Lehigh Valley Railroad - Route of the Black Diamond rolling stock.

LV cabooses with the "Route of the Black Diamond" slogan.

The LV built 140 modern steel cabooses at the Sayre shops between 1937 and 1945. These cabooses were based on the Reading Railroad "Northeastern caboose" pattern, with some LV-specific features.

It is believed that LV 95050, the first LV steel caboose built, was very likely the first piece of LV rolling stock to ever wear the "Route of the Black Diamond" slogan, She was built in July 1937. (and still survives today! info below.)

Of the 140 cabooses built, 67 still survive today. (in 2015)
That's 47%, nearly half! an impressive number for now obsolete cars over 70 years old.
here is a link to the full list of survivors: LVRR-Cabooselist-sortedbynumber.html

LV caboose data:
Builder Data info, from Railroad Model Craftsman, August 1982.
Individual Data: Lehigh Valley Cabooses.

Phase I                                      Built
Lot 1           95050-95069         7/28/37-12/24/37
Lot 2           95070-95079         6/10/39-7/8/39
Lot 3           95080-95103         4/30/40-3/31/41
Lot 4           95001-95014         5/10/41-8/23/41
Lot 5           95015-95026         5/28/42-8/18/42
Lot 6           95027-95041         4/24/44-
95 Cars: Cushion underframe, right end window, flush roof/end walks, cast steps.
exceptions:
Fabrcated steps: 95014, 95017, 95019, 95022-95026, 95059
Added Left end window: 95004, 95007, 95036, 95037, 95038, 95050, 95055,
95056, 95059, 95064, 95065, 95073, 95075, 95077, 95084, 95090, 95092
Solid underframe: 95051

Phase II
Lot 6             95042-95049                    -6/30/45
Lot 7             95104-95125        7/24/45-11/31/45
Lot 8             95126-95140        3/29/46-5/31/46
45 Cars: Solid underframe, dual porthole windows, raised roof/end walks, cast steps.

The "Route of the Black Diamond" caboose scheme was the first scheme used on the LV steel cabooses, and it was applied to all 140 cabooses when new. This original scheme was a "bright red" body color with white lettering, and white handrails. (This red was not Cornell Red! LV Cornell Red did not yet exist in 1937, it was not seen until the FT road diesels of 1945.) It's likely that the Phase-2 cabooses, from 1944 and 1945, were built new with white lettering and black handrails, but this is not yet 100% confirmed.

This scheme was applied to the cabooses as they were built at the Sayre shops between 1937 and 1945.
There are known photos of 15 LV cabooses, so far, with this scheme. listed by build order:

Phase 1:

Caboose 95050 - July through Dec 1937 - Phase 1 Lot 1. (95050 is the first built.)
Caboose 95053 - July through Dec 1937 - Phase 1 Lot 1.
Caboose 95054 - July through Dec 1937 - Phase 1 Lot 1.
Caboose 95059 - July through Dec 1937 - Phase 1 Lot 1.
Caboose 95063 - July through Dec 1937 - Phase 1 Lot 1.
Caboose 95065 - July through Dec 1937 - Phase 1 Lot 1.
Caboose 95069 - July through Dec 1937 - Phase 1 Lot 1.

Caboose 95073 - June through July 1939 - Phase 1 Lot 2.
Caboose 95079 - June through July1939 - Phase 1 Lot 2.

Caboose 95081 - Apr 1940 through Mar 1941 - Phase 1 Lot 3.

Caboose 95016 - May through Aug 1942 - Phase 1 Lot 5.

Phase 2:

Caboose 95045 - Late '44 to early '45 - Phase 2 Lot 6.
Caboose 95046 - Late '44 to early '45 - Phase 2 Lot 6.

Caboose 95126 - Mar through May 1945 - Phase 2 Lot 8. (last group)
Caboose 95128 - Mar through May 1945 - Phase 2 Lot 8.

Modelers note: Notice that all of the cabooses from Phase-1 Lot-1, (the first 30 cabooses built, in 1937, numbers 95050 to 95069) were built new without the iconic LV "drip-strips" over the windows! and they also were built new with corner steps with 2-steps, instead of three. Photos strongly indicate that only the thirty cars from Phase-1, Lot-1 were built this way, since all the known photos with those features happen to be from that first series. It's likely all the later cars, starting with Phase-1, Lot-2, were built new with the drip-strips and 3-step steps.

LV 95050, the first LV steel caboose built, built in 1937.
LV publicity photo.

LV 95050, two LV publicity photos taken in 1937, probably in Sayre.
Article from the Sayre Evening Times newspaper, published September 10, 1937.
Thanks to "gfluck1" on rf.net for finding this! and lots of other great LV articles:
http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?board=LV

A better resolution version of the photo from the newspaper article above.
LV 95050, a LV publicity photo from 1937.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

LV 95053, the 4th caboose built. Date, location and photographer unknown. (looks like Sayre.)

Two in the same photo! LV 95054 and 95126. photo by William Hayes. Sayre PA, April 24, 1949.
Chuck Davis collection, used with permission, thanks Chuck! Photo originallyposted here.

LV 95059. Date, location and photographer unknown.
perhaps an LV publicity photo?

LV 95063. An unusual LVRR builders photo! Taken by the LV in November 1937 to officially document
the brand-new 95063, the 14th steel caboose built at the Sayre shops. Scot Lawrence collection.

LV 95065, at the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair. The "video still" above is a frame
from an amazing color movie! Taken in 1939 at the New York World's fair. This is the
earliest known image of an LV caboose in color. Check out the video here;
http://www.archive.org/details/medicus_1939_nywf_reel4_part3
The footage of the LV caboose is at 2:27.

A B&W photo of the same LV 95065 at the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair.. photographer unknown.

And one more photo of LV 95065 at the World's Fair. Photographer unknown.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

LV 95069. Photo by C.L Andres. Easton PA, 1941.
Chuck Davis collection, used with permission, thanks Chuck!
Photo originallyposted here.

LV 95073, with steam pushers. date, location and photographer unknown.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

A second photo of 95073, later than the first photo of 95073.
Anthracite Railroads Historical Society collection, used with permission, thanks! Charles Griffin photo, May 30, 1947.
http://www.anthraciterailroads.org/

The photo above of 95073 is very interesting! 95073 was built in 1939, and the photo is from 1947, eight years later. 95073 has clearly been repainted! She was almost certainly built in the standard scheme of white lettering and white handrails (look at 95069, above, and 95079, below, both with white handrails), but in this photo she clearly no longer has white handrails. perhaps red? or even black? (the first LV "Cornell Red" diesels of 1945 to 1948 (The early F-units, Alco PA's and others) did come new with black handrails, so black handrails on a caboose of this same era could make sense.) and the lettering looks like it could be darker than white, perhaps yellow? which would again match the diesel scheme of this same era. There are no known color photos of the "Route of the Black Diamond" scheme in anything but white lettering and white handrails, but this looks like it's likely a different variant on the "Route of the Black Diamond" caboose scheme. The exact color scheme of this variant, as seen on 95073, is still unknown.

LV 95079. photo by C.L Andres. date and location unknown.
Chuck Davis collection, used with permission, thanks Chuck!
Photo originallyposted here.

A second photo of LV 95079. date, location and photographer unknown.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

LV 95081. date, location and photographer unknown.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

LV 95016. date, location and photographer unknown.
(but it's after 1945, EMD FT pushers!)
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

LV phase 1 caboose, unknown number. date, location and photographer also unknown.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

LV phase 1 caboose, unknown number. date, location and photographer also unknown.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

Phase 2

LV Phase 2 cabooses were built in 1944 and 1945, the last 45 LV cabooses built.
They stand out from their Phase 1 sisters mainly by the change to round "porthole" windows on the car ends, and some other updates.

It's interesting to note that every known photo of a LV phase 2 caboose in the "Route of the Black Diamond" scheme appears to show black handrails. (or perhaps red, but probably black.) It's plausable that all the Phase 2 cabooses were built new with black handrails, not white, which would match the scheme of the new LV road diesels of the 1945 era.

It's also possible/plusable that the Phase-2 cabooses were built new with the "drip strips" and the 3-step steps, while the Phase-1, Lot-1 cabooses had those features retrofitted later.

LV 95045. date, location and photographer unknown.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

LV 95046. date, location and photographer unknown.
95046 clearly has black handrails in this photo. notice the handrails are clearly darker than the car body color, so they are not red.
The lettering is most likely still white.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

A zoomed-in crop of the same photo further up in the list, to highlight caboose 95126.
(95054 is phase 1, 95126 is phase 2)
Photo by William Hayes. Sayre PA, April 24, 1949. Chuck Davis collection, used with permission, thanks Chuck!
Photo originallyposted here.

LV 95128. date, location and photographer unknown.
Greg Gunshore collection, used with permission, thanks Greg!

This "Route of the Black Diamond" scheme on cabooses didn't seem to last long. Some LV cabooses lost this scheme as they became due for repainting in the later 1940's and into the 1950's. Some probably lasted in this scheme up to 1960, when the remainder would have been repainted.

The diagram below, the LV caboose paint diagram from 1947, updated in 1960, shows the next "official" scheme, the "make safety a habit, in 1960", scheme:

Anthracite Railroads Historical Society collection, used with permission, thanks!
http://www.anthraciterailroads.org/

However several cabooses were repainted in the late 1940's and into the 1950's, losing the "Route of the Black Diamond" slogan. The following photo is from sometime in the early or mid-1950's. (We know it's before 1958, because Desmond Street Park still exists.)

Sayre PA, mid 1950's - Lloyd Hall photo.

Starting in the 1980's, some preserved LV cabooses have been re-painted in the "Route of the Black Diamond" scheme however! At least five are known:

LV 95003, at Steamtown in Scranton PA.
Steamtown did a great job with their repaint of 95003, the color and lettering is excellent: link.

LV 95011, at The Sayre Historical Society, Sayre PA
95011 was purchased by the "Valley Railroad Museum" in the mid-1980's, and re-painted in the "route of" scheme by GE railcar at their shops in the former LV Sayre yard. Today the caboose is owned by the Sayre Historical society.

LV 95039, in Catawissa PA.
link.

LV 95050, the first LV steel caboose built, preserved in Williamsville NY.
The WNYRHS got the color and lettering pretty much perfect! Steamtown and the WNYRHS got it right: link. and link.
(note: The color photo of "95050" on the top of the WNYRHS page is not actually the 95050, its a photoshopped photo of 95003 at Steamtown. the number was digitally altered. 95050 never wore the "Route of" scheme after (probably) the 1940's, until it was repainted in 2012.)

LV 95113. Was in Sayre PA in the 1980's, in Dryden NY today.
Perhaps the first LV caboose to be repainted in this scheme was LV 95113, which was purchased by Frank Evans of Sayre PA in the early 1980's and incorporated as part of his "Sayre Hobby Shop" on Keystone Ave in Sayre. link.
Today 95113 is an Ice cream stand in Dryden NY.

Full list of existing LV cabooses: link.

And click here for a G-scale model of a LV caboose in this scheme!


	Lehigh Valley Railroad "Route of the Black Diamond" (slogan on locomotives and rolling stock.)


	This page will document all known Lehigh Valley Railroad equipment (locomotives and rolling stock) that wore the "Route of the Black Diamond" slogan. This page came about as the result of a discussion on the LV facebook group in 2015: (Link to Facebook post) (another discussion on railfan.net) Based on those discussions, I thought it would be interesting to create a page to list and document all the known LV equipment that ever had the slogan. Three types of equipment are known so far, cabooses, diesel switchers, and boxcars. This equipment was built over a 10-year span, 1937 to 1947. "Route of the Black Diamond" refers to the Lehigh Valley's premire passenger train, "The Black Diamond Express", which operated from 1896 to 1959. see this page for more information on the Black Diamond Express. Photos of 25 individual pieces of rolling stock, with the slogan, are known so far. Caboose - LV 95016 Caboose - LV 95045 Caboose - LV 95046 Caboose - LV 95050 Caboose - LV 95053 Caboose - LV 95054 Caboose - LV 95059 Caboose - LV 95063 Caboose - LV 95065 Caboose - LV 95069 Caboose - LV 95073 Caboose - LV 95079 Caboose - LV 95081 Caboose - LV 95126 Caboose - LV 95128 EMC SW switcher - LV 106 EMC SW switcher - LV 107 Boxcar - LV 61086 Boxcar - LV 61299 Boxcar - LV 62000 Boxcar - LV 62008 Boxcar - LV 62179 Boxcar - LV 62210 Boxcar - LV 79395 It is known that switchers 106 and 107 were the only LV locomotives to ever wear the slogan, however all 140 of the LV steel cabooses wore the slogan when new, and probably more than 500 boxcars! but exactly how many boxcars is not currently known. more detail below.


	LV locomotives with the "Route of the Black Diamond" slogan. Only two locomotives ever wore the "Route of the Black Diamond" slogan, EMC SW switchers number 106 and 107. The first LV diesel paint scheme was a spartan "solid black, with white lettering" scheme, which was the same paint applied to most LV steam locomotives of the era. The first LV diesel, boxcab 100, arrived on the LV in 1926, painted in this "black & white" scheme, and a total of thirteen switchers, diesel and gas-electric, arrived on the LV between 1926 and 1937, all painted in black with white lettering. The last two LV diesels painted in the black & white scheme were the first two EMC SW switchers, 106 and 107, built in 1937. They were the first two of six SW's on the LV, however sister units 108, 109, 110 and 111 arrived after July 1938, and were delivered new in the LV's much more colorful "pre-war scheme" of red, grey and yellow. 106 and 107 had the same basic Black & White scheme as the rest of the pre-1938 switchers, but in addition they also had the "Route of the Black Diamond" slogan on the side. LV EMC SW No. 106. Buffalo NY. date and photographer unknown. LV EMC SW No. 107. EMC builders photo, 1937. LV 107. Date, location and photographer unknown.


	LV boxcars with the "Route of the Black Diamond" slogan. The last known group of LV rolling stock with the slogan were boxcars. At least three classes of boxcar are known to have had the slogan, and they were built between 1941 and 1947. The LV 61000 series with "Route of the Black Diamond" is known from two photos. It is not yet known how many boxcars were in this class, or how many had the slogan. A stencil on the side of the car says it was built in 5-41. Since we have photos of car 61086 and 61299, it makes sense that every car in this series probably had the slogan! if so, that is at least 300 cars. LV 61086 - Bud Rindfleisch collection. used with permission. thanks Bud! LV 61299 - Date and location unknown. Probably a builder photo. From the collection of Guy W. Fluck, used with permission, thanks Guy! The second LV boxcar series with the slogan, the LV 62000 series, is better documented. This series contained 500 boxcars, 62000 - 62499, and LV 62000, the "class unit" of the series, is said to be the first PS-1 40-foot boxcar built by the Pullman Standard company. The Pullman Standard PS-1 boxcar is said to be the first "standardized" boxcar in the industry, and Pullman would eventually build over 100,000 of them! starting with our LV number 62000, built in 1947. LV 62000 - Pullman Standard Company, builders photo, 1947. Greg Robbins collection, used with permission..thanks Greg! The next two photos are also of boxcar 62000, but they are very interesting, because they are believed to be official Pullman company photos, but they were taken in 1955! when the car was eight years old! Clearly Pullman was aware of this cars historic signifiance to their company, but why was the car photographed in 1955? and where was it? Was it back at a Pullman facility for some reason? did Pullman contact the LV so they could photograph it again? Did they perhaps intend or hope to preserve the car? All these questions are unknown, and it is not known if 62000 still survives today. As of now, why Pullman took these two photos in 1955 is a mystery. LV 62000 - Said to be a Pullman company photo, 1955. location unknown. Greg Robbins collection, used with permission..thanks Greg! LV 62000 - Said to be a Pullman company photo, 1955. location unknown. Greg Robbins collection, used with permission..thanks Greg! Two more photos of 62000 series boxcars in the "Route of the Black diamond" scheme are known, 62008 and 62179. LV 62008 - Date, location and photographer unknown. LV 62179 - Photo by Rich Taylor, June 23, 1962. Photo used with permission from the photographer, thanks Rich! LV 62210 - Date and location unknown. From the collection of Guy W. Fluck, used with permission, thanks Guy! We know the 62000 series was made up of 500 cars, (62000 - 62499), and we have photos of 62000, 62008, 62179 and 62210, all with the slogan. Because of that, it is logical to conclude that all 500 cars probably had the slogan! The third known class of LV boxcars with the slogan was the 79000 series. Were these wood or steel cars? it is difficult to tell from the photo. All that is known about this series so far is one photo: LV 79395 - Date and location unknown. From the collection of Guy W. Fluck, used with permission. Thanks Guy! And we have a photo of an unidentified car, the number cant be made out from the photo. It is likely a member of one of the above classes, but we cant tell for sure: Sayre PA, date unknown, but likely sometime in the 1940's.


	And that's everything that is known as of December 2015. As always, corrections, comments and additions are always welcome! If you have anything to add, please do! you can join in on the discussion on either forum: (Link to Facebook post) (that is a "closed" facebook group, if you arent already a member, you will need to join if you want to read the discussion.. after you join, this link will then open directly to the discussion thread.) (Link to discussion on railfan.net) Or send me an email at sscotsman@yahoo.com Thanks! Scot Lawrence Page first uploaded August 11, 2015. Page last updated December 10, 2015. Return to Scots main page.