| One of the more obscure northeastern roads was the Lehigh & Hudson River, which ran from Bethlehem PA to Maybrook NY, across west Jersey and into lower NY state. Not exactly high population density. They were a bridge route, handling traffic to and from New England via a hand off to the New Haven. First the PC merger, then the Poughkeepsie bridge fire dried up the traffic, and by 1976, L&HR was no longer viable. It was included in Conrail, but its days as a through route were over, and most of it was abandoned. The segment from Sparta north to Maybrook found new life when the NYSW reopened their line from the NY metro area, and used it as part of their stack train route to Binghamton. Despite being in the hinterlands, the town of Warwick had a very attractive station, remarkable considering the line did not have much of a passenger base. Its now a real estate office, and still looks good. |