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The construction of the Lackawanna Cut-Off, a 28.45 mile (45.9 km) railroad line that shortened a key route for the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, took place in New Jersey from 1905 to 1911.

Planning and construction (1905–1911)

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A May 1909 view of the Wharton Fill looking east from atop Roseville Tunnel, ten months into construction

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

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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
Paulinskill Viaduct near Hainesburg is 115 ft (35 m) tall and was the world's largest reinforced concrete structure when built.[2]

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]

Features

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Taken from the top of the north side of Armstrong Cut in 1989 facing westbound on the Cut-Off, note the tapered embankment in the foreground as compared to the same embankments seen in the distant background in the 1911 shot of Johnsonburg Station.

Armstrong Cut

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Armstrong Cut is one of the largest cuts on the Cut-Off. Located between approximately mileposts 61.4 and 62.3 in Frelinghuysen Township, the cut was constructed by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke. The cut, which was created by removing fill material obtained by blasting with dynamite or other methods, is 0.89 miles (1.43 km) long, has an average depth of 52 feet (16 m), and a maximum depth of 104 feet (32 m). The fill was created as a result of the removal of 852,000 cubic yards of fill material from this section of the right-of-way. Armstrong Cut is located on a tangent (straight) section of track, permitting 80 mph (130 km/h).

Part of the north side of Armstrong Cut collapsed in 1941, completely blocking the Cut-Off, and causing all traffic to be diverted to the Lackawanna Old Road for a month while the embankment was excavated back. Legend has it that the collapse occurred in the middle of the night and that the freight agent at the freight station (the passenger station had closed the previous year) heard the embankment give way and raised the alarm.[9]

Armstrong Cut is named for W.C. Armstrong, who was the principal owner of the land that was acquired for this cut.[10]

Bradbury Fill

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Bradbury Fill was built by Waltz & Reece Construction Company. It sits between mileposts 49.1 and 49.8 in Byram Township, just west of Waltz & Reece Cut and east of Lubber Run Fill.[11]

The 0.75-mile (1.1-km) fill averages 24 feet (7.3 m) high and is up to 78 feet (24 m) tall. It is made of 457,000 cubic yards of fill material obtained by dynamite blasting and other methods. It carries a 2° curve that permits 70 mph (110 km/h).

Abandoned in 1983, the line is to be reactivated as a single-track line by NJ Transit in 2026.

Bradbury Fill is named after Mrs. Delia R. Bradbury, who had owned most of the land used for the fill.[12]

Colby Cut

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Located between approximately mileposts 51.8 and 52.3 in Byram Township, Colby Cut was built by contractor David W. Flickwir. (During construction, Lackawanna Railroad Chief Engineer Lincoln Bush would leave the railroad and join Flickwir's construction company to form the Flickwir & Bush construction company.) The cut, which was created by removing fill material obtained by blasting with dynamite or other methods, is 0.53 miles (0.85 km) long, has an average depth of 45 feet (14 m), and a maximum depth of 110 feet (34 m). The cut was the result of the removal of 462,342 cubic yards of fill material within this section.

Colby Cut is named for F.G. Colby, from whom some of the land comprising the cut was acquired, west of what would be Roseville Tunnel.[13] In March 1906, Colby, proposed to Lackawanna President William Truesdale for the railroad to locate a train station for the Cut-Off on his property near what was referred to as Roseville Lake (probably Wright's Pond, which is just east and north of the tunnel). Truesdale had Colby contact the chief engineer, Lincoln Bush, to investigate the idea, but the proposal appears to have gone no further.

Colby Cut is located on a tangent (straight) section of right-of-way, permitting 70 mph (110 km/h), and is just east of the Pequest Fill and just west of Roseville Tunnel.[14] This section is scheduled to receive a single track as part of the reactivation of the line, which was abandoned in 1982 and the tracks removed in 1984. Colby Cut will be cleared as part of the Roseville Tunnel project by NJ Transit, whose rail service is projected to begin in 2026. The cut will have rockfall mitigation installed as well as improved drainage.[15]

Jones Cut

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Early construction on Jones Cut - March 23, 1909.
Blairstown Station, shown here in 1988, is located at the western end of Jones Cut.

Jones Cut, located near milepost 64.8 in Blairstown Township, was constructed by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke. Some 578,000 cubic yards (442,000 m3) of fill material was removed by blasting with dynamite or other methods. Jones Cut is located on a tangent (straight) section of track, permitting speeds of 80 mph (129 km/h). Blairstown Station sits within the cut.[16]

Jones Cut is named for William Jones, who was the principal owner of the land that was acquired for this cut.[17]

Eastbound view of Lubber Run Fill, spring 1990. Lake Lackawanna is just out of view to the right.

Lubber Run Fill

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Lubber Run Fill, located between mileposts 50.1 and 50.5 in Byram Township, it was built by contractor Waltz & Reece Construction Company. It is 0.40 miles (0.64 km) long, has an average height of 64 feet (20 m), and a maximum height of 98 feet (30 m). Most of its 720,000 cubic yards (550500 m3) of fill material was excavated from the surrounding low-lying area.

Lubber Run Fill is named for the Lubbers Run (the "s" was added to the stream's name sometime after the construction of the Cut-Off), which passes under the fill.[18] A dam was built under the fill on the north side of the embankment, creating Dallis Pond, which flows into Lake Lackawanna.

Lubber Run Fill supports a tangent (straight) section of right-of-way that permits speeds of 70 mph (113 km/h). It sits just east of Wharton Fill and just west of Bradbury Fill.[19]

A single track is to be relaid across the fill as part of the reactivation of the Cut-Off. NJ Transit rail service is projected to begin no earlier than 2026.

Vail Fill where it passes over Mt. Hermon Road in the Vail section of Blairstown, NJ. This location was also referred to as Molasses Junction. Note that the underpass design is similar to others on the Cut-Off, which was controversial at the time of construction because some of the underpasses were narrow with a low clearance, and because in winter time horse-drawn sleighs would have a considerable "dead pull" (especially if upgrade) through the tunnel.[20] In this location, which is the tallest part of this embankment, a stream was rechanneled under the road, which itself was realigned with the construction of the Cut-Off. This was done in several locations along the Cut-Off where a road and a stream crossed the right-of-way at approximately the same location.[21][22]

Ramsey Fill

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Located near the midway point of Ramsey Fill was Johnsonburg Station (right) and creamery, shown here in 1911. In the distance can be seen Armstrong Cut, which produced much of the fill material.
Ramsey Fill at Johnsonburg Station in July 1990. On the right, trees hide the north side of Armstrong Cut, which was trimmed back after the hill collapsed in 1941, temporarily closing the line.

Ramsey Fill, located between miles 60.4 and 60.9 in Frelinghuysen Township, was constructed by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke. The .53-mile (0.85 km) fill has an average height of 21 feet (6.5 m), and a maximum height of 80 feet (24.6 m). It was created with 805,481 cubic yards (615,834 m3) of fill material obtained by blasting with dynamite or other methods.

Ramsey Fill is on a tangent (straight) section of track, permitting 80 mph (129 km/h). Johnsonburg Station was located about midway along the fill, just east of Armstrong Cut.[23]

It is named for Stewart W. Ramsey, who owned most of the land acquired to build it.[24]

Vail Fill

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Vail Fill sits between mileposts 65 and 65.3 in Blairstown Township, built by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke. The fill, which was created by fill material obtained by blasting with dynamite or other methods, much of which was obtained from nearby Jones Cut, the fill is 0.32 miles (0.51 km) long, an average of 39 feet (12 m) high, and a maximum of 102 feet (31 m) tall. The fill contains a total of 293,500 cubic yards of material. Vail Fill is located on a 1° curved section of track, permitting 80 mph (130 km/h).[25]

Vail Fill is named for the nearby hamlet of Vail.[26]

Waltz & Reece Cut

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Deepest part of the Waltz & Reece Cut (2012 photo)

Waltz & Reece Cut, the deepest cut on the Cut-Off, is 0.68 miles (1.09 km) long, has an average depth of 37 feet (11 m), and a maximum depth of 114 feet (35 m).

Located between mileposts 48.3 and 49.0 in Byram Township, it sits on a tangent (straight) section of right-of-way just west of McMickle Cut and just east of Bradbury Fill.[27]

It was built between 1908 and 1911 by Waltz & Reece Construction Company, which removed 822,400 cubic yards of fill material by blasting with dynamite or other methods.[28]

In 2012, a single track was relaid through the cut as part of NJ Transit's plans to restart rail service no earlier than 2021.

This April 1910 construction photo shows a narrow-gauge train hauling fill material to the top of Waltz & Reece Fill. Waltz & Reece Cut is visible to far left; the top of Roseville Tunnel at center, on the horizon.
  1. ^ a b c d Taber & Taber 1980, p. 36
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ September 1, 1906, Map of Delaware Valley Cut-Off, Commissioned by DL&W
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ DL&W Presidents' correspondence file: October 28, 1909; Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
  6. ^ a b Taber & Taber 1980, p. 39
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century 1, p. 35. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
  10. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Delaware Valley Cut-Off, September 1, 1906.
  11. ^ Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century 1, p. 35. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
  12. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Hopatcong-Slateford Cut-Off, September 1, 1906.
  13. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Hopatcong-Slateford Cut-Off, September 1, 1906
  14. ^ Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century 1, p. 35. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
  15. ^ "NJ Transit awards contract to restore tunnel on Lackawanna Cutoff". 13 April 2022.
  16. ^ Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century 1, p. 35. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
  17. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Delaware Valley Cut-Off, September 1, 1906.
  18. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Hopatcong-Slateford Cut-Off, September 1, 1906.
  19. ^ Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century 1, p. 35. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
  20. ^ The Lackawanna Railroad in Northwestern New Jersey by Larry Lowenthal and William T. Greenberg, Jr., Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Inc., 1987.
  21. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Delaware Valley Cut-Off, September 1, 1906.
  22. ^ Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century 1, p. 35. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
  23. ^ Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century 1, p. 35. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
  24. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Delaware Valley Cut-Off, September 1, 1906.
  25. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Delaware Valley Cut-Off, September 1, 1906.
  26. ^ 1906 Survey Map of the Delaware Valley Cut-Off, September 1, 1906.
  27. ^ Map of Hopatcong-Slateford Cut-Off, dated September 1, 1906.
  28. ^ Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century 1, p. 35. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
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