Pocono Mountain station

Pocono Mountain is a proposed New Jersey Transit Rail Operations (NJT) station located in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania and is part of a site that was formerly utilized as a summer camp.^[2][3] The proposed station site, which will include a 1,000-space surface parking lot, is located northwest of a multi-phased planned development for this area. Access will be from Pennsylvania Route 611 via Pocono Municipal Road/Mount Pocono Road and a local access road and the platform would be situated east of the track.^[1]

Pocono Mountain
The station site of Mount Pocono station in October 2020.
General information
Location	Route 611, Coolbaugh Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	41°07′03″N 75°21′16″W
Owned by	Privately owned[1]
Line(s)	Pocono Mainline
Construction
Parking	1,000 spaces (proposed)[1]
Former and proposed services
Preceding station Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Following station Tobyhanna toward Buffalo Main Line Analomink toward Hoboken Pocono Summit toward Buffalo Cresco toward Hoboken Proposed services Preceding station NJ Transit Following station Tobyhanna toward Scranton Lackawanna Cut-Off Analomink toward New York Penn Station or Hoboken

Rail service from this station to New Jersey and New York City would be provided by NJ Transit if Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is completed. In spring 2021, Amtrak announced plans for potential New York-Scranton route.

Background

Mt. Pocono DL&W station, ca. 1895

The main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) and, farther east, the Lackawanna Cut-Off in New Jersey passed through the southern end of the borough of Mount Pocono and continued to Hoboken Terminal. A passenger station was originally built at the crossing of what is now Pennsylvania Route 611 in 1886. Most of the station was demolished in 1937 when the highway was widened. Year-round passenger service to the station had ceased in 1956. Thereafter, trains would only stop at the station during summer months.^[4] The final years of summer service on the merged Erie Lackawanna Railroad were for the Twilight (Hoboken to Scranton) and the Pocono Express (Scranton to Hoboken), with the last summer being 1965.^[5] The disappearance of these trains from the timetable later in the year marked the end for service at this station.^[6]

The former DL&W tracks now carry freight trains for the Delaware Lackawanna Railroad and an occasional excursion train from Steamtown National Historic Site.^[7]

However, service in adjacent Pocono Summit on the Erie Lackawanna's Lake Cities (Hoboken-Scranton-Binghamton-Chicago) in the west-bound direction continued to January 5, 1970. Nearby Cresco saw Lake Cities service in both the westbound and eastbound service.^[8][9]

References

1. "New Jersey – Pennsylvania Lackawanna Cut-Off Passenger Rail Service Restoration Project Environmental Assessment" (PDF). U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, and New Jersey Transit in cooperation with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. June 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 19, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
2. Pierce, David. "Poconos residents to get a look at commuter rail plans." Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Pocono Record, July 13, 2008.
3. Pierce, David. "Rail project presented in Stroudsburg." Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Pocono Record, July 16, 2008.
4. Lackawanna timetable, April 29, 1956, Tables 3, 6
5. Erie Lackawanna timetable, August 1, 1965, Table 1
6. Erie Lackawanna timetable, December 13, 1965, Table 1
7. Alan Sweeney, Journey along the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (Tribute Books, 2007), p. 193.
8. "Erie Lackawanna Railway, Table 1". Official Guide of the Railways. 101 (1). National Railway Publication Company. June 1968.
9. Sanders, Craig (2003). Limiteds, Locals, and Expresses in Indiana, 1838–1971. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34216-4., 145–149

External links

• Lackawanna Cut-Off map Archived 2019-12-05 at the Wayback Machine