Looking back

By ANN O'HARA
Posted 1/15/20

Prior to the closing of the Delaware & Hudson Canal and Gravity Railroad in 1898, the only passenger service into the borough was via the Gravity, with Erie trains stopping at Tracyville a mile …

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Looking back

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Prior to the closing of the Delaware & Hudson Canal and Gravity Railroad in 1898, the only passenger service into the borough was via the Gravity, with Erie trains stopping at Tracyville a mile or so outside of town.  Erie passengers walked into town or paid for livery service. As soon as the Gravity closed down, however, the Honesdale section was filled in and rails were laid for standard-gauge steam locomotives. On September 15, 1898, the first locomotive, with George W. Penwarden as engineer, entered Honesdale over the old canal basin.  The following year, 1899, the first passenger cars, part of an excursion train from Port Jervis to Farview, passed over the new tracks. Now that Honesdale had passenger service, trains no longer stopped at Tracyville. The D&H service lasted only until 1928, when the Erie Railroad took over, surviving only until 1942, when the last passenger train left Honesdale.

From the files of the Wayne County Historical Society.  The museum and library are open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday through April.  

looking back, delaware & hudson canal, gravity railroad, erie, trains, wayne county, historical, society

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