Room Run Railroad

The Room (or Rhume) Run Railroad was an early American gravity railroad with self-acting planes.[1] It was built by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company to transport coal from the Room Run Mine in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania to landings at Mauch Chunk on the Lehigh River[2] so the coal could be shipped on the Lehigh Canal to the Delaware river at Easton, Pennsylvania and thence to markets in Philadelphia or New York via the Delaware or Morris Canals respectively.

Room Run Coal Mine

As early as 1806, coal was being mined at the Room Run Mine and in one instance was shipped to Philadelphia from Lausanne, located at the confluence of the Nesquehoning Creek and the Lehigh River about one-mile upstream from Mauch Chunk.[3] The Room Run mine was located about 4 miles from Lausanne making the transport of the coal extracted there much easier from this location to the landing. No other alternative was available at that time to transport the coal except to move coal to Summit Hill, Pennsylvania (by wagon) and from there take another wagon trail to Mauch Chunk, which would triple the transport time with no less difficulty in travel.

In 1814, Room Run coal was shipped to a mill owned by Josiah White and Erskine Hazard at the falls of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia.[4] White and Hazard became investors in Lehigh Coal Mining Company, eventually becoming part of its successor companies’ management.

When White was the Acting Manager of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company in 1830, he convinced the his Board to develop the Room Run Mine to increase production substantially adding to Lehigh’s other mine in the area at Summit Hill. White also determined that coal from the closer (to the Lehigh River) Room Run Mine could be more economical is it had its own railroad to deliver coal to Lausanne, rather than transport the coal to Summit Hill and then ship the coal over the new existing gravity railway in use there.[5] The work was authorized in late 1830.[6]

Room Run Railroad

Construction of the project began in 1831.[7] Work was suspended later that year to wait for some work on the Delaware and Morris Canals to finish.[8] Work resumed in May 1832 and the railroad was completed in 1833.[9] In 1833, over 21,000 tons of anthracite coal was transported over the just completed railroad.[10]

A look south from the outlet to the Lehigh River at the Nesquehoning Creek and the town of Lausanne Landing; the Room Run coal was delivered into wharves located within Mauch Chunk.

The railroad had three self-acting planes in which loaded wagons going down pull, via a cable and drum, the empty wagons going up. Two of these planes were located at the railroad’s entrance from Room Run (a small creek) into the narrow Nesquehoning Valley: the third was located at the descent to the Lehigh River elevation before the short track to the landing.[11] The coal was delivered into wharves located at the Mauch Chunk Pond within the town and not to Lausanne. The balance of the railroad was animal (mule) operated. The majority of the railroad , was single tracked, except for the inclined planes which were double tracked.[12] The route followed much the same route of the present U.S. Route 209 between Nesquehoning and Jim Thorpe.[13] Unlike the Summit Hill – Mauch Chunk Switchback Railroad (which had a stationary steam engine, the Room Run Railroad relied solely on mule power to retrieve the empty cars from Mauch Chunk. Special cars allowed the mules to ride downhill before beginning the trip back to Nesquehoning and the climb up the plane to the mines.[14] To the east, and close to the Lehigh River, the descent is very steep.[15]

The wooden rails for the gravity route were made of oak, and attached to iron knees by spikes. Strap-iron rail was laid along the inside edge of the oak rails. The iron rails were beveled at the ends for better continuity between sections.[16]

During operation of the planes, the looped ropes especially on the steep (long) plane, made from either hemp or iron chain, were subject to significant wear. In 1838 the Lehigh Company replaced this rope with an iron band one-twelfth of an inch thick but three inches wide. This improvement proved successful and the change was made to the other two inclined planes, which saved replacement and downtime costs.[17]

The Room Run Gravity Railroad was replaced by the Nesquehoning Valley Railroad. A new main line was completed in April, 1870, and along with the Hauto Tunnel, (through the Nesquehoning Mountain) to coal yards in Lansford, Pennsylvania, and the rest of the Panther Creek Valley, was completed in 1872, as a joint-effort of the CNJ and Lehigh. CNJ operated the new railroad as a lease of the Lehigh Company.

References
  1. Railroads of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, GROUP IX, Railroads of the First and Second Anthracite Coal Fields of Pennsylvania, Earl J. Heydinger, Bulletin of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Vol. 110, April 1964, p. 59
  2. Heydinger April 1964, p. 59
  3. REMARKABLE ENGINEERING FEATS MADE ON THE ROOM RUN COAL LINE, Georgie Pauff, Allentown PA Morning Call, June 17, 1999
  4. Hartman, Lee, The Delaware River Story: Water Wars, Trout Tales, and a River Reborn, Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield (2020) p. 3
  5. Hoffman, John N., Anthacite in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania 1820-1845, Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Papers 69-72 to Technology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 1968, p. 106; See also The History of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's Room Run Rail Road , 1830 – 1870, Vincent Hydro, Jr., Canal History and Technology Proceedings, Vol . 10 , 1991, Easton, Pa.: Center for Canal History and Technology, pp. 3 – 37
  6. See Hydro 1991.
  7. Lehigh Pioneer and Mauch Chunk Courier, Mauch Chunk PA, April 11, 1831
  8. See Hydro 1991.
  9. Heydinger April 1964
  10. Paulff June 1999.
  11. See Hydro 1991.
  12. See Hydro 1991. See also Paulff June 1999.
  13. Nesquehoning Had Rich Deposits of Anthracite by Ralph Kreamer, The Morning Call, Allentown PA, September 7, 1993
  14. Pauff June 1999
  15. See Hydro 1991
  16. Pauff June 1999
  17. LCNC Annual Report for 1839, Philadelphia:James Kay 1839, p. 31

See also
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