Reproduction and enhanced tin sign featuring a collage of Lehigh Valley Railroad steam and diesel locomotives in celebrating the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s 100th Anniversary in 1946. A beautiful tin sign of an historic railroad ad. Metal measures 10″ x 12″, with rounded corners and an 1/8″ hole in each corner. Metal is .025 gauge aluminum.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad (reporting mark LV) was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Pennsylvania Coal Region. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, wares, merchandise and minerals^[1] in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the railroad was incorporated and established on September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. On January 7, 1853, the railroad’s name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad.^[2] It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported. At the time, anthracite was transported by boat down the Lehigh River. The railroad ended operations in 1976 and merged into Conrail along with several northeastern railroads that same year.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad’s original and primary route between Easton and Allentown was built in 1855. The line later expanded past Allentown to Lehigh Valley Terminal in Buffalo, New York and past Easton to New York City, bringing the Lehigh Valley Railroad to these metropolitan areas. By December 31, 1925, the railroad controlled 1363.7 miles of road and 3533.3 miles of track. By 1970, this had dwindled to 927 miles of road and 1963 miles of track.

Conrail maintained the line as a main line into the New York City area. The line became known as the Lehigh Line during Conrail ownership. Conrail abandoned most of the route in New York State to Buffalo after 1976, considerably shortening the line.

The majority of the Lehigh Line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and retains much of its original route in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, although it no longer goes into New York City. The former Lehigh Valley tracks between Manville, New Jersey and Newark, New Jersey are operated separately by Conrail Shared Assets Operations as their own Lehigh Line.