" https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/nj-transit-contracts-lackawanna-cutoff-tunnel-restoration/
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.