A Lehigh and Hudson River Railway Scrapbook

The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway

Timetables, and other paper

Lehigh and Hudson River Railway paper; timetables (both public and employee), train orders, tickets, passes, etc.

What's here now is only a beginning...

An unissued L&HR Ry. pass from the 1890's. Passes were generally issued to officials (and oftentimes family members) of other railroads, giving them a free ride on the issuing railroad's passenger trains.

Prior to the opening of the Poughkeepsie railroad bridge in 1889, barge and ferry were the only way to cross the Hudson River south of Albany- for both freight and passengers. (Albany's railroad bridge over the Hudson had opened in 1866, and the Pennsylvania Railroad's tunnels under the Hudson between Jersey City and Manhattan were still a couple of decades in the future.)

Once the bridge was completed, an all-rail route was possible between Southern New England and rest of the country; within less than a year the L&H (via subsidiary Orange County Railroad) had reached a connection with the so called 'Poughkeepsie Bridge Route' at what would become Maybrook. Initially by a connection with the NYO&W at Burnside and trackage rights to a Campbell Hall connection with the Central New England & Western, by 1890 the Orange County had reached Maybrook directly.

The Lehigh & Hudson River Railway didn't take long to integrate itself into this new routing possibility, for both freight and passenger traffic.

The business card of Howard G. Pierson, at the time a traveling freight agent. He would later become General Freight Agent, and General Passenger Agent for the L&HR.

The following four timetables show passenger service over the L&HR using the Poughkeepsie Bridge route. Click on the cover image for the full timetable image.

A jount timetable issued by the B&O in August 1892, for through Washington to Boston service. This was an overnight train routed over the B&O, Reading, PRR, L&HR, CNE&W, NYNH&H, and B&M, carrying through Pullman cars. It traversed the L&HR before midnight Eastbound, and very early morning Westbound.

Another joint timetable, issued by the New York & New England in September 1892, for through service between Boston and Philadelphia. These were day trains, with routing over the NY&NE, Philadelphia Reading & New England, L&HR, Central RR of New Jersey, and the Reading.

The Westbound Quaker City Express was over the L&HR in the early evening; Eastbound, as the New England Express, it was handled by the L&HR in the early afternoon.

A Lehigh & Hudson River timetable from June 1893. In addition to the L&HR's own passenger trains, through trains #1 (the Washington Express) and #12 (the Boston Express) are shown.

These were overnight trains, roughly matching the trains shown in the B&O timetable above.

The most famous through train to utilize the L&HR - Poughkeepsie bridge routing was the Pennsylvania Railroad's Federal Express.

For about three years in the mid-teens, while the Hell Gate bridge was being built (it would complete the first all-rail route from New England through New York City, via the PRR's new Penn Station), the Federal Express used the Poughkeepsie Bridge and the L&HR as a bypass route. In anticipation of this service, the L&H had upgraded its motive power, right of way, and signal system.

This timetable shows the Federal Express (trains 71 and 72) traversing the L&HR, another night train over the Lehigh & Hudson.

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