Lehigh Division

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The Lehigh Division is a major freight low grade rail line owned and operated by the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that runs from Lehighton, Pennsylvania to Dupont, Pennsylvania; it originally ran from Lehighton to Mehoopany, Pennsylvania. The Lehigh Division was formed in 1993 by Conrail from the Lehigh Line, officially the former main line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR) that has absorbed former Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) main line trackage and former Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (L&S) main line trackage into its system under Conrail; the Lehigh Line today is owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway and connects to the Lehigh Division at Lehighton.

The Lehigh Division currently inherits the Lehigh Line's original trackage and Mountain Cutoff trackage between Lehighton, Pennsylvania and White Haven, Pennsylvania which includes the right track from Lehighton to Penn Haven Junction, also known as Old Penn Haven or M&H Junction, in Lehigh Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania and between Laurel Run, Pennsylvania to Dupont, Pennsylvania, which was from the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Lehigh Line's new trackage between White Haven and Laurel Run that was from the former Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad's main line which dates back to acts of legislature in 1837 under the sponsorship of the Pennsylvania Canal Commission.

The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, including its trackage and yards, was leased to the Central Railroad of New Jersey from 1876-1976. The Lehigh Division inherited the Lehigh Line's original trackage between Dupont and Mehoopany, Pennsylvania. The majority of the Lehigh Division runs along the upper or Grand division of the historic Lehigh Canal.

Conrail sold the three-year-old Lehigh Division to the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad in 1996.^[1]

During the 2000s, the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern shortened the line from Mehoopany to Dupont, the tracks from Mehoopany to Dupont are still owned by Reading Blue Mountain and Northern, but it is now called the Susquehanna Branch. The Susquehanna Branch inherited original Lehigh Division trackage from Dupont to Mehoopany which is also Lehigh Line original trackage and Lehigh Line Mountain Cutoff trackage. The Norfolk Southern Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway have trackage rights south of Dupont, Pennsylvania on the Lehigh Division.

The Lehigh Division is one of the two main branch lines of the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern, the other is the Reading Division. The combined operations of the Lehigh Division and the Reading Division is labeled “Reading Blue Mountain and Northern main line”.