The Remains of the Train Station

The Remains of the Train Station Photo by Owen Vaughn (March 31, 2016)

Northeast Pennsylvania was, at one time, the largest coal-producing region in the United States. This ruined train station was a vital part of that system. It is estimated that the Lehigh-Susquehanna train station shipped over a million tons of coal to New York in its day, making it one of the most active and prosperous train lines in the area. Now, the building is boarded up. Glass crunches underfoot as you approach the heap of brick that was a staple in the community. Vines creep up the walls of the building as nature slowly but surely retakes the area. Heavily graphitized train cars with shattered windows gather dust and grime as tracks descend into the ground, stretching away into nothingness. The place is infested with stray cats, which dart around the train wheels and hide just out of sight. You can see that a homeless man has been living in one of the cars, as all his possessions are grouped next to a sleeping bag, thrown into a corner. The abandoned station acts as an eerie monument to what Wilkes-Barre was: a key city that provided the fuel that kept the fires burning throughout the United States.

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