Lehigh Valley Railroads

     Commemorating the area's rich railroading heritage, the National Canal Museum is hosting a live interactive model railroad exhibit entitled "Lehigh Valley Railroad." Organized by guest curator Stan Price, the exhibit opened on November 21, 2001 and features G gauge trains bearing the names and colors of the Lehigh Valley, Jersey Central and Pennsylvania railroads.  The exhibit includes toy and model trains along with classic pre-war Lionel stations and accessories from the Louis Buehler Collection as well as photographs and artifacts associated with these railroads.  

     Before 1976, when most of the eastern rail lines merged to form Conrail, the Lehigh Valley possessed one of the densest concentrations of railroads.  The Lehigh and Hudson; Lehigh and New England; Lehigh Valley; Delaware, Lackawanna and Western; Reading; Pennsylvania; and Jersey Central were among the railroads the crisscrossed the valley.

     Over the years Mr. Buehler collected hundreds of toy and model trains. Because the National Canal Museum tells the story of American transportation and technology, he donated these trains to explain railroad transportation.  Many of the trains displayed in this exhibit were built before 1940.

 For more information about the exhibit please contact the National Canal Museum at (610) 559-6613.