J.R. Canfield

Lackawanna Memories is a personal view of the end of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (DL&W) railroad as an independent corporation and the problems that beset the DL&W and the Erie railroad when they merged to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad.

The author began working summer jobs with the Lackawanna, and continued on and off with the railroad all through his years of education. After receiving a BS in transportation, he applied for and was granted a position in management. He moved up through the ranks and at the time of the merger had attained the position of Train Master.

The personal and corporate events covered in the book are in chronological order and they range from the mundane to the unique as far as personal events on a railroad are concerned.

My only criticism of the book is the lack of a good map or perhaps maps to allow the reader to better understand the relationship between locations in the authors narrative. There is a single hand drawn map which roughly illustrates the DL&W and indicates the locations of some of the towers and junctions mentioned in the text, however, it does not adequately represent the location of many of the towns, towers, etc. mentioned by the author.

I wouldn’t consider this book a must read but I do think it is worthwhile and I would recommend it to anyone interested in understanding some of the issues faced by all of the railroads in the Northeastern U.S. in the latter half of the 20th Century.

(Text Length - 81 pages, Total Length - 83 pages. Includes bibliography and 5 pictures and 2 maps ) (Book Dimensions inches LxWxH – 6 x .25 x 9)… (mer)