Lackawanna Old Road

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Lackawanna Old Road
Lackawanna Old Road bridge over Delaware River - May 27 2013.jpg
Old Road bridge (built 1902) spanning the Delaware River, Delaware, New Jersey
Overview
Termini
History
Opened1856
Closed1970
Technical
Line length39.6 mi (63.7 km)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Operating speed70 mph (110 km/h)
Lackawanna Old Road
 
miles from Hoboken Terminal  
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to Scranton via DL Pocono Mainline
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Slateford Junction
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Portland
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79.8
Delaware
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77.5
Manunka Chunk
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Manunka Chunk Tunnel
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Bridgeville
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71.0
Oxford Furnace
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Phillipsburg Branch
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66.5
Washington
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63.1
Port Murray
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56.8
Hackettstown
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51.2
Waterloo
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48.0
Netcong
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Port Morris Yard
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45.5
Lake Hopatcong
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0.0
Hoboken Terminal

The Lackawanna Old Road was part of the original mainline of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W). Opened in 1856, it was, for a half-century, a part of the line connecting the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Contents

In 1911, the DL&W cut 11 miles (18 km) off the route by opening the Lackawanna Cut-Off, which branched off from existing track at the new Port Morris Junction and Slateford Junction. The 39.6-mile (63.7 km) stretch of existing track between these junctions was relegated to secondary status and became known as the "Old Road".

History

The Old Road involves one railroad tycoon (John I. Blair) and four railroads: the DL&W, the Jersey Central (CNJ), the Morris & Essex Railroad (M&E), and the Warren Railroad.

In 1853, construction began on the 19-mile (31 km) Warren Railroad, which would connect the CNJ at Hampton, New Jersey, and the DL&W's mainline at the Delaware River, in anticipation of an eventual merger between the two older railroads. Expensive to build, the Warren required three large bridges, two tunnels, and much excavation before it opened in 1856.

In 1862, Oxford Tunnel (also known as Van Nest Gap Tunnel) opened, relieving trains of a slow and arduous climb over Van Nest Gap. The new tunnel, however, did not prevent the collapse of the planned DL&W-CNJ merger.

The M&E quickly emerged as the logical replacement for the CNJ, as it would give the DL&W direct access to the Hudson River. But this time, there would be no bespoke connecting line between the merger partners. Instead, the DL&W forged a circuitous route out of existing lines, including 20 miles (32 km) of the Phillipsburg Branch (Port Morris to Washington, New Jersey); 14 miles (23 km) of the Warren Railroad (Washington to Delaware, New Jersey); and 5 miles (8 km) of the Bangor & Portland Railroad (Delaware, to Slateford, Pennsylvania). [1] The speed limits on the sections varied: 70 mph (110 km/h) on the Phillipsburg Branch; and 50 mph (80 km/h) on the Warren Railroad and B&P.

Oxford Tunnel's eastern portal, August 2011; low clearances and increasing traffic forced the railroad to install gauntlet track, creating a bottleneck eliminated by building the Lackawanna Cut-Off Oxford Tunnel NJ - Aug 2011 - IMG 3464.JPG
Oxford Tunnel's eastern portal, August 2011; low clearances and increasing traffic forced the railroad to install gauntlet track, creating a bottleneck eliminated by building the Lackawanna Cut-Off

Oxford Tunnel was double-tracked in 1869, and for a few decades, suffered no more serious problems than the intermittent water (and sometimes flooding) also seen in its sister tunnel at Manunka Chunk. By the 1890s, the era's larger locomotives and rolling stock had trouble fitting through the tunnel. In 1901, the railroad installed gauntlet track in the tunnel, effectively turning it into a single-track bottleneck another reason to build the Lackawanna Cut-Off.

Old Road beneath the Delaware River Viaduct near Slateford, Pennsylvania Old Road under Lackawanna Cut-Off south of Slateford, PA.jpg
Old Road beneath the Delaware River Viaduct near Slateford, Pennsylvania

With the opening of the Cut-Off in 1911, the line became known as the Old Road, relegated to a branch line for local freight shipments. It still saw the occasional through train when Cut-Off traffic was heavy and served as the main line in 1941 when a rockslide closed the Cut-Off.

The effects of Hurricane Diane caused record flooding along the Delaware River and forced DL&W to reroute trains over part the Old Road. The storm also washed out the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) Bel-Del Railroad north of Belvidere, New Jersey, leading the railroad to remove the section north to the junction of the Old Road at Manunka Chunk and end PRR service from Trenton, New Jersey, to East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Rockport wreck

The Old Road was the site of the DL&W's most infamous train wreck. On June 16, 1925, a passenger train carrying German-American tourists from Chicago to Hoboken was slated to run over the Cut-Off, but in order to avoid freight trains on the line the special train was diverted onto the Old Road to Port Morris. [2] At Rockport, New Jersey, the train struck debris washed onto a road crossing by a heavy thunderstorm. The train derailed, and killed 47 passengers and three trainmen.

In 1995, on the 70th anniversary of the wreck, a stone and plaque was erected at the Rockport crossing to remember the lives lost.

Decline

In April 1970, the Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL) abandoned the Delaware-Washington, New Jersey section. Conrail assumed EL operations in 1976. In 1982, NJ Transit assumed operation of the trackage between Port Morris Junction and Netcong for commuter service.

Port Morris Junction ceased to exist in 1984 when Conrail abandoned the Cut-Off. Warren County removed remaining bridges and abutments over the next several years. Now that the Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is underway, Port Morris Junction is the connection point of the "Old Road" and the "Cut-Off" once again since 2011.

Buttzville, New Jersey bridge, 1901, one of the DL&W's first concrete bridges and the only one to cross a river (the Pequest River) and railroad (the L&HR RR) with a single arch Lackawanna Old Road bridge over the Pequest River.jpg
Buttzville, New Jersey bridge, 1901, one of the DL&W's first concrete bridges and the only one to cross a river (the Pequest River) and railroad (the L&HR RR) with a single arch

Some vestiges of the Warren Railroad remain:[ when? ] telegraph poles, tunnels, and a concrete viaduct spanning the Pequest River and the abandoned Lehigh and Hudson River Railway right-of-way near the intersection of State Route 31 and U.S. Route 46 near Buttzville. The steel bridge across the Delaware River near Delaware, N.J., retains the eastbound track but is no longer in use.

In October 1994, commuter rail service was re-established to Hackettstown by NJ Transit, although the operation west of Netcong was under trackage rights granted by Conrail and then later Norfolk Southern Railway.

In 2011, Port Morris Junction was re-established to serve the Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Jersey City, New Jersey-area railroads</span>

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The Morris and Essex Railroad was a railroad across northern New Jersey, later part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lackawanna Cut-Off</span> Rail line between Port Morris, New Jersey, and Slateford, Pennsylvania

The Lackawanna Cut-Off was a rail line built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). Constructed from 1908 to 1911, the line was part of a 396-mile (637 km) main line between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York. It ran west for 28.45 miles (45.79 km) from Port Morris Junction in Port Morris, New Jersey, near the south end of Lake Hopatcong about 45 miles (72 km) west-northwest of New York City, to Slateford Junction in Slateford, Pennsylvania near the Delaware Water Gap.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Hopatcong station</span> NJ Transit rail station

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Stroudsburg station</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slateford Junction</span>

Slateford Junction was a railway junction in the small town of Slateford, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1911 to connect the existing mainline of the Lackawanna Railroad, the so-called Old Road, with the new Lackawanna Cut-Off. It was in service until 1979.

The North Jersey Rail Commuter Association is a not for profit railroad advocacy organization that was formed and incorporated in the United States in 1980. During its history, the organization and its members have been involved in the successful advocacy of a number of projects involving NJ Transit Rail Operations. NJRCA's headquarters are located in Knowlton Township, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Morris Junction</span>

Port Morris Junction is the railroad connection between NJ Transit's Montclair-Boonton Line and the Lackawanna Cut-Off. Opened in 1911 by the Lackawanna Railroad, it is in the Port Morris, New Jersey section of Roxbury Township, New Jersey, south of Lake Hopatcong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roseville Tunnel</span> Rail tunnel in New Jersey

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project</span> American railway infrastructure project

The Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is a New Jersey Transit and Amtrak effort to restore passenger service to the Lackawanna Cut-Off in northwest New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greendell station</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andover station (NJ Transit)</span>

Andover is a planned New Jersey Transit passenger railroad station in Andover Township, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States, providing service on its Lackawanna Cut-Off line. The line remains under construction. The station will be built at a site on Andover's Roseville Road, about 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from U.S. Route 206 and about 0.9 miles (1.4 km) from County Route 517. On the rail line, it will be located about 7.3 miles (11.7 km) west of Port Morris Junction.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillipsburg Union Station</span>

Phillipsburg Union Station is an inactive railroad station in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, United States, at 178 South Main Street. Opened in 1914, Union Station was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W) and shared with the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) and was situated where the lines merged before the bridge crossing the Delaware River. Designed by Frank J. Nies, the architect who produced many of DL&W stations now listed state and federal registers of historic places, the 2+12 story, 3 bay brick building is unusual example of a union station and a representation of early 20th century Prairie style architecture. The Phillipsburg Union Signal Tower, or PU Tower, is nearby.

References

  1. Lowenthal, Larry; William T. Greenberg Jr. (1987). The Lackawanna Railroad in Northwestern New Jersey. Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Inc. pp. 10–98, 101. ISBN   978-0-9607444-2-8.
  2. Historians mark 85th anniversary of Warren County's deadliest accident, a train derailment that made international headlines