The D&H Gravity Railroad was constructed in the 1820’s and was used to haul coal from Carbondale, PA to Honesdale, where it was transferred to barges for the 108 mile trip up the D&H Canal to Kingston, NY. The gravity railroad was “upgraded” around 1866 with the construction of a second (and parallel) line so that loaded trains could run on a separate right-of-way from empty trains returning to the coal mines. Shepherd’s Crook was built as part of that 1860’s upgrade, and was a spectacular horseshoe curve built into the side of the Moosic Mountains. Empty trains descending the Moosic Ridge first curved to the right into the hillside (going through a substantial cut) and then tightly curved around to the left, emerging from the cut onto a huge fill to complete the horseshoe. Around 1899, the D&H replaced Shepherd’s Crook with a switchback, when the gravity RR was converted to a “regular” steam-powered railroad. The switchback was necessitated since locomotives could not negotiate the extreme curvature of Shepherd’s Crook! The switchback remained in operation until 1931 when the entire line from Honesdale to Carbondale was abandoned – an early victim of the Great Depression. Readers are encouraged to pick up a copy of either “Coal Boats to Tidewater” by Manville Wakefield (widely considered to be the very best book ever written about the D&H Canal and Gravity RR system) or Jim Shaughnessy’s incomparable history of “The Delaware and Hudson”. Both works contain astounding photos of Shepherd’s Crook dating from the 1800’s. The photo above was taken from the identical location and angle as the photo on Page 43 of Jim Shaughnessy’s book. The photographer is standing on the gravity railroad right-of-way, which can be discerned curving to the right as it enters the cut. After entering the cut, the right-of-way will swing sharply to the left and begin tracing the horseshoe. This photo also shows both legs of the switchback (thanks to snow cover marking the right-of-way) to the left of the gravity railroad and converging in the distance. The reader is advised that Shepherd’s Crook is now on private property and that all photos were taken with the permission of the owner.

Photographed by Rich Kugel, December 6, 2008.
Added to the photo archive by Rich Kugel, February 27, 2009.
Railroad: Delaware & Hudson.

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