Sunbury Line

The Sunbury Line (formerly known as Sunbury Subdivision) is a rail line that is owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Railway which in turn is owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. The line travels from Sunbury, Pennsylvania, to Binghamton, New York, connecting with Norfolk Southern's Southern Tier Line at Binghamton and Norfolk Southern's Buffalo Line at Sunbury.

For the line in Australia, see Sunbury railway line.
Sunbury Line
formerly known as Sunbury Subdivision
Overview
TypeFreight
SystemHarrisburg Division
TerminiBinghamton, New York
Sunbury, Pennsylvania
Operation
Opened1851 (Lackawanna and Western Railroad), 1869 and 1871 (Danville, Hazelton and Wilkes-Barre Railroad), 1880s (North and West Branch Railway), 1915 (Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad- Nicholson Cutoff)
OwnerNorfolk Southern Railway
Operator(s)Norfolk Southern Railway
Technical
Number of tracks1-2
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The rail line was once part of the former Delaware and Hudson Railway South Line and that ran from Sunbury to Schenectady, New York. It is now a rail corridor and consists of the Sunbury Line and the Freight Line which travels from Binghamton to Schenectady, the Freight Line is also owned by Norfolk Southern Railway; the Binghamton to Schenectady part of the once known D&H South Line was once part of the D&H main line also.

The Sunbury Line's trackage consists of former trackage belong to the rail systems of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The Sunbury Line contains the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western's well known Nicholson Cutoff railroad segment. The Tunkhannock Viaduct is one of the components of the Nicholson Cutoff/Sunbury Line.

The Tunkhannock Viaduct on the Sunbury Line/Nicholson Cutoff in 1989. Located near Milepost 162 in Nicholson, Pennsylvania, the bridge is 240 feet (73.15 m) high and 2,375 feet (724 m) long. It is believed to be the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world.
The eastern starting point of the Nicholson Cutoff (milepost 152) in Clarks Summit in 1989 shows three Guilford Rail System pusher units awaiting their next assignment after pushing a long freight up the grade from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

History

1869-1976

The Sunbury Line is a former Pennsylvania Railroad property connecting its core system with the other anthracite rail lines in and around Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; the line's Pennsylvania Railroad trackage was once the Wilkes-Barre Branch. The Sunbury Line is also a former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad property as the Sunbury Line's Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Binghamton trackage was once part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line; this part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line which is now part of the Sunbury Line contains the Nicholson Cutoff and former Lackawanna and Western Railroad trackage. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western later merged with the Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railway.

The PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch ran from the downtown Wilkes-Barre rail cluster southwest to Sunbury[1] along tracks on the east (left) shore of the North Branch Susquehanna River. The Danville, Hazelton and Wilkes-Barre Railroad opened from Sunbury to South Danville in 1869[2] and past Catawissa to Tomhicken in 1871.[3] The North and West Branch Railway opened the line from Catawissa to Wilkes-Barre in the early 1880s, completing the line soon to be called Wilkes-Barre Branch.[4] The line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad and became known as the Wilkes-Barre Branch under PRR ownership. The PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch was passed to Penn Central which was the merger between the PRR and the New York Central Railroad.

Today the former PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch from Wilkes-Barre to Hanover Township is owned by Luzerne County and operated by the Luzerne Susquehanna Railway. The remainder of the PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch that is now part of the Sunbury Line now runs Sunbury to Hanover Township in what was the Buttonwood Yard of the PRR. There it connects with the former Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad; the Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad extended from Hanover Township to Hudson, Pennsylvania.

1976-Present

In 1976, the Pennsylvania Railroad Wilkes-Barre Branch and the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad main line was taken over by Conrail due to Penn Central and the Erie Lackawanna Railway being converted into Conrail, with trackage rights assigned to the Delaware and Hudson Railway. The D&H acquired the majority of the PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch and the Scranton to Binghamton trackage of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line (which contains the Nicholson Cutoff) in the early 1980s and combined it with part of their main line from Binghamton to Schenectady, New York, to form the new Delaware and Hudson South Line, the D&H main line continues in existence now running from Schenectady to Montreal. The D&H was acquired by the Guilford Rail System (now Pan Am Railways), a railroad owned by Guilford Transportation Industries (now Pan Am Systems). Now a Guliford property, the D&H South Line was still a D&H property. The corporate structure was Guilford Transportation as the parent company, Guilford Rail as direct subsidiary and owner of the D&H and the D&H as indirect subsidiary. The D&H went bankrupt while owned by Guilford Transportation's Guilford Rail and during the bankruptcy, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway ran its trains on the D&H South Line and the rest of the D&H. The New York, Susquehanna and Western was ordered to operate the D&H until a new buyer was found for the D&H.

The Canadian Pacific Railway took over the D&H, but kept the D&H in existence instead of absorbing the D&H into Canadian Pacifc. Canadian Pacific's take over of the D&H included the D&H South Line and Canadian Pacifc reformed the D&H South Line into two new rail lines. The D&H South Line from Sunbury to Binghamton made up of PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western main line trackage (which includes the Nicholson Cutoff) became the new Sunbury Line and the D&H South Line from Binghamton to Schenectady trackage once part of the D&H main line became its own rail line as well and was not added back to the D&H main line.

The Sunbury Line was later renamed Sunbury Subdivision and in 2015, Norfolk Southern purchased the Sunbury Subdivision from Canadian Pacific with direct transaction from the Delaware and Hudson and not from Canadian Pacific directly. After the purchase, Norfolk Southern renamed the line back to Sunbury Line.[5][1] Norfolk Southern's purchase of the rail line commenced September 19, 2015 and the purchase included the former D&H main line/D&H South Line from Binghamton to Schenectady and Norfolk Southern labeled this D&H trackage as "Freight Line".[5]

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References
  1. J. Alex Lang, Canadian Pacific Railway's Sunbury Line, Eastern Railroad News, July 1998
  2. "PRR Chronology, 1869" (PDF). (114 KiB), June 2004 Edition
  3. "PRR Chronology, 1871" (PDF). (72.9 KiB), January 2005 Edition
  4. PRR Corporate History: Pennsylvania Railroad Archived 2007-12-29 at Archive.today
  5. Norfolk Southern completes acquisition of Delaware & Hudson South Line, PRNewswire, September 18, 2015
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