Mission Statement

Detailed Objective

Timeline

Board of Directors

Advisory Board

Press Coverage

About Us

The Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society is currently restoring two original Erie Lackawanna dining cars to full operating condition. We have been working with the Northeast Pennsylvania Railroad Authority, as well as the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad on our project.

Our goal is to recreate the long distance passenger train experience, and specifically "Dinner in the Diner" as it would have been on the Erie, Delaware Lackawanna & Western and Erie Lackawanna railroads in the late 1950's and early 1960's. When the cars are completed, we will base them in Scranton, PA and operate them on the County-owned railroad between Scranton, Mt. Pocono, East Stroudsburg and the Delaware Water Gap.

Currently we are about 60% complete with the restoration of our first diner, Erie Lackawanna 741, which was built in 1925 and was on the very last westbound EL passenger train from Hoboken, NJ to Chicago on January 4, 1970. We are looking for ways to fund the remaining work to complete the car.

We estimate the entire restoration of Diner 741 will cost about $250,000. To date, we have raised about $170,000. Our most significant contributions have been several grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation, awarded locally by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. We have also received a donation from East Stroudsburg, PA-based ESSA Bank, several large personal donations and some in-kind donations made by local and national companies. 

We believe our project will be an important addition to the tourism attractions in the Pocono Mountains and the entire Northeastern Pennsylvania area. We are working with several local colleges that have culinary and hotel management programs to see if we can partner with them to actually staff the cars and provide the dining service for us as a part of their degree work.  Because our dining car originally operated over this route, we believe our plan is unique in this country and very different from many for-profit "dinner trains" operating elsewhere.

We hope to repaint Diner 741 by this Fall and then seek to complete the interior work that will allow us to operate this car. Work is nearly complete on our sleeping car, Nickel Plate Road City of Lima, which also ran through Northeast Pennsylvania nearly every day from 1949 until 1963. The Society also owns a second diner, Lackawanna 470, built in 1949 for the famous train The Phoebe Snow. Restoration work on this diner will commence once Diner 741 has been completed.

We think our dining cars will be a great historical, educational and tourism addition to the region. We would love to have a recreated long-distance passenger train run through Scranton and the Poconos just like they did for over 100 years.