| Stourbridge Railroad | |
|---|---|
| Reporting mark | SBRR |
| Locale | Pike / Wayne counties, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Dates of operation | 1977– |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | Honesdale, Pennsylvania |
The Stourbridge Railroad (reporting mark SBRR) is a shortline railroad that operates a 24 miles (39 km) route between Honesdale (in Wayne County, Pennsylvania) and the village of Lackawaxen in Lackawaxen Township (in Pike County, Pennsylvania). It was owned for many years by the Lackawaxen-Honesdale Shippers Association and operated under contract by Robey Railroads. Starting on or about January 1, 2009, operation will be contracted to Morristown & Erie Railway.
Hawley (in Wayne County) is also served by the line, which runs southeast from Honesdale to Hawley, then east to Lackawaxen. At Lackawaxen (which is on the border with New York), there is a connection to the Norfolk Southern Railway line. CSX Transportation rail service is also available via this track (as well as an indirect connection to Canadian Pacific Railway service).
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The Wayne County Chamber of Commerce operates a heritage railroad on the Stourbridge Railroad during the summer season, offering passenger excursion trains in historic refurbished railroad cars. Excursion trains operate between Honesdale (along U.S. Route 6) and Hawley. The railroad has restored and refurbished 5 passenger cars that are on display and a historic snow plow is also on display.
According to the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, this is the site of "the first commercial locomotive on rails in the western hemisphere", run by the Delaware and Hudson railway on August 8, 1829. The locomotive was the famous Stourbridge Lion.
In 1868, the line became part of the Jefferson Railroad, and part of the Erie Railroad in 1870. In 1960 the Erie's successor merged with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad, becoming part of Conrail in 1976. Conrail announced plans to abandon the line in 1976, and the Lackawaxen-Honesdale Shippers Association was formed, taking over in 1977.
The rail line was severed in 2005 by the loss of a bridge spanning the Wallenpaupack Creek, when Pennsylvania Power & Light made emergency water releases from the Lake Wallenpaupack Dam following heavy rains in April 2005 and then further damaged by heavy rainfalls in June 2006, A grant of $800,000 from the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, along with a grant of $703,278 from FEMA allowed work to proceed to repair the washed out bridge spanning Wallenpaupack Creek. The replacement spans were in place in October 2008.
The line is no longer operated by the Lackawaxen-Honesdale Shippers Association and is now owned by Paul Brancato, a principal in Ideal Steel Supply Corp who plans to build a steel fabrication plant in White Mills. Operation of the railroad was contracted to Central Penn Railroad Corp. The SBRR "Yard" between the Norfolk Southern line and Rt 590 in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania was recently repaired and re-ballasted.
Central Penn Railroad Corp has equipment stored in Honesdale, a GP-7 (Former AFRX 22) and two retired LIRR passenger coaches. The GP-7, formerly belonging to Guilford Rail Systems (now Pan Am Railways), and still bearing the "Big red G" was started in September 2008 and as of October it, along with its two ex-LIRR passenger coaches, had made it over the repaired Wallenpaupack Creek Trestle in Hawley and were at the engine house in Honesdale.
The Wayne County Chamber of Commerce successfully resumed service to Lackawaxen with the October 4, 2008 Bavarian fest excursion to the Lackawaxen Volunteer Firemans field using their EMD BL2 #54 (ex Bangor and Aroostook Railroad #54).
It was announced in September 2008 that operation of the railroad would transfer from Central Penn Railroad Corp. to contract operation by Morristown & Erie Railway starting on or about January 1, 2009.
As of January 1, 2009 Morristown & Erie Railway has assumed all operations of the former Stourbridge Railroad and has been renamed Stourbridge Railway. With their business office located on Fourth St in Honesdale. Stourbridge Railway under the control of the Morristown & Erie Railway is currently operating passenger excursions to Hawley and Lackawaxen for the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce. Stourbridge Railway has been actively making improvements on the entire line.