Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Rail Road Company

The Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Rail Road Company was incorporated as the North Branch Canal Company on April 21, 1858. On May 25, 1858, it acquired a line of canal along the Susquehanna River originally constructed and operated by the State of Pennsylvania. The section from the Northumberland to Nanticoke Pool had originally opened in 1831, that from Nanticoke Pool to Old Forge feeder dam in 1834, and the extension from Pittston to New York state line in 1856.

The section of the canal below Wilkes-Barre, which enjoyed a profitable coal traffic, was resold almost immediately to the Wyoming Canal Company. The operation of the remaining portion from Wilkes-Barre to the state line was less profitable. On March 20, 1865, the company was authorized to construct a railroad alongside the canal and change its name to the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Rail Road Company. The reorganization was effected on January 15, 1866, under the control of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, whose western extension the line now became. The railroad was completed over its entire length in 1869, and the canal from Pittston to the New York line was abandoned at the end of the 1871 boating season.

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