The last power to bring cars to Conrail’s Bangor & Portland subdivision from Scranton lays over next to the scale track in Portland, Pennsylvania. The Conrail had already abandoned the Lackawanna Cutoff between Port Morris Junction, New Jersey, and Slateford Junction, Pennsylvania, leaving trains for the B&P as the only traffic over the former DL&W main line between Tobyhanna and East Stroudsburg. As of the date of this photo, that trackage was embargoed, and the B&P would be served from Allentown.
In pre-Conrail days, this routing would have involved travelling over six railroads: CNJ from Allentown to Bethlehem, Reading across the Lehigh River in Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley from Bethlehem to Easton, Lehigh & Hudson River from Easton to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, PRR/PC from Phillipsburg to Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, and DL&W/EL from Martins Creek on. The new local to supply cars to the B&P was symbolled APB-1, and its initial run would arrive in Portland a few minutes after this photo was taken. It would take this power to Allentown as off-line trailing units.
