Pocono Mountain is a proposed New Jersey Transit Rail Operations (NJT) station located in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania and is part of a site that was formerly utilized as a summer camp.Pierce, David. "Poconos residents to get a look at commuter rail plans." Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Pocono Record, July 13, 2008.Pierce, David. "Rail project presented in Stroudsburg." Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Pocono Record, July 16, 2008. The proposed station site, which will include a 1,000-space surface parking lot, is located northwest of a multi-phased planned development for this area. Access will be from Pennsylvania Route 611 via Pocono Municipal Road/Mount Pocono Road and a local access road and the platform would be situated east of the track.
Rail service from this station to New Jersey and New York City would be provided by NJ Transit if Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is completed. In spring 2021, Amtrak announced plans for potential New York-Scranton route.
Background
The main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) and, farther east, the Lackawanna Cut-Off in New Jersey passed through the southern end of the borough of Mount Pocono and continued to Hoboken Terminal. A passenger station was originally built at the crossing of what is now Pennsylvania Route 611 in 1886. Most of the station was demolished in 1937 when the highway was widened. Year-round passenger service to the station had ceased in 1956. Thereafter, trains would only stop at the station during summer months.Lackawanna timetable, April 29, 1956, Tables 3, 6 The final years of summer service on the merged Erie Lackawanna Railroad were for the Twilight (Hoboken to Scranton) and the Pocono Express (Scranton to Hoboken), with the last summer being 1965.Erie Lackawanna timetable, August 1, 1965, Table 1 The disappearance of these trains from the timetable later in the year marked the end for service at this station.Erie Lackawanna timetable, December 13, 1965, Table 1
The former DL&W tracks now carry freight trains for the Delaware Lackawanna Railroad and an occasional excursion train from Steamtown National Historic Site.Alan Sweeney, Journey along the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (Tribute Books, 2007), p. 193.
However, service in adjacent Pocono Summit on the Erie Lackawanna's Lake Cities (Hoboken-Scranton-Binghamton-Chicago) in the west-bound direction continued to January 5, 1970. Nearby Cresco saw Lake Cities service in both the westbound and eastbound service.Sanders, Craig (2003). Limiteds, Locals, and Expresses in Indiana, 1838–1971. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ., 145–149
References
External links Lackawanna Cut-Off map