The PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch ran from the downtown Wilkes-Barre rail cluster southwest to Sunbury along tracks on the east (left) shore of the North Branch Susquehanna River. The Danville, Hazelton and Wilkes-Barre Railroad opened from Sunbury to South Danville in 1869 and past Catawissa to Tomhicken in 1871. The North and West Branch Railway opened the line from Catawissa to Wilkes-Barre in the early 1880s, completing the line soon to be called Wilkes-Barre Branch. The line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad and became known as the Wilkes-Barre Branch under PRR ownership. The PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch was passed to Penn Central which was the merger between the PRR and the New York Central Railroad.