Misplaced Pages

#377622

106-796: The Lackawanna Cut-Off (also known as the New Jersey Cut-Off , the Hopatcong-Slateford Cut-Off and the Blairstown 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

212-684: A Radisson hotel ) in Scranton the following year. A new terminal was constructed on the waterfront in Buffalo in 1917. The "Lackawanna Railroad of New Jersey", chartered on February 7, 1908, to build the Lackawanna Cut-Off (a.k.a. New Jersey Cutoff or Hopatcong-Slateford Cutoff), opened on December 24, 1911. This provided a low-grade cutoff in northwestern New Jersey. The cutoff included the Delaware River Viaduct and

318-522: A constant threat west of the tunnel, in Colby Cut. In recognition of this, a detector fence was installed west of Roseville Tunnel in 1950 to change trackside signals to red if rocks fell. The most serious rockslide to ever occur on the line, however, would take place within Armstrong Cut (just west of Johnsonburg) in 1941, closing the line for nearly a month, and causing trains to be rerouted via

424-564: A cost of $ 2 million, including a massive machine and erecting shop measuring 582 by 342 feet. To handle the increasing roster of coal and other freight cars, new car shops were built outside Scranton at Keyser Valley in 1904. A passenger car shop was added in Kingsland, New Jersey, nine miles from New York City, in 1906. The company built a Beaux-Arts terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey , in 1907, and another Beaux-Arts passenger station (now

530-496: A division of the Livonia , Avon , and Lakeville Railroad). Shorter main line remnants are Groveland -Greigsville (Genesee & Wyoming) and Lancaster - Depew (Depew, Lancaster & Western). The Richfield Springs branch was scrapped in 1998 after being out of service for years; much of the right of way was purchased in 2009 by Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley LLC of Richfield Springs, New York, which as of 2022 operates

636-481: A large passenger traffic for the Lackawanna. All of this helped justify the railroad's expansion of its double-track mainline to three and in a few places four tracks. Changes in the region's economy undercut the railroad, however. The post- World War II boom enjoyed by many U.S. cities bypassed Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and the rest of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. Fuel oil and natural gas quickly became

742-679: A merger agreement with the Erie Railroad , the DL&;W's longtime rival (and closest geographical competitor), forming the Erie Lackawanna Railroad . The merger was formally consummated on October 17, 1960. Shoemaker drew much criticism for it, and would even second-guess himself after he had retired from railroading. He later claimed to have had a "gentlemen's agreement" with the EL board of directors to take over as president of

848-637: A narrow-gauge tourist railway Richfield Springs Scenic Railway on a portion of the line and a walking trail on another section. The Cortland- Cincinnatus Branch, abandoned by Erie Lackawanna in 1960, was partially-rebuilt for an industrial spur about 1999. As of 2018, the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern operates the former Keyser Valley branch from Scranton to Taylor, as well as the former Bloomsburg branch from Taylor to Coxton Yard in Duryea . The Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway operates

954-532: A pioneering use of the material. The construction of the roadbed required the movement of millions of tons of fill material using techniques similar to those used on the Panama Canal . Operated through a subsidiary , Lackawanna Railroad of New Jersey, the Cut-Off remained in continual operation for 68 years, through the DL&W's 1960 merger with the Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad and

1060-615: A proposal for three daily round-trips to Scranton to begin as soon as 2028. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Like most coal-focused railroads in Northeastern Pennsylvania, including Lehigh Valley Railroad , New York, Ontario and Western Railroad , and the Lehigh & New England Railroad , the DL&W was profitable during the first half of the 20th century, but its margins were gradually hurt by declining Pennsylvania coal traffic, especially following

1166-621: A short segment of the Boonton Branch by Garret Mountain in Paterson, New Jersey , was sold off to the state of New Jersey to build Interstate 80 . Ultimately, the west end of the Boonton Branch was combined with the Erie's Greenwood Lake Branch, while the eastern end was combined with the Erie's main line, which was abandoned through Passaic, New Jersey . Sacrificed was the Boonton Branch, a high-speed freight line thought to be redundant with

SECTION 10

#1732775812378

1272-483: A time of historic infrastructure investment?" and Andover Mayor Tom Walsh is quoted as saying the decision was; "a kick in the teeth to the people who did all the work". Amtrak has placed the New York City-to-Scranton rail line on its proposed 2035 map. A federal study has examined the feasibility of an extension into northeastern Pennsylvania , possibly as far as Scranton , and Amtrak has released

1378-513: A tremendous financial drain on the Lackawanna and other railroads that ran through the state: a situation that would not be remedied for another two decades. To save his company, Lackawanna president Perry Shoemaker sought a merger with the Nickel Plate Road , a deal that would have created a railroad stretching more than 1,100 miles (1,800 km) from St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois to New York City and would have allowed

1484-455: Is known to have died of typhoid fever . The Cut-Off's reinforced concrete structures (73 in all), which consumed 266,885 cubic yards (204,048 m) of concrete and 735 tons of steel, include underpasses , culverts , and the two large viaducts on the western end of the line. Some five million pounds (2,300 t) of dynamite were used to blast the cuts on the line. A total of 14,621,100 cubic yards (11,178,600 m) of fill material

1590-715: The Central Railroad of New Jersey abandoned all its operations in Pennsylvania (which by that time were freight-only), causing additional through freights to be run daily between Elizabeth, NJ on the CNJ and Scranton on the EL. The trains, designated as the eastbound SE-98 and the westbound ES-99, travelled via the Lackawanna Cut-Off and were routed via the CNJ 's High Bridge Branch . This arrangement ended with

1696-594: The Kearny Connection , opened in 1996. This facilitates part of NJ Transit's popular Midtown Direct service. Formerly, the line ran solely to the DL&W's historic terminal in Hoboken and a transfer to underground rapid transit was required to pass under the Hudson river into Manhattan, or a ferry. This is the only section of former Lackawanna trackage that has more through tracks now than ever before. Since

1802-557: The North Jersey suburbs to Hoboken on the Boonton , Gladstone , Montclair and Morristown Lines. Early publicity for the passenger service featured a young woman, Phoebe Snow , who always wore white and kept her clothing clean while riding the "Road of Anthracite", powered by the clean-burning coal known as anthracite . The most profitable commodity shipped by the railroad was anthracite coal . In 1890 and during 1920–1940,

1908-677: The Paulinskill Viaduct , as well as three concrete towers at Port Morris and Greendell in New Jersey and Slateford Junction in Pennsylvania. From 1912 to 1915, the Summit-Hallstead Cutoff (a.k.a. Pennsylvania Cutoff or Nicholson Cutoff ) was built to revamp a winding and hilly system between Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania , and Hallstead, Pennsylvania . This rerouting provided another quicker low-grade line between Scranton and Binghamton. The Summit Cutoff included

2014-704: The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority . Subsequent federal studies conducted on the Cut-Off and the mainline into Pennsylvania found a need to restore passenger service. In 2011, after a nearly three-decade effort to reactivate the line, NJ Transit launched the $ 61 million Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project. The first phase will link Port Morris Junction to Andover, New Jersey ( Andover station ), 7.3 miles (11.7 km) away. By December 2011, about 1 mile (1.6 km) of track had been installed from Port Morris Junction west to Stanhope, New Jersey . Work

2120-471: The " Old Road " after the New Jersey Cut-Off opened) had numerous curves that restricted trains to 50 mph (80 km/h). The bigger operational problem, however, was caused by the two tunnels on the line: Manunka Chunk Tunnel, a 975-foot (297 m) twin-bore tunnel whose eastern approach occasionally flooded with heavy rains; and the 2,969-foot (905 m) single-bore Oxford Tunnel, which

2226-601: The "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad", on March 11, 1853. On the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, the Warren Railroad was chartered on February 12, 1851, to continue from the bridge over the river southeast to Hampton , on the Central Railroad of New Jersey . That section got its name from Warren County , the county through which it would primarily run. The rest of the line, now known as

SECTION 20

#1732775812378

2332-565: The 1850s, the Lackawanna Railroad built a rail yard on the east side of the Morris Canal . The yard was initially used to shift coal from railcars to canal barges. By the turn of the 20th century, however, the canal was little used (it would be abandoned in 1924) and the yard was used primarily to store freight cars . As Lackawanna officials planned a route to shorten travel time from New York City to Buffalo, New York ,

2438-485: The 1959 Knox Mine Disaster and competition from trucks following the expansion of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1960, the DL&W merged with rival Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad that would be taken over by Conrail in 1976. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was first incorporated as Leggett's Gap Railroad on April 7, 1832, though it

2544-562: The 1999 breakup of Conrail, the former DL&W main line from Scranton south-east to Slateford in Monroe County has been owned by the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA). The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad and Steamtown National Historic Site operates freight trains and tourist trains on this stretch of track, dubbed the Pocono Mainline (or Pocono Main). Under a haulage agreement with Norfolk Southern,

2650-552: The 28.45-mile (46 km) line evenly, the seven sections should have been just over four miles each, but that would have placed the Pequest Fill entirely within Section 3 and the two viaducts within Section 7.) The amount of work per mile varied; the largest share apparently went to David W. Flickwir, whose Section 3 included Roseville Tunnel and the eastern half of the Pequest Fill. DL&W chief engineer George G. Ray oversaw

2756-399: The Cut-Off and the CNJ's High Bridge Branch . (This arrangement with the CNJ would end on April 1, 1976, with the creation of Conrail ). As such, when Penn Central closed its Maybrook, New York Yard in 1970, and its ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Poughkeepsie Bridge burned on May 8, 1974, the original reason for using the "Erie side" suddenly no longer existed. As a result,

2862-467: The Cut-Off in 1983 and pulled up the tracks at the junction in October 1984. During 1983, NJ Transit (NJT) had taken over the operation of commuter rail service in New Jersey, including through the old Port Morris Junction area. Later that decade, NJT began operating a rail yard there. Initially, the bridge department began operating out of Port Morris Yard. Then, in the 1990s, a commuter rail yard

2968-415: The Cut-Off required fewer engines to pull eastbound freights up to the summit at Port Morris. For westbound freights, the challenge was keeping trains from going too fast. Initially, no speed limit existed on the Cut-Off, with engineers (both freight and passenger) being expected to exercise "good judgment". By the 1920s, however, most freights were restricted to 50 mph (80 km/h) or less, depending on

3074-508: The Cut-Off was completed. These workers were viewed with suspicion by the local populace in Warren and Sussex counties, with the town of Blairstown going as far as hiring a watchman at $ 40 per month for the duration of the project. Supervisory personnel and skilled laborers stayed in local hotels, boarding houses, or local farmhouses, usually at exorbitant rates ($ 1–2 per day) during the years of construction. With several thousand men working on

3180-403: The Cut-Off, making its last run on January 6, 1970. The only station on the Cut-Off at which mainline passenger trains would stop was Blairstown. Blairstown was also the first stop on westbound trains where passengers were permitted to disembark (i.e. westbound passengers boarding and detraining east of Blairstown were required to use suburban train service instead). This explains why Blairstown

3286-533: The Cut-Off. Over the years, Blairstown handled the most local freight. The Johnsonburg creamery, built in anticipation of the opening of the line, served local dairy farmers for years. Another creamery, an ice house , and a stock yard were built at Greendell. The final local shipment was shipped in 1978 by Conrail: cattle feed for a customer in Johnsonburg that was delivered to Greendell, as the siding at Johnsonburg no longer existed. There were two accidents on

Lackawanna Cut-Off - Misplaced Pages Continue

3392-489: The Cut-Off: There were three other accidents that did not occur on the Cut-Off itself but indirectly involved it: The DL&W was one of the most profitable corporations in the U.S. when it built the Cut-Off. That profitability declined sharply after World War II , leading to the 1960 merger with the Erie Railroad . DL&W single-tracked the Cut-Off in 1958 in anticipation of the Erie merger. The westbound track

3498-693: The D-L runs unit Canadian grain trains between Scranton and the Harvest States Grain Mill at Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania and wood deliveries to Bestway Enterprises in Cresco . Other commercial customers include Keystone Propane in Tobyhanna. Excursion trains, hauled by visiting Nickel Plate 765 and other locomotives, run from Steamtown to Moscow and Tobyhanna (with infrequent extensions to East Stroudsburg or Delaware Water Gap Station, both on

3604-617: The DL&W main line portion between Scranton and Binghamton (which includes the Nicholson Cutoff ) bought by the Delaware and Hudson Railway . The D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1991. CPR continued to run this portion of the DL&W main line until 2014, when it sold it to the Norfolk Southern . The Syracuse and Utica branches north of Binghamton were sold by Conrail to

3710-483: The DL&W shipped upwards of 14% of the state of Pennsylvania's anthracite production. Other profitable freight included dairy products, cattle, lumber, cement, steel and grain. The Pocono Mountains region was one of the most popular vacation destinations in the country—especially among New Yorkers—and several large hotels sat along the line in Northeastern Pennsylvania , generating

3816-640: The DL&W, which owned a substantial block of Nickel Plate stock, to place one of its directors on the Nickel Plate board . (The Nickel Plate would later merge with the Norfolk and Western Railroad .) Shoemaker next turned, in 1956, to aggressive but unsuccessful efforts to obtain joint operating agreements and even potential mergers with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Delaware and Hudson Railway . Finally, Shoemaker sought and won

3922-685: The Delaware Otsego Corp., which operates them as the northern division of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway . In 1997, Conrail accepted an offer of purchase from CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway . On June 1, 1999, Norfolk Southern took over many of the Conrail lines in New Jersey, including most of the former DL&W. It also purchased the remnants of the former Bangor & Portland branch in Pennsylvania. Norfolk Southern continues to operate local freights on

4028-467: The EL looked to upgrade the "Scranton side", and by 1974 nearly all EL freights had been re-routed to the Scranton Division via the Cut-Off. After Conrail took over, existing labor contracts kept EL's freight schedule largely unchanged. The railroad replaced many rotted ties , returning it to better physical condition. But Conrail eventually shifted all freight traffic to other routes, citing

4134-466: The EL's conveyance into Conrail in 1976. Conrail ceased operation of the Cut-Off in January 1979, removed the track in 1984, and sold the right-of-way to private developers. In 2001, the state of New Jersey acquired the right-of-way within its borders; the short section in Pennsylvania was eventually conveyed to the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority . A project to restore service on

4240-525: The EL's decline. By 1976, it was apparent that the EL was at the end of its tether, and it petitioned to join Conrail : a new regional railroad that was created on April 1, 1976, out of the remnants of seven bankrupt freight railroads in the northeastern U.S. The EL's rail property was legally conveyed into Conrail on April 1, 1976. Labor contracts limited immediate changes to the freight schedule, but in early 1979, Conrail suspended through freight service on

4346-466: The Erie's main line, was abandoned in favor of joint operations, while the Lackawanna Cut-Off in New Jersey was single-tracked in anticipation of the upcoming merger. On the other hand, the Erie's Buffalo, New York and Erie Railroad was dropped from Corning to Livonia in favor of the DL&W's main line. Most passenger service was routed onto the DL&W east of Binghamton, with the DL&W's Hoboken Terminal serving all EL passenger trains. In addition,

Lackawanna Cut-Off - Misplaced Pages Continue

4452-477: The Erie's mainline. This would haunt EL management less than a decade later (and Conrail management a decade after that). Soon after the merger, the new EL management shifted most freight trains to the "Erie side", the former Erie Railroad lines, leaving only a couple of daily freight trains traveling over the Lackawanna side. Passenger train traffic would not be affected, at least not immediately. This traffic pattern would remain in effect for more than ten years—past

4558-538: The Lackawanna side. Indeed, as very little on-line freight originated on the Erie side (a route that was more than 20 miles longer than the DL&W route to Binghamton), once the Gateway was closed (eliminating the original justification for shifting traffic to the Erie side) virtually all the EL's freight trains were shifted back to the Lackawanna side. After the New England Gateway closed, EL's management

4664-600: The Lackawanna side. The railroad removed freight traffic from the Hoboken-Binghamton mainline and consolidated the service within its other operating routes. Railroad officials said the primary reasons were the EL's early-1960s severing of the Boonton Branch near Paterson, New Jersey , and the grades over the Pocono Mountains. The Morristown Line is the only piece of multi-track railroad on

4770-494: The Lackawanna to retain the 200 miles (320 km) of double-track mainline between Buffalo and Binghamton, New York . The idea had been studied as early as 1920, when William Z. Ripley , a professor of political economics at Harvard University , reported that a merger would have benefited both railroads. Forty years later, however, the Lackawanna was a shadow of its former financial self. Seeing no advantage in an end-to-end merger, Nickel Plate officials also rebuffed attempts by

4876-561: The Lackawanna, however, were dealt by Mother Nature . In August, 1955, flooding from Hurricane Diane devastated the Pocono Mountains region, killing 80 people. The floods cut the Lackawanna Railroad in 88 places, destroying 60 miles (97 km) of track, stranding several trains (with a number of passengers aboard) and shutting down the railroad for nearly a month (with temporary speed restrictions prevailing on

4982-656: The M&;E lease came several branch lines in New Jersey, including the Boonton Line , which opened in 1870 and bypassed Newark for through freight. The railroad acquired the Syracuse, Binghamton and New York Railroad in 1869 and leased the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad on February 13, 1869. This gave it a branch from Binghamton north and northwest via Syracuse to Oswego , a port on Lake Ontario . The "Greene Railroad"

5088-582: The NJ Transit Board of Directors on April 13, 2022, and a Notice to Proceed on the project was announced by NJ Transit on September 8, 2022. Commuter operations are expected to begin no earlier than 2026. In January of 2024, Amtrak unexpectedly dismissed future plans for a stop at Roseville Station in Andover, NJ. No reason for this was given publicly. Congressman Josh Gottheimer was quoted as saying; "Why would Amtrak limit transportation options at

5194-552: The Old Road needed to be replaced, it really wasn't until after 1905 that the railroad was in a position to take up the project in earnest. This led Truesdale to authorize teams of surveyors to map out potential replacement routes westward from Port Morris, New Jersey , to the Delaware River for what would be the railroad's largest project up until that time. During 1905–06, 14 routes were surveyed (labeled with letters of

5300-411: The Old Road shifted to the Cut-Off, effectively downgrading the older line to secondary status. The Cut-Off was built to permit unrestricted speeds for passenger trains of 70 mph (110 km/h) (heavier rail that was installed later allowed speeds to increase to 80 mph (130 km/h)). Sidings were built at Slateford, Hainesburg, Johnsonburg, Greendell, Roseville, and Port Morris; about 25% of

5406-550: The Old Road. The north side of Armstrong Cut was trimmed back to prevent further rockslides. The Cut-Off was a scenic highlight for passenger trains. Early in the 20th century, the DL&W's woman in white, Phoebe Snow , was featured in a poster that touted the new line and the Pequest Fill . At that time, and into the early diesel era (late 1940s), the Lackawanna Limited was the railroad's premier train. It

SECTION 50

#1732775812378

5512-595: The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority to accelerate the resumption of passenger train service between New York City and Scranton. Most of the main line west of Binghamton in New York State has been abandoned, in favor of the Erie's Buffalo line via Hornell . The longest remaining main line sector is Painted Post -Wayland, with shortline service provided by B&H Railroad ( Bath & Hammondsport ,

5618-643: The Pocono Mainline). The D-L also runs Lackawanna County 's tourist trolleys from the Electric City Trolley Museum , under overhead electrified wiring installed on original sections of the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad that was also purchased by Lackawanna County. It also runs trains on a remnant of the DL&W Diamond branch in Scranton. In 2006, the Monroe County and Lackawanna County Railroad Authorities formed

5724-586: The Southern Division, opened on May 27, 1856, including the Warren Railroad in New Jersey . A third rail was added to the standard gauge Central Railroad of New Jersey east of Hampton to allow the railroad to run east to Elizabeth via trackage rights (the CNJ was extended in 1864 to Jersey City ). On December 10, 1868, the company acquired the Morris and Essex Railroad unit 1945 it

5830-413: The alphabet), including several that would have required long tunnels. On September 1, 1906, a route without tunnels was chosen. This New Road (Route "M") would run from the crest of the watershed at Lake Hopatcong at Port Morris Junction to 2 mi (3.2 km) south of the Delaware Water Gap on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River at Slateford Junction . At 28.45 miles (45.9 km),

5936-406: The clock during the summer of 1911 when construction fell behind schedule. Stations were built in Greendell , Johnsonburg and Blairstown ; the Greendell area was already being served by the nearby Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad in Tranquility. Interlocking towers were built at Port Morris Junction and Greendell , New Jersey, and Slateford Junction in Pennsylvania. The final cost of

6042-508: The company began operating the Erie and Central New York Railroad , a branch of the Oswego line from Cortland Junction east to Cincinnatus . That same year, it also began to control the Bangor and Portland Railway . By 1909, the company controlled the Bangor and Portland Railway . This line branched from the main line at Portland , southwest to Nazareth , with a branch to Martins Creek . The primary locomotive and car shops were located in Scranton . In 1910 they were enlarged and upgraded at

6148-401: The cost of new trainsets. A 7.3-mile section of the Cut-Off between Port Morris and Andover, New Jersey , which was under construction, was delayed until 2021 due to environmental issues on the Andover station site ; the Cut-Off between Port Morris and Andover is slated to re-open for rail passenger service no earlier than 2025. In 1979, Conrail sold most of the DL&W in Pennsylvania, with

6254-412: The creation of Conrail on April 1, 1976. During its time, the EL diversified its shipments from the growing Lehigh Valley and also procured a lucrative contract with Chrysler to ship auto components from Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania . The EL also aggressively sought other contracts with suppliers in the area, pioneering what came to be known as intermodal shipping. None of this could compensate for

6360-423: The damaged sections of railroad for months), causing a total of $ 8.1 million in damages (equal to $ 92,128,696 today) and lost revenue. One section, the Old River line (former Warren Railroad), was damaged beyond repair and had to be abandoned altogether. Until the mainline in Pennsylvania reopened, all trains were canceled or rerouted over other railroads. The Lackawanna would never fully recover. In January, 1959,

6466-461: The decline in coal shipments, however, and, as labor costs and taxes rose, the railroad's financial position became increasingly precarious although it was stronger than some railroads in the eastern U.S. The opening of Interstates I-80 , I-380 , and I-81 during the early 1970s, which in effect paralleled much of the former Lackawanna mainline east of Binghamton, New York , caused more traffic to be diverted to trucks. This only helped to accelerate

SECTION 60

#1732775812378

6572-436: The discontinuation of passenger service on January 6, 1970—and was completely dependent on the lucrative interchange with the New Haven Railroad at Maybrook, New York . The January 1, 1969 merger of the New Haven Railroad into the Penn Central Railroad changed all this: the New England Gateway was downgraded, and closed on May 8, 1974 by fire damage to the New Haven's Poughkeepsie Bridge, causing dramatic traffic changes for

6678-416: The east end of the Cut-Off to Andover, New Jersey , is to be complete in 2026. Amtrak is studying the possible restoration of passenger service over the route to Scranton, Pennsylvania . The line's origin involves two men who most likely never met: John I. Blair and William Truesdale . Blair built the DL&W's Warren Railroad , chartered in 1851 and completed in 1862, to provide a connection between

6784-451: The entire 900-mile Lackawanna system that has not been reduced to fewer tracks over the years. It was triple-tracked nearly a century prior , and remains so today. The Lackawanna Cut-Off was abandoned in 1979 and its rails were removed in 1984. The line between Slateford Junction and Scranton remained in legal limbo for nearly a decade, but was eventually purchased, with a single track left in place. The Lackawanna Cut-Off's right-of-way, on

6890-438: The final nail was driven in the Lackawanna's coffin by the Knox Mine Disaster , which flooded the mines along the Susquehanna River and all but obliterated what was left of the region's anthracite industry. The Lackawanna Railroad's financial problems were not unique. Rail traffic in the U.S. in general declined after World War II as trucks and automobiles took freight and passenger traffic. Declining freight traffic put

6996-446: The former Morris & Essex Railroad to Gladstone and Hackettstown. In 2002, the transit agency consolidated the Montclair Branch and Boonton Line to create the Montclair-Boonton Line . NJ Transit also operates on the remaining portion (south of Paterson) of the original Boonton Line known as the Main Line . NJ Transit's hub is at Hoboken Terminal. Trains on the Morristown Line run directly into New York's Pennsylvania Station via

7102-525: The former Bloomsburg branch from Duryea to Kingston . The North Shore Railroad (Pennsylvania) operates the former Bloomsburg branch from Northumberland to Hicks Ferry. Port Morris Junction 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 . Soon after rail service began in

7208-409: The grades over the Pocono Mountains and EL's early-1960s severing of the Boonton Branch near Paterson, New Jersey . Conrail ran its final through freights via the Cut-Off on November 16, 1978, and used it to move a light engine from Croxton Yard to Scranton two days later. In early January 1979, the line was placed out of service and Port Morris Tower closed. Routine maintenance on the line ceased, and

7314-412: The line would be about 11 mi (18 km) shorter than the 39.6-mile (63.7 km) Old Road. The new route would have only 15 curves – 42 fewer curves than the Old Road, the equivalent of more than four complete circles of curvature – which increased speeds and decreased running time – more so for freight, but for passenger trains as well. The ruling grade

7420-419: The line. Nevertheless, Conrail removed the tracks on the Cut-Off in 1984, and in the following year sold the right-of-way to two land developers: Jerry Turco and Burton Goldmeier. In 2001, the State of New Jersey acquired the right-of-way through eminent domain for $ 21 million. The short section in Pennsylvania was conveyed to the Monroe County Railroad Authority , which joined with Lackawanna County to become

7526-407: The lines. In 2014, it purchased the former DL&W main from Taylor, PA to Binghamton, NY from the Canadian Pacific Railway, which it continues to operate to this day. NJ Transit Rail Operations took over passenger operations in 1983. The State of New Jersey had subsidized the routes operated by the Erie Lackawanna, and later Conrail . NJ Transit operates over former DL&W trackage on much of

7632-474: The mainlines of the DL&W in Pennsylvania and the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) in New Jersey. But when the Lackawanna-CNJ merger fell through and the Lackawanna merged with the Morris & Essex Railroad in New Jersey instead, the Warren Railroad became part of a circuitous patchwork of rail lines connecting two unanticipated merger partners. The 39-mile (63 km) route (later known as

7738-438: The massive Tunkhannock Viaduct and Martins Creek Viaduct . The Lackawanna's cutoffs had no at-grade crossings with roads or highways, allowing high-speed service. The railroad ran trains from its Hoboken Terminal , its gateway to New York City , to its Scranton , Binghamton, Syracuse , Oswego, and Buffalo stations and to Utica Union Station . Noteworthy among these were: The railroad also ran commuter operations from

7844-502: The nearby New York, Ontario and Western Railroad and Lehigh & New England Railroad out of business in 1957 and 1961, respectively. Over the next three decades, nearly every major railroad in the Northeastern US would go bankrupt . In the wake of Hurricane Diane in 1955, all signs pointed to continued financial decline and eventual bankruptcy for the DL&W. Among other factors, property taxes in New Jersey were

7950-465: The new railroad. After he was pushed aside in favor of Erie managers, however, he left in disillusionment and became the president of the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1962. Even before the formal merger, growing ties between the Erie and Lackawanna led to the partial abandonment of the Lackawanna's mainline trackage between Binghamton and Buffalo. In 1958, the main line of the DL&W from Binghamton west to near Corning , which closely paralleled

8056-411: The original plans for the Cut-Off, and in fact much of the cut above the tunnel had already been blasted when in October 1909 unstable anticline rock was encountered, leading to a decision to abandon the cut and to blast what would become a 1,040-foot (320 m) tunnel instead. Contractor David W. Flickwir , whose section included Roseville Tunnel and the eastern half of the Pequest Fill, worked around

8162-457: The other hand, was purchased by the state of New Jersey in 2001 from funds approved within a $ 40 million bond issue in 1989. (A court later set the final price at $ 21 million, paid to owners Jerry Turco of Kearny, New Jersey and Burton Goldmeier of Hopatcong, New Jersey.) NJ Transit has estimated that it would cost $ 551 million to restore service to Scranton over the Cut-Off: a price which includes

8268-470: The preferred energy sources. Silk and other textile industries shrank as jobs moved to the southern U.S. or overseas. The advent of mechanical refrigeration squeezed the business from ice ponds on top of the Poconos . Even the dairy industry changed. The Lackawanna had long enjoyed revenues from milk shipments; many stations had a creamery next to the tracks. Perhaps the most catastrophic blows to

8374-468: The priority of the train and the type of locomotive and rail cars. By 1943, 131-pound-per-yard (65 kg/m) rail had been installed on the Cut-Off, which permitted fast freights to run at 60 mph (97 km/h) through the Erie Lackawanna years. After Conrail took over operations in 1976, the speed limit was decreased to 50 mph. Local freights served customers at all three stations on

8480-550: The project for over three years, the area all along the Cut-Off, and as far west as Portland, Pennsylvania, benefitted financially. As many as 30 workers may have lost their lives building the Cut-Off. Most of their names remain unknown because they were registered with their contractor by number only. In 1910, for example, five workers were killed in a single blasting mishap near Port Morris, one of several deadly accidents that involved dynamite. Other workers died in machinery or cable car accidents, or landslides. At least one worker

8586-506: The project was $ 11,065,512 in 1911. Adjusted for inflation, this sum would be $ 361,842,242 today. But to build such a project today would cost far more; one 1987 estimate put the modern pricetag at $ 1 billion or more. The first revenue train to operate on the Cut-Off under the new timetable that went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on December 24, 1911, was No. 15, a westbound passenger train that passed through Port Morris Junction at about 3:36 a.m. Most long-distance trains that traversed

8692-474: The project, although given the size and remote location of the project, Assistant Chief Engineer F.L. Wheaton was assigned the task of overseeing the construction in person. To accommodate the labor gangs, deserted farmhouses were converted to barracks, with tent camps providing additional shelter. These workers, many of whom came from Italy and other foreign countries or other parts of the U.S., were recruited and would move on to other projects after their work on

8798-503: The railroad obtained trackage rights north and west over the New York and Erie Rail Road to Owego, New York , where it leased the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad to Ithaca on Cayuga Lake on April 21, 1855. The C&S was the reorganized and partially rebuilt Ithaca and Owego Railroad , which had opened on April 1, 1834, and was the oldest part of its system. The whole system was built to 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) broad gauge ,

8904-427: The route contained additional sidings. With upwards of 50 trains a day, towermen often ordered freight trains to take a siding or even be rerouted over the Old Road. As traffic decreased, Hainesburg, Johnsonburg and Roseville sidings were altered or removed. The remaining sidings remained in use until 1979. Roseville Tunnel posed occasional problems, especially during the winter with snow and ice buildup. Rockslides were

9010-667: The same as the New York and Erie, although the original I&O was built to standard gauge and converted to wide gauge when rebuilt as the C&;S. The "Delaware and Cobb's Gap Railroad" was chartered December 4, 1850, to build a line from Scranton east to the Delaware River . Before it opened, the Delaware and Cobb's Gap and Lackawanna and Western were consolidated by the Lackawanna Steel Company into one company,

9116-608: The signal system was shut off. Scranton-Slateford freights continued running until 1980, when coal deliveries to the Metropolitan Edison power plant in Portland, Pennsylvania , shifted from the Scranton Division to the former Bangor & Portland Railway . Efforts to preserve the Cut-Off began shortly after Conrail ended service on it in 1979. An Amtrak inspection train ran on November 13 of that year, and counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania made attempts to acquire

9222-564: 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 . When it opened on December 24, 1911, the Cut-Off was considered a super-railroad, a state-of-the-art rail line, having been built using large cuts and fills and two large concrete viaducts , allowing what was considered high-speed travel at that time. It

9328-501: The whole system was re-gauged to standard gauge in one day. The New York, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was chartered on August 26, 1880, and opened on September 17, 1882, to continue the railroad from Binghamton west and northwest to Buffalo. The main line ran to the International Bridge to Ontario , and a branch served downtown Buffalo. A spur from Wayland served Hornellsville (Hornell). On December 1, 1903,

9434-426: The yard offered a compelling reason to begin the Cut-Off at Port Morris. Port Morris Tower opened on December 23, 1911, and the first train to use the Cut-Off passed shortly after midnight the following morning. Port Morris Junction was part of the Lackawanna until October 17, 1960; the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until April 1, 1976; and Conrail until February 27, 1979, when the tower was closed. Conrail abandoned

9540-506: Was 11 miles (18 km) shorter than the Lackawanna Old Road , the rail line it superseded; it had a much gentler ruling gradient (0.55% vs. 1.1%); and it had 42 fewer curves, with all but one of those remaining permitting passenger train speeds of 70 mph (110 km/h) or more. It also had no railroad crossings at the time of its construction. All but one of the line's 73 structures were built of reinforced concrete ,

9646-473: Was also modernized and renamed the Phoebe Snow , helping breathe freshness back into a passenger train program that had seen only modest improvements since the 1930s. The Phoebe Snow would run for 11 years as a DL&W train and then as an Erie Lackawanna train from 1963 until November 1966. The Lake Cities , ironically a former Erie Railroad train, became the last regularly scheduled passenger train on

9752-405: Was at its maximum height 110 feet (34 m) tall and was 3.12 miles (5.0 km) long, requiring 6,625,648 cubic yards (5,065,671 m) of fill. Armstrong Cut was 100 feet (30 m) deep and 1 mile (1.6 km) long, mostly through solid rock. The line's deepest cut was Colby Cut (immediately west of what would become Roseville Tunnel ) at 130 feet (40 m) deep. The tunnel was not in

9858-689: Was built at Port Morris, allowing commuter trainsets to begin their weekday morning eastbound runs at Hackettstown , Mount Olive , Netcong or Lake Hopatcong from the yard rather than the yard in Dover , as had previously been the case. These trains then proceed to Denville where they travel to Hoboken via the Morristown Line or the Montclair-Boonton Line . Connections along the way allow travel to New York City . Westbound travel runs this pattern in reverse. (As of 2018, there

9964-468: Was cut in half from 1.1% to 0.55%. The new line would also be built without railroad crossings to avoid collisions with automobiles and horse-drawn vehicles. Uncertain national economic conditions in 1907 delayed the official start of construction until August 1, 1908. The project was divided into seven sections, one for each contracting company. Sections 3–6 were 5 miles (8 km) each; Sections 1–2 and 7 were of varying lengths. (Theoretically, to divide

10070-475: Was delayed by various environmental and land-use issues, all of which have been resolved. As of 2022, about 4.25 miles (6.84 km) of rail, in three unconnected sections, has been laid between Port Morris and Lake Lackawanna , and most of the right-of-way between Port Morris Junction and the lake had been cleared of trees and debris. Work on the Roseville Tunnel, a two-year project, was approved by

10176-407: Was dormant for several years following its incorporation. The company was chartered on March 14, 1849, and organized on January 2, 1850. On April 14, 1851, its name was changed to Lackawanna and Western Railroad . The line opened on December 20, 1851, and ran north from Scranton, Pennsylvania , to Great Bend, Pennsylvania , just south of Pennsylvania 's border with New York state . From Great Bend,

10282-514: Was double-tracked in 1869 and reduced to gauntlet track in 1901. As more and more traffic moved over the line, Oxford Tunnel became the Lackawanna Railroad's worst bottleneck. Truesdale became DL&W president on March 2, 1899 with a mandate to upgrade the entire 900-mile (1,450 km) railroad. Early on, the railroad focused on increasing freight capacity by using larger locomotives and cars, as well as strengthening bridges to handle these larger loads. Although Truesdale recognized early on that

10388-507: Was forced to downgrade the Erie side, and even considered its abandonment west of Port Jervis. In the meantime, the EL was forced to run its long freights over the reconfigured Boonton Line, which east of Mountain View in Wayne, NJ meant running over the Erie's Greenwood Lake Branch, a line that was never intended to carry the level of freight traffic to which the EL would subject it. In 1972,

10494-518: Was fully merged into the DL&W. This line ran east–west across northern New Jersey, crossing the Warren Railroad at Washington and providing access to Jersey City without depending on the CNJ. The M&E tunnel under Bergen Hill opened in 1876, relieving the Morris and Essex Railroad and its owners, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, from having to use the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway 's tunnel to reach Jersey City. Along with

10600-821: Was later joined by the Pocono Express , the Owl , and the Twilight . While the Lackawanna only operated mainline passenger trains between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York, passengers could transfer to and from other railroads at Buffalo. For example, the Nickel Plate offered through sleeper service to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, via the Lackawanna. In 1949, the Lackawanna began modernizing its mainline passenger coaches. The railroad had already begun replacing steam engines with diesels in 1946, starting with mainline passenger trains. The Lackawanna Limited

10706-422: Was no weekend service west of Dover .) The junction is to be rebuilt, with tracks being relaid on the Cut-Off for commuter service to Andover, New Jersey , 7.3 miles (11.7 km) northwest of Port Morris Junction. Further reconstruction may extend service to Scranton, Pennsylvania , 88 miles (142 km) from Port Morris. In 2021, Amtrak created a map with future rail corridors on it. Included on this map

10812-516: Was organized March 3, 1869, to connect the end of the original line at Great Bend, Pennsylvania , to Binghamton, New York , avoiding reliance on the Erie. The new line opened on October 1, 1871. By 1873, the company controlled the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad , a branch from Scranton southwest to Northumberland with trackage rights over the Pennsylvania Railroad 's Northern Central Railway to Sunbury . On March 15, 1876,

10918-504: Was organized in 1869, opened in 1870, and was immediately leased to the company, providing a short branch off the Oswego line from Chenango Forks to Greene . Also in 1870, the company leased the Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley Railway , continuing this branch north to Utica , with a branch from Richfield Junction to Richfield Springs (fully opened in 1872). The "Valley Railroad"

11024-481: Was removed, leaving a four-mile (6.4 km) passing siding at Greendell and shorter sidings at Port Morris and Slateford. After the merger, most freight traffic shifted to the Erie's mainline through Port Jervis, New York . With the cessation of passenger service in 1970, the Cut-Off became relatively quiet for several years. In 1972, the CNJ abandoned operations in Pennsylvania, causing through freights to be run daily between Elizabeth, New Jersey , and Scranton, using

11130-522: Was required for the project, more than could be obtained from the project's cuts. This forced the DL&W to purchase 760 acres (310 ha) of farmland for borrow pits . Depending on the fill size, material was dumped from trains that backed out onto track on wooden trestles or suspended on cables between steel towers. During construction, several foreign governments sent representatives on inspection tours to study these new techniques. The Pequest Fill extended west of Andover to Huntsville, New Jersey . It

11236-444: Was the first stop listed on the destination board at the boarding gate at Hoboken for trains travelling via Scranton. In later years, Blairstown had a somewhat unusual facet of operation: any trains arriving after the station agent went home for the night would automatically activate the station platform lights as the train entered the signal block. This practice was abandoned after passenger service ended. Besides cutting travel time,

#377622