Although similar in name to the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, this concern of brief life had no ownership connections to the DL&W. In 1854 William Jessup decidede to construct a frieght railroad that would connect with the then under-construction Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad near Nay Aug. by agreement the DL&W consented to accept frieght shipments (basically anthracite coal) that Jessup brought over his line to the juncture of the two roads near Nay Aug. He recieved a charter to build his line from the state legislature in 1854 and organized the Lackawanna Railroad. Among the stockholders that he attracted was the Mexican President, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who subscribed to $125,000.
Jessup planned to build the railroad in two phases. The first stage would cover the sixteen miles between his coal mines at the village of Jessup (neartheast of Scranton) and Nay Aug. In the second phase the line would be extended northeast from Jessup to Merideth (now Childs) a village southwest of Carbondale. By November of 1855 the first portion had been completed and coal from the Jessup mines began to be transported over it in 1856. Legend had it that Mexican President Santa Anna intended to establish a colony of Mexican laborers at Jessup to mine coal, but the depression of 1857 caused the railroad to collapse. The line was abandoned with only the first phase completely. In 1874 the Deleware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad acquired the old roadbed and established its winton Branch on that right-of-way.
