Riding the Rails

As the train pulls out, take a look at the stonework around you. (You'll see it from the boarding area until we reach the Forth Street crossing.) This stonework was the retaining wall for the D&H Canal.

Down the line you'll pass the engine house for the Lackawaxen and Stourbridge railroads. Look closely and you'll see what once was a coal pocket. Coal from the railroad cars was dumped into this pit, and a conveyor moved it into storage areas. From there it was loaded into trucks for delivery.

Through the overgrown grass and weeds on the riverside, you can see evidence of the D&H Canal. Look for the stone retaining walls that are still in tact after all these years! The ditches will give you a good idea of the canal's width and depth.

As the train nears the White Mills crossing, watch for the Roberts Lumber Yard on the right (or mountain side). Next, you'll pass behind Chroma Tube, a factory producing TV picture tubes.

Between White Mills and Hawley, you can catch many glimpses of the old canal. This is also an area where lots of wildlife has been spotted, including an eight-point buck and a mother bear with FOUR cubs!

Just before the crossing in Hawley, it's time for many of our rides to turn around and head back to Honesdale. Watch to the right (or mountain side) to see the BL-2 engine travel backward on a second set of tracks to the other end of the train to begin the journey back to Honesdale. If you wish now is a good time to flip your seat so you will be traveling forward. Riders are requested to switch seats with those across the aisle, so everyone can get a front-row seat for enjoying the river view.

Bavarian Festival and Fall Foliage passengers -
Read on for highlights as the Stourbridge Line continues to Lackawaxen!

As you arrive in Hawley, you'll notice the stonework of the former Pennsylvania coal company's gravity railroad. You will see Bingham Park, a filled-in canal basin, where boats would wait their turn to be loaded, and a passenger car from the Pennsylvania coal company's Line. During those years Hawley, then known as Paupack Eddy, was a significant boat-building center.

At the next crossing in Hawley, you'll see another coal pocket on the river side. A bit farther down the track, also on the river side, you can see the concrete base of a water tower once used to supply water to steam locomotives.

Soon you will approach a spot where the railroad bed widens. It is the site where the empty coal cars form Scranton and Carbondale were filled.

On the mountain side, notice a large pipe. This pipe carries water eight miles from Lake Wallenpaupack to a small hydro-electric plant, both owned by Pennsylvania Power & Light Company.

After you pass the mountainside power plant at Kimbles, you will pass through Kimbles Cut. The train goes much slower through the cut, since the clearance in either side is only about 18"! As the train ambles through the cut, you will see a less worldly wonder- the AT&T Satellite Earth Station. The station controls and monitors many orbiting communications satellites.

Prepare yourself for Shimers Cut! You will glide into breathtaking scenery and slither through sharp curves. You will see a terrific view of the Lackawaxen River, and across the river you can still see many retaining walls and locks left from the canal. Wildlife alert-riders have spotted deer, blue heron and even bear!

Watch for a set of steps leading from the railroad to the woods on the mountainside. The steps are one of the few remains of the Glen Eyre Station (there is a small sign and a stone foundation of another water tower, too). Originally, the station was used by passengers to and from the Blooming Grove Hunting and fishing Club.

As the train nears the village of Lackawaxen, notice the aqueduct system that was part of the canal network. These suspension aqueducts, designed by Brooklyn Bridge engineer/builder John Roebling, carried boats across the Lackawaxen and Delaware Rivers. The Delaware Aqueduct is one of the oldest surviving examples of Roebling's work. This national landmark, now altered for use as a pedestrian and motor vehicle bridge, is listed in the National Register. Don't miss it on your tour!

The picnic area at Lackawaxen was once another canal basin. Lackawaxen was the home of one-time dentist and western novelist Zane Grey. His home, now a museum, is open for tours.