Conrail. The Big Blue Railroad that rings a bell for millions of American railfans. Conrail was the merger of multiple struggling freight railroads and savior of railroad freight traffic across most of the eastern and midwest regions of the US. It survived well into the 90s before being split between Norfolk Southern and CSX.

A total of nine former Class I railroads merged into this behemoth railroad carrier, but one in particular stands out to some railfans because it was the smallest, but also one of the most important. This is the story of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway.

The L&HR Railway is truly an interesting one. It went from four railroads joining together as a branchline to operating on nearly 100 miles of track, connecting 3 much bigger Class I railroads all in two states. It connected to the PRR, CNJ and LV all at points very close to each other. Though it was the smallest of the nine class Is, it still made a huge impact on freight traffic across the northeast. It’s a story to remember of the small but mighty bridge line. Some of its original right of way is still used by the NYSW railroad, but the rest of the trackage is now part of several rail trails. This was the story of Conrail’s Smallest Railroad.

Spent about three weeks working on this, guys! Enjoy this one!

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:47 Formation
2:57 The Poughkeepsie Bridge
4:57 Continuous Expansions
5:56 Roster & Rolling Stock
8:37 Bankruptcy
11:04 Present Day
12:43 Rail Trails
13:58 Summary
14:51 Final Notes
15:12 Thanks for watching!

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehigh_...
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