User:PRRfan/sandbox/Lackawanna
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Planning and construction (1905–1911)
During 1905–06, 14 routes were surveyed (labeled with letters of 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), 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 was cut in half from 1.1% to 0.55%.[1] The new line would also be built without railroad crossings to avoid collisions with automobiles and horse-drawn vehicles.[1]
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 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 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 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 the project for over three years, the area all along the Cut-Off, and as far west as Portland, Pennsylvania, benefitted financially.[2]
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 is known to have died of typhoid fever.
Sections
| Features | Length (ft) | Max. height or depth (ft) | Avg. height or depth (ft) | Concrete used (yds3) | Fill material used or removed (yds3) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section 1: Timothy Burke, miles 45.7–48.2 (Port Morris Jct. – cut west of CR 605 bridge) | ||||||
| Port Morris Junction Tower | – | – | – | – | – | Reinforced concrete, closed in 1979. |
| McMickle Cut | 5,500 | 54 | 29 | – | 600,000 | Located west of Musconetcong River |
| Section 2: Waltz & Reece Construction Co., miles 48.2–50.2 (Cut west of CR 605 bridge – Lake Lackawanna) | ||||||
| Waltz & Reece Cut | 3,600 | 114 | 37 | – | 822,400 | Crossed by Sussex County Route 605 overhead bridge |
| Bradbury Fill | 4,000 | 78 | 24 | – | 457,000 | Located in front of large cliff |
| Lubber Run Fill | 2,100 | 98 | 64 | – | 720,000 | At Lake Lackawanna |
| Section 3: David W. Flickwir, miles 50.2–55.8 (Lake Lackawanna – center of Pequest Fill) | ||||||
| Wharton Fill | about 2,600 | – | – | – | Just east of Roseville Tunnel | |
| Roseville Tunnel | 1,040 | – | – | – | 35,000 | Unstable rock made tunneling necessary instead of cut; track moved to center of bore in 1974. |
| Colby Cut | 2,800 | 110 | 45 | – | 462,342 | Rockslide detectors installed in 1950. |
| Pequest Fill (eastern half) | 16,500 | 110 | 75 | – | 6,625,648 | Numbers are totals; Pequest Fill was divided equally between two contractors |
| Section 4: Walter H. Gahagan, miles 55.8–60.8 (Center of Pequest Fill – Johnsonburg station) | ||||||
| Pequest Fill (western half) | – | – | – | – | – | World's largest railroad fill when built. |
| Greendell station / tower | – | – | – | – | – | Reinforced concrete, closed ca. 1942–43; tower closed in 1938; a flag stop for many years |
| Section 5: Hyde, McFarlan & Burke, miles 60.8–65.8 (Johnsonburg station – 1 mile west of Blairstown station) | ||||||
| Johnsonburg station / creamery | – | – | – | – | – | Reinforced concrete, located on Ramsey Fill; closed in 1942–43; station razed in 2007. |
| Ramsey Fill | 2,800 | 80 | 21 | - | 805,481 | Location of Johnsonburg station |
| Armstrong Cut | 4,700 | 104 | 52 | – | 852,000 | Largest cut on line; north side of cut collapsed and trimmed back in 1941 |
| Blairstown station / freight house | – | – | – | – | – | Reinforced concrete, located within Jones Cut; closed in Jan 1970 |
| Jones Cut | – | – | – | – | 578,000 | Location of Blairstown station |
| Vail Fill | 1,700 | 102 | 33 | – | 293,500 | Located on 1 degree curve |
| Section 6: Reiter, Curtis & Hill, miles 65.8–70.8 (1 mile west of Blairstown station – west end of Paulinskill Viaduct) | ||||||
| Paulins Kill Viaduct | 1,100 | 115 | – | 43,212 | – | Reinforced concrete bridge over Paulinskill and New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad; world's largest reinforced concrete structure when built. |
| Section 7: Smith, McCormick Co., miles 70.8–74.3 (west end of Paulinskill Viaduct – Slateford Jct.) | ||||||
| Delaware River Viaduct | 1,452 | 65 | – | – | – | Reinforced concrete; originally planned as a curved structure. Smith, McCormick Co. built the viaduct and sub-contracted the grading of Section 7 to James A. Hart Co. of New York.[3][4] |
| Slateford Junction Tower | – | – | – | – | – | Reinforced concrete, closed in Jan 1951 |
The Cut-Off's reinforced concrete structures (73 in all), which consumed 266,885 cubic yards (204,048 m3) of concrete and 735 tons of steel, include underpasses, culverts, and the two large viaducts on the western end of the line.[2]
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 m3) of fill material 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.[1] 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.[2]
The Pequest Fill extended west of Andover to Huntsville, New Jersey. It 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 m3) of fill.[1] 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 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,[5] leading to a decision to abandon the cut and to blast what would become a 1,040-foot (320 m) tunnel instead.[6] Contractor David W. Flickwir, whose section included Roseville Tunnel and the eastern half of the Pequest Fill, worked around the clock during the summer of 1911 when construction fell behind schedule.[2]
Stations were built in Greendell, Johnsonburg and Blairstown; the Greendell area was already being served by the nearby Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad in Tranquility.[2] Interlocking towers were built at Port Morris Junction and Greendell, New Jersey, and Slateford Junction in Pennsylvania.
The final cost of the project was $11,065,512 in 1911.[6] Adjusted for inflation, this sum would be $361,842,242 today[7]. But to build such a project today would cost far more; one 1987 estimate put the modern pricetag at $1 billion or more.[8]
- ^ a b c d Taber & Taber 1980, p. 36
- ^ a b c d e f 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.
- ^ September 1, 1906, Map of Delaware Valley Cut-Off, Commissioned by DL&W
- ^ Dana, Richard Turner; Saunders, William Lawrence (1911). Rock Drilling with Particular Reference to Open Cut Excavation and Submarine Rock Removal. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
- ^ DL&W Presidents' correspondence file: October 28, 1909; Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
- ^ a b Taber & Taber 1980, p. 39
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Lowenthal, Larry; William T. Greenberg Jr. (1987). The Lackawanna Railroad in Northwestern New Jersey. Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Inc. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-9607444-2-8.