JeffPo's Lehigh Valley Railroad Lantern Page
Created: 11/07/22
Last update: 11/07/22
This Dietz Vesta lantern was used by the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The brim of the lid is embossed with the letters L.V.R.R.
The red globe is etched with L.V.R.R., though the last R is a little lighter than the other letters, so it was hard to catch in the photo. The red globe means it was used as a stop signal.
Lehigh Valley Railroad
Lehigh Valley Railroad streamlined passenger locomotive, Bethlehem, PA. 1939
The Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR) was built to haul anthracite coal from the
coal region in Pennsylvania. It was authorized in 1846 for passenger and
freight, and was incorporated in 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and
Susquehanna Railroad Company. The name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad in
1853. At the time, the coal was transported by boat down the Lehigh River. The
railroad would run parallel to the Lehigh River and break the Lehigh Coal and
Navigation Company's monopoly on coal traffic originating in the Wyoming Valley.
The railroad was also known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the
anthracite coal. Through a connection with the Central Railroad of New Jersey,
LVRR passengers had a route to Newark, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey, and
other points in New Jersey.
The railroad grew steadily over the decades. Following the Great Depression, the
railroad had a few periods of prosperity, but was clearly in a slow decline.
Passengers preferred the convenience of automobiles to trains, and airlines much
later provided faster long-distance travel than trains. Oil and gas were
supplanting coal as the fuel of choice. Also the interstate highways helped the
trucking industry offer door-to-door service, which cut into the railroad’s
profits. In 1976 the LVRR was merged into Conrail.