The first small repair shops for locomotives and cars were located in Delano, Wilkes-Barre, Weatherly, Hazleton, and South Easton.

The majority of the Lehigh Line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and retains much of its original route in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, although it no longer goes into New York City.

The acquisitions in 1868 were notable because they marked the beginning of the LVRR's strategy of acquiring coal lands to ensure production and traffic for its own lines.

[15] Asa Packer purchased additional land at the canal basin in support of the New Jersey West Line Railroad, which he hoped to use as the LVRR's terminal.

The CNJ, anticipating that the LVRR intended to create its own line across New Jersey, protected itself by leasing the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (L&S) to ensure a continuing supply of coal traffic.

[16] After the LVRR opened its line, the Lehigh & Susquehanna extended to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and connected with the CNJ and the Morris and Essex Railroad in 1868.

In 1875, the LVRR financed the addition of a third rail to the Erie Railroad main line so that cars could roll directly from colliery to the port at Buffalo.

[27] The 1880s continued to be a period of growth, and the LVRR made important acquisitions in New York, expanded its reach into the southern coal field of Pennsylvania which had hitherto been the monopoly of the Reading, and successfully battled the CNJ over terminal facilities in Jersey City.

In 1880, the LVRR established the Lehigh Valley Transportation Line to operate a fleet of ships on the Great Lakes with terminals in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Duluth.

This company became an important factor in the movement of anthracite, grain and package freight between Buffalo, Chicago, Milwaukee, Duluth, Superior and other midwestern cities.

[28] LVRR subsidiary, Lehigh Valley Railway began constructing the main line's northern part from Buffalo to Lancaster, New York, in 1883, a total distance of ten miles.

Finally, in 1889, the LVRR gained control of the Geneva, Ithaca, and Sayre Railroad and completed its line of rail through New York.

In 1895, the LVRR constructed the Greenville and Hudson Railway parallel with the national docks in order to relieve congestion and have a wholly-owned route into Jersey City.

The 1890s began with the completion of its terminals in Buffalo and Jersey City, and the establishment of a trunk line across New York state, the company soon became entangled in costly business dealings which ultimately led to the Packer family's loss of control.

The coal trade was always the backbone of the business but was subject to boom and bust as competition and production increased and the economy cycled.

Its bankruptcy resulted in economic chaos, bringing on the financial panic of 1893 and forcing the LVRR to break the lease and resume its own operations, leaving it unable to pay dividends on its stock until 1904.

Newly elected president Eben B. Thomas, formerly of the Erie, and his board of directors represented the combined interests of those railroads.

A long series of antitrust investigations and lawsuits resulted, culminating in a 1911 Supreme Court decision that forced the LVRR to divest itself of the coal companies it had held since 1868.

The LVRR shareholders received shares of the now independent Lehigh Valley Coal Company, but the railroad no longer had management control of the production, contracts, and sales of its largest customer.

Also, in 1914 the Panama Canal was completed, and the LVRR gained an important new market with ores shipped from South America to the Bethlehem Steel company.

Since 1896 the LVRR had run an important and prestigious express train named the "Black Diamond" which carried passengers to the Finger Lakes and Buffalo.

At first the incident was considered an accident; a long investigation eventually concluded that the explosion was an act of German sabotage, for which reparations were finally paid in 1979.

In 1941, the Pennsylvania placed its shares in a voting trust after reaching an agreement with the New York Central (NYC) regarding the PRR's purchase of the Wabash.

Interstate highways helped the trucking industry offer door-to-door service, and the St. Lawrence Seaway allowed grain shipments to bypass the railways and go directly to overseas markets.

This imbalance in payments would prove fatal to the financially-frail Lehigh Valley, and the railroad filed for bankruptcy little over one month after PC, on July 24, 1970.

The two railroads had entered a shared trackage agreement in this area in 1965 to reduce costs, as both had parallel routes from Wilkes-Barre to metropolitan New York, often on adjoining grades through Pennsylvania.

[52] The "3R Act," as it was called, provided interim funding to the bankrupt railroads and defined a new "Consolidated Rail Corporation" under the AAR's plan.

The route across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Oak Island Yard remains important to the Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation today, the only two Class 1 railroads that are based in the Eastern United States.

Three months later the line branched out to the northwest past Allentown to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (then known as Mauch Chunk), on September 12, 1855.

Subsequently, the LVRR favored engines from Baldwin Locomotive Works and William Mason, but tried many other designs as it experimented with motive power that could handle the line's heavy grades.