The main line ran from Port Clinton to Tamaqua, for a total of 28 miles (45 km).

The tracks were constructed with strap iron on wood rails.

[2] Beginning with horse-drawn cars in 1831, the LSRR operated between Tamaqua, located at the end of the coal-rich Panther Creek Valley and the Port Clinton terminus of the Schuylkill Canal.

It later made a rail junction with the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company.

[3] In 1833, the railroad acquired two steam locomotives, built in Liverpool,[4] but the wooden tracks did not support the engines, requiring a resumption of animal-powered operations.