The Lackawanna Valley, a portrait by George Inness, depicting a westbound Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad train from Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1855, four years after the railroad began operations.

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In 1840, two entrepreneurs, brothers George and Selden Scranton, saw an economic prospect in a sparsely settled area of Northeastern Pennsylvania called Slocum Hollow, which would later become Scranton, Pennsylvania.[1] The region had an abundance of coal and low-grade iron; however, the region did not have the transportation infrastructure to support their rapid exploitation of the resources.[2] To transport their goods to market, George Scranton proposed the building of a railroad. In 1851, the railroad conceived by George would become the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western (DL&W) Railroad, which became known as the Lackawanna Railroad. From 1851 to 1889, the Lackawanna became a vital connection between Scranton’s’ coal and iron industries and regional Northeastern markets. Through its slight competitive advantage over their regional competition, the Lackawanna developed into a cost-effective railroad which enabled the City of Scranton to emerge as a regional center.  

            In 1889, William H. Truesdale became the president of the Lackawanna. [3] From 1889 to 1925, Truesdale initiated a large restructuring and building campaign which would propel the Lackawanna into the most productive railroad on the East coast.[4]  A major factor in the development of the Lackawanna was Truesdale’s hiring of George Ray as the railroad’s chief engineer.[5] During this period, Ray, as the Lackawanna’s Chief Engineer, would lead one of the most bold and aggressive railroad modernization programs in U.S. history.[6] Overseeing ten major construction projects, Ray’s management of the programs would irrevocably alter the landscapes of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and vastly improve the rail movement throughout the Northeast. Scranton would become the Lackawanna’s hub for movement of people and cargo, especially in the coal and textiles industries. Spanning the distance from Buffalo, New York with its markets on the Great Lakes to New York City and the Atlantic, the Lackawanna provided safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation connecting domestic markets in the Northeast with Scranton geographically located in the center of the railroad’s empire.[7]

The focus of this research project is to investigate the Lackawanna’s historical economic and engineering impact on the development of Scranton, PA and American railroading. To demonstrate the significant economic and engineering impacts the Lackawanna had on the development of Scranton, the research will analyze business and legal records from the major railroads servicing the Scranton Area; Congressional Records which discuss the Lackawanna, industry records; local and national newspaper articles; railroad, engineer, union, and business trade journals; City of Scranton Board of Trade records; federal and state economic records;  Lackawanna official correspondence; personal correspondence from the railroad presidents and other management personalities; and a sundry of secondary sources which will add context to the analysis.  The researcher of this topic has investigated the history of railroads in Scranton and written on the topic as part of previous scholarly research. The historiography of Lackawanna and Scranton is well documented through primary and secondary material. However, the role Truesdale and Ray played in developing the Lackawanna into a first-class railroad is not well documented. What is found in literature is in footnotes.  

            The research plan is divided into three parts. The first part includes literature research from online sources to locate primary and secondary sources which provide historical context, background information, and usable statical data on the Lackawanna’s economic impact on Scranton. The second part is the venture to the various collections, archives, and other records repositories to retrieve information which is not available in a digital and/or online format. The third part is the interviewing through correspondence with the possibility of either in person or video teleconferencing with railroad historians, former railroad personnel, and family members of Ray and Truesdale.

            Key research questions to be investigated are: What were the backgrounds of William Truesdale and George Ray? How did Ray manage the construction of ten multi-million dollars projects over several years while ensuring the Lackawanna profitable? How did the employees of the Lackawanna view the railroads’ success and failures? What were the technological innovations which afforded the Lackawanna a competitive edge? How did Scranton benefit from the Lackawanna’s rail service? How did the Lackawanna finance their extensive construction projects? What were the environmental, economic, political, and construction obstacles the Lackawanna had to overcome to build their greatest rail line projects?

            In investigating this linkage between the Lackawanna and Scranton, the researcher has investigated the history of railroads in Scranton and written on the topic as part of previous scholarly research. Originating from the Scranton area, the researcher has family connections to former Lackawanna employees as well as firsthand knowledge of the Lackawanna operations working as a volunteer repairing railroad trackage and equipment for a Scranton based regional railroad. As a member of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valley Chapter of National Railroad Historical Society, the researcher has had the opportunity for over thirty years to converse with and interview former Lackawanna employees on their railroading experience. What is exciting to researcher in investigating this project is to undercover the roles of George Ray and William Truesdale in building one of the most efficient and innovative railroads in the early 20^th century.

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[1] Frederick L. Hitchcock, History of Scranton and Its People, vol. 1. (New York, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1914), 1-20.

[2] Ibid, 115.

[3]  “W.H. Truesdale becomes New President of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company.” The Wilkes-Barre Record.  Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. June 4, 1935.

[4] Patrick Brown, Industrial Pioneers. Scranton, Pennsylvania and the Transformation of America, 1840-1902, (New York, New York: Tribute Books, 2010), 17.

[5] DL&W Correspondence from W.H. Truesdale to G.J Ray: Assignment as Chief Engineer and

duties. March 31, 1909.

[6] David Crosby, Scranton Railroads (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2009), 60-64.

[7] David W,. Lewis, “The Early History of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company: A Study in Technological Adaptation.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 96, no. 4 (1972): 424–68;  Economic Development Council of Northeastern, PA. “Transportation of Northeastern Pa; 1776-1976.” Avoca, PA, Tandem Press, 1976, 1-30; Thomas Townsend Taber, The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Nineteenth Century, 1828-1899 (Williamsport, PA: Lycoming Printing Company, Inc, 1977), 19-22.