This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(February 2016) |
Overview | |||
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Locale | Warren County, New Jersey | ||
Dates of operation | 1851–1945 | ||
Successor | Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad | ||
Technical | |||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||
Previous gauge | 6 ft (1,829 mm) | ||
Length | 18.827 mi (30.299 km) | ||
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Warren Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Warren Railroad was a railroad in Warren County, New Jersey, that served as part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's mainline from 1856 to 1911.
The Warren Railroad was chartered on February 12, 1851, by special act of the state of New Jersey, to provide a connection from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's (DL&W) terminus at the Delaware River to Hampton, New Jersey, on the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), in anticipation of a merger between the two railroads. The railroad's date of organization was March 4, 1853, and construction began that June.
Terrain made the Warren expensive to build, requiring a large amount of excavation, three large bridges, and two tunnels.
DL&W began operating on the railway on May 28, 1856, from Delaware, New Jersey, to Hampton, and continuing over CNJ to Jersey City. DL&W formally leased the Warren Railroad in October 1857.
The tracks were originally 6 ft (1,829 mm) gauge, continuous with the DL&W's Pennsylvania tracks. A third rail was added to CNJ's 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge track.
When the railroad opened in 1856, the Van Nest Gap Tunnel was not yet completed, and a temporary track was used. The tunnel was completed in September 1862, and the temporary track removed.
Merger talks between the DL&W and CNJ broke down and on December 10, 1868, the DL&W signed a lease for the Morris & Essex Railroad (M&E), effective January 1, 1869. The DL&W then shifted their mainline off of CNJ to the M&E with a new junction at Washington, New Jersey. While the Warren Railroad was straight from the DL&W's former terminus at the Delaware River to the CNJ, its route to the M&E was circuitous. Additionally, the section between the Washington and Hampton (later called the Hampton Branch) was deemed useless.
The M&E was originally built to a gauge of 4 ft 10 in (1,473 mm), but was converted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) in July 1866. After the DL&W lease, a third rail was added for 66 miles (106 km) from Washington eastward to Hoboken from 1869-1870. DL&W's tracks from Scranton to Washington were converted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) on May 27, 1876. The unused third rail on the M&E was subsequently removed.
The Lackawanna Cut-Off was built to minimize grades and curves, and to avoid the operational problems of the Warren Railroad. The Cut-Off was completed in 1911, becoming the new mainline of the DL&W. This relegated the Warren Railroad and the M&E line west of Port Morris Junction to a branch line known as the Lackawanna Old Road, starting the railroad's decline.
In 1945, DL&W officially bought the Warren Railroad. In 1955 revenue freight service ended on the Hampton Branch; the last train to operate on the line was a work train in 1956. The line was officially abandoned in 1958. The grand Changewater truss bridge and Route 31 bridge in Hampton were removed in April 1959. Trackage remained intact until 1963 when Erie Lackawanna removed all of it.
Hurricane Diane caused extensive damage to the line at Delaware and Manunka Chunk in 1955. The PRR junction was soon abandoned. The Old Road Branch was then single tracked from Washington to Delaware.
Storm damage in 1968 near Oxford, New Jersey, led to the railroad's demise. All remaining trackage was removed by April 1970 between Washington and Delaware. Track remained in Delaware for some time after the line south to Washington was torn up because it was needed for coal train back ups from the Portland power plant. Track was later shortened to the truss bridge over the Delaware River by 1980. Until about 15 years ago, coal trains still backed out on the truss bridge.
Two connections from other railroads were made to the Warren Railroad.
The Blairstown Railway opened in 1877, from a connection to the Warren Railroad in Delaware to Blairstown. While the Blairstown Railway was a partial thoroughfare for the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad and the Lehigh & New England Railroad, the section from Delaware to Hainesburg was just a vestigial branch line known as the Delaware Branch, which was abandoned in 1928.
The Belvidere Delaware Railroad (Bel Del) was extended north from Belvidere, New Jersey, to form a junction with the Warren Railroad at Manunka Chunk, which opened on May 16, 1864. The Pennsylvania Railroad operated to East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, via trackage rights. Passenger service ceased in 1952, and the tracks north of Belvidere to the junction were washed out by Hurricane Diane in 1955.
The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway crossed beneath the Warren Railroad south of Bridgeville, without an interchange.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of 395 miles (636 km). The railroad was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853, and created primarily to provide a means of transport of anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeast Pennsylvania to large coal markets in New York City. The railroad gradually expanded both east and west, and eventually linked Buffalo with New York City.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad in the Northeastern United States built predominantly to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania to major consumer markets in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere.
For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area extends North to Edgewater, South to Bayonne and includes Kearny Junction and Harrison but not Newark. Many routes east of Newark are listed here.
The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) was the smallest of the six railroads that were merged into Conrail in 1976. It was a bridge line running northeast–southwest across northwestern New Jersey, connecting the line to the Poughkeepsie Bridge at Maybrook, New York with Easton, Pennsylvania, where it interchanged with various other companies.
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.
The Lehigh and New England Railroad was a Class I railroad located in Northeastern United States that acted as a bridge line. It was the second notable U.S. railroad to file for abandonment in its entirety after the New York, Ontario and Western Railway. It was headquartered in Philadelphia.
The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially the Scranton area.
The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad was a railroad running along the eastern shore of the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey north via Phillipsburg, New Jersey to the small village of Manunka Chunk, New Jersey. It became an important feeder line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad's join to the Central Railroad of New Jersey, which was constructed into Phillipsburg, NJ at about the same time. This connected Philadelphia and Trenton, NJ at one end of the shortline railroad to the rapidly growing lower Wyoming Valley region, and via the Morris Canal or the CNJ, a slow or fast connection to New York City ferries crossing New York Harbor from Jersey City, NJ. In 1871 the CNJ leased various railroads in Pennsylvania, most from the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company allowing the CNJ to penetrate to the upper Wyoming Valley, over some stretches, competing directly with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and with the Lehigh Canal and the trunk road connection of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad to New York became less profitable since Philadelphia connected more easily to Northeastern Pennsylvania thereafter without needing a double-crossing of the Delaware River; a general revenue decline ensued, leading to the Pennsylvania Railroad acquiring the rights, where it served as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) system, carrying mainly anthracite coal and iron ore from northeastern Pennsylvania to population centers along the coast.
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.
The High Bridge Branch is a branch line that was operated by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ). As built, the branch started in High Bridge, New Jersey at a connection with the CNJ main line and continued north to iron-ore mines in Morris County. The High Bridge Branch line followed the South Branch of the Raritan River for much of its duration.
B&H Rail Corporation, formerly the Bath & Hammondsport Railroad, is a Class III shortline railroad. Initially the line served the communities of Bath, New York and Hammondsport, New York. In Bath, the railroad connected with the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. In 1996, the railroad was leased by the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad.
The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) is a bi-county creation of both Lackawanna and Monroe counties to oversee the use of common rail freight lines in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The designated freight operator of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority lines is the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad and tourism operator is Steamtown National Historic Site.
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.
The Sussex Railroad was a short-line railroad in northwestern New Jersey. It replaced its predecessor, the Sussex Mine Railroad, in 1853 and operated under the Sussex Railroad Company until 1945 when it was fully merged into the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) system. The Sussex Railroad was important in the economic development of Sussex County as it supplied a route for early local industries, such as dairy farms and ore mines, to export their products. It was the last independently operated New Jersey railroad to be incorporated into the DL&W system. The last train travelled on the Sussex Railroad tracks on October 2, 1966. The tracks were removed soon after and the right-of-way was transformed into a rail trail known as the Sussex Branch Trail.
The Atlantic City Railroad was a Philadelphia and Reading Railway subsidiary that became part of Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in 1933. At the end of 1925, it operated 161 miles (259 km) of road on 318 miles (512 km) of track; that year it reported 43 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 204 million passenger-miles.
The Black River and Western Railroad is a freight and heritage railroad operating in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, between Flemington, Lambertville and Ringoes. The railroad operates vintage steam and diesel powered locomotives.
The Blairstown Railway (BRWY) opened in 1877 and ran between Blairstown and Delaware, New Jersey, a distance of approximately 12 miles (19 km). The single-track railroad was built under the direction of railroad magnate John I. Blair, one of the wealthiest persons in the United States at that time, who had previously built the Warren Railroad, and for whom Blairstown is named.
The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad is a defunct railroad that operated in eastern Pennsylvania during the 19th and 20th centuries. The company was a subsidiary of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N). For much of its lifetime, however, it was leased by the Central Railroad of New Jersey.
The Lehigh Line is a railroad line in Central New Jersey, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway. The line runs west from the vicinity of the Port of New York and New Jersey in Manville, New Jersey via Conrail's Lehigh Line to the southern end of Wyoming Valley's Coal Region in Lehigh Township, Pennsylvania.
Phillipsburg Union Station is an active railroad station museum, 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+1⁄2 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, also restored to its original form, and available for tours.