Portland, PA - Then & Now
Lehigh & New England
#703 rolls eastbound towards the Delaware River Bridge in July of 1960. The photographer is standing on the
grade crossing that immeadiatly preceeds the first span of the bridge.
Photo by Randolph Kulp, taken from THE LEHIGH & NEW ENGLAND RAILROAD by Douglas E Lilly, ARHS, 1988
Looking west at the same grade crossing in Portland in January of 2002. A curved embankment marks the trail
where magnificent Camelbacks and ALCO cabs once toiled . . .
Two 400-class Decapods were caught on the bridge doing what they did best - hauling Anthracite eastward. Note the Delaware
crossing of the Lackawanna Cutoff in the background.
Photo by Greg Unger, Doug Lilly collection. Taken from THE LEHIGH & NEW ENGLAND RAILROAD by Douglas E. Lilly, ARHS, 1988
In January of 2002, we look north along the river once again. Like along most of the Lehigh & New England,
the bridge was removed. None of the piers survive in the river, although several remain on land (the bridge continued several
hundred feet east of the riverbank). The DL&W concrete arch bridge can still be seen in the distance.
A classic A-B-A set of Alcos works hard to lift a 149 car freight up the westbound grade at Portland station. With a train of
that size, the caboose is probably still in New Jersey at this time.
Photo by Dave Augsburger, taken from THE LEHIGH & NEW ENGLAND RAILROAD by Douglas E Lilly, ARHS, 1988
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, this is the same view in January of 2002! The station is now home to an auto repair company, which built
several additions that extend onto the right-of-way. Note the house at right in both pictures.
Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western
This picture, taken around 1890, looks north in Portland on the Lackawanna's Old Main. The road that goes up
the hill crosses the LNE at the grade crossing shown at the top of this page. As the tracks curve to the right,
they will pass under the LNE's bridge.
Photo from THE DELAWARE, LACKAWANNA & WESTERN RAILROAD IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by Thomas Taber and Thomas Taber III,
Steamtown Volunteers Assn, Scranton, PA, 2000.
The same view many years later. The station has been either replaced or has been added on to since the last photograph.
Photo from SCENES ALONG THE RAILS VOLUME 1: THE ANTHRACITE REGION PART 1 by John W. Hudson and Suzanne C. Hudson,
Depot Square Publising, Loveland, Ohio, 1996.
This is how the Portland station looks today. It is relatively intact, and is now home to two stores. The Old Main is intact
here, but seldomly used, as we found a string of cars sitting on the main north of here.
This page was written by Anthony R. Tofani
Anthony@GSMRRClub.org
Last Updated February 23, 2005
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