Erie Lackawanna Railroad-Anatomy of The Friendly Service Route
SCRANTON DIVISION
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Heart of the Lackawanna Railroad from the beginning in 1851, the Scranton Division originated the bulk of the road's anthracite coal traffic for many years. In the Lackawanna Railroad's final years of independent operation before merger with the Erie, the Scranton Division, as with the Buffalo Division, with which it would merge in 1957, became primarily a fast freight and passenger carrier, with a pronounced passenger orientation. Here are a few of the smaller lines that made up this division:
1.Liggetts Gap RR
2.Delaware and Cobbs Gap
3.Bangor and Portland RR
4.Lackawanna and Bloomsburg RR
5.Montrose RR
6.Cayuga and Susquehanna
7.Binghamton,Syracuse and New York
The major classification yard was located at Taylor, which is still used by Canadian Pacific Railway today. Division headquarters was housed inside the beautiful Lackawanna Station on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton.

The Scranton Division, long the heart of the Lackawanna Railroad, was also the heart of Erie Lackawanna's Eastern District under the District set up discontinued in 1963. This division consisted of the main line and Cutoff between Blairstown,NJ and Binghamton,NY, the branches from Binghamton to Utica,Syracuse, and Oswego,NY, the Bloomsburg Branch from Scranton to Northumberland, PA, and the Banger and Portland, which ran generally parallel to the Delaware River between the namesake points, plus a short piece of the Old Road, as the Lackawanna's original main line across western New Jersey was known. The Scranton Division's mainline became the primary passenger route for the newly merged Erie Lackawanna Railroad as it sought to merge the operations of what had been two separate railroad, a task that should have been done sooner, but wasn't. The Lackawanna's Scranton Division was also a heavy duty freight hauler as well. Principal commodities handled on the Scranton Division included anthracite coal, forest products, consumer goods, cement, automotive traffic, and intermodal freight traffic, to name but a few. Principal Freight Connections and Junction Points on the Scranton Division were as follows: Northumberland; PC,Rupert; Reading Lines, Binghamton; Delaware & Hudson; Taylor (until 1972), CNJ,  Pittston; LV, Syracuse and Oswego; Penn Central; Utica; Penn Central. The Bangor and Portland line connected with other railroads as follows: Martins Creek; PC. The B&P handled mostly coal and cement, but handled other freight traffic as well as did the other branches. Major yards on this division were located at Taylor and Binghamton. Unlike much of the rest of the railroad, the Scranton Division needed to use pusher diesels on various trains in both directions to maintain the  Division headquarters was located in the beautiful Scranton passenger station on Lackawanna Avenue. Moreover, the Scranton Division was the birthplace of the Lackawanna Railroad, the shortest route between Buffalo and the New York area.

SCRANTON DIVISION FREIGHT SCHEDULES (condensed)

Table 1A S&U Branch-Westbound

Stations SB14 SB12 UB18

Utica ---- ---- 2000

Syracuse 0214 1900 ----

Binghamton 0630 2245 0045

Scranton ---- ---- 0230



Table 1B. S&U Branch Eastbound

Stations BS11 BU19 BS15

Scranton ---- 2200 ----

Binghamton 0015 0230 0845

Syracuse 0500 ---- 1145

Utica ---- 0845 ----



Table 2A. Bloomsburg Branch-Westbound

1741 1739

Scranton 1245 Taylor Yard 0400

Rupert 1500 Berwick 0530

Northumberland 1610 Rupert 0600



Table 2B Bloomsburg Branch Eastbound



1742 1740

Northumberland 1700 Rupert 0815

Scranton-Taylor 2000 Berwick 0900

Taylor Yard 1040

Bloomsburg Branch Connections

Rupert- with Reading Company

Northumberland- with Penn Central

Table 3. CS9 Croxton to Scranton Mainline Local

Croxton Lv 1130

Port Morris Ar 1345

Port Morris Lv 1430

Stroudsburg Lv 1530

Scranton Ar 1930

PRINCIPAL FREIGHT CONNECTIONS AND JUNCTION POINTS ON THE SCRANTON DIVISION: Oswego,Syracuse,Utica,PC;Binghamton;D&H;Scranton;D&H,CNJ;Rupert,Catawissa;Reading Lines;Northumberland: PC,RDG,Pittston:LV,CNJ.