JeffPo's Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Lantern Page
Last update: 11/05/13
This Dressel lantern was used by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The frame of the lantern is stamped DL&WRR.
The tall clear globe is also cast with DL&WRR. The clear globes means it was used for general signaling
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad
DL&W inspection engine, circa 1900
The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company (DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, a distance of about 400 miles. It was incorporated in 1853. In the early years it carried mostly anthracite coal. The railroad diversified in the 1880s, by also carrying dairy products, cattle, lumber, cement, steel, and grain. Into the early part of the 1900s the railroad carried passengers,
It was profitable during the first two decades of the twentieth century, but its margins were gradually hurt by declining traffic in coal, competition from trucks, and high New Jersey taxes. It further declined from 1940 through 1960 as less people traveled by train, and the use for coal decreased. In 1960, the DL&W merged with rival Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. It was absorbed into Conrail in 1976.