Historic Sayre Yard, named after the chief engineer and first superintendent of the

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad in the Northeastern United States built predominantly to haul anthracite, anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania to major consumer markets in Philadelphia, New York City, and ...

(LV), was established across the state line in 1876 in Waverly, New York and

Sayre, Pennsylvania Sayre is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is the principal city in the Sayre, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It lies southeast of Elmira, New York, and southwest of Bin ...

. The large yard, and the purpose built

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

were founded as part of a planned program of expansion and extension to the young railroad's infrastructure—the yard was but one benchmark on the way to completing the goal of establishing competitive passenger rail service between New York City, as well as cities in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

such as Wilmington, cities in central

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

such as Trenton, and Eastern Pennsylvania cities including

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

with

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and other Great Lakes Cities via

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. The Lehigh Valley was primarily first and foremost a coal road which transported high grade

Anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a lustre (mineralogy)#Submetallic lustre, submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy densit ...

to the big cities of the east and to steel mills along the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

and to the area in and around Chicago. The yard is a way point along the historic rail corridor that extends along the left bank

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

through the RBMN

Duryea Yard Duryea YardAlthoug2017 RBM&N System Mapnames Duryea yard as such, in July 2013 a newly hung sign (See photo at right.) indicates RBM&N had renamed Duryea Yard as "Muller yard." (formerly Coxton Yard, sometimes Pittston Junction, or West Pittston ...

and

Mountain Top Yard Mountain Top yard or Penobscot yard is a rail yard in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. It was built by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N) in response to an 1837 bill authorizing a right of way and was established by 1840, at least as a cons ...

s down along the route of the historic Lehigh Canal and across the Delaware at

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in and the county seat of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River and the Delawa ...

History

Until the dismantlement under

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

, the yard engine maintenance building had the largest structure in the United States devoted to the maintenance and construction of railroad locomotives. The yard was acquired by

Norfolk Southern Railroad The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The compa ...

in 1996 from the dissolution of

which had acquired the property in 1976 when the

joined its properties to that ill-fated conglomerate enterprise.

References

{{Coord, 41.990626, -76.519150 , display=title Norfolk Southern Railway Rail yards in Pennsylvania Rail yards in New York (state) 1876 establishments in Pennsylvania Lehigh Valley Railroad Transportation buildings and structures in Bradford County, Pennsylvania Transportation buildings and structures in Chemung County, New York 1876 establishments in New York (state)