Lackawanna Cut-Off

Lackawanna Cut-Off
The westbound Lackawanna Limited comes off the Pequest Fill shortly after the opening of the Lackawanna Cut-Off. Taken from the signal tower at the east end of Greendell Siding, this early 1912 photo was used as a template for a Phoebe Snow poster promoting the DL&W as having the shortest New York City-Buffalo route
Overview
Status	abandoned (1979); being rebuilt (2011)
Owner	New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT)
Locale	New Jersey Pennsylvania
Termini	Fox Chase (south) Newtown (north)
Service
Services	Local
Operator(s)	Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (1911-1960) Erie Lackawanna Railroad (1960-1976) Conrail (1976-1979)
History
Opened	December 24, 1911
Closed	January 1979
Technical
Line length	28.45 mi (45.8 km)
Character	Surface
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Route map Lackawanna Cut-Off in New Jersey Map - Feb 2012.jpg

The Lackawanna Cut-Off (a.k.a. New Jersey Cut-Off, Hopatcong-Slateford Cut-Off, Lackawanna Highline or the Cut-Off) is a railroad line that was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) between 1908 and 1911. Noted for its immense cuts, fills (embankments) and two large viaducts, the line was part of a 400-mile (645 km) mainline that ran from Hoboken, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York. It was the last major railroad mainline constructed in New Jersey, and was an example of state-of-the-art railroad construction.

The Cut-Off runs west from Port Morris Junction — near the southern tip of Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey, about 45 miles (72.4 km) west-northwest of New York City — to Slateford Junction near the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania, a total of 28.45 miles (45.9 km).

The Cut-Off minimized grades and curves and was built without vehicular crossings. It was one of the first railroad projects to use reinforced concrete on a large scale. One of the largest such projects in the U.S. at the time, its construction required the movement of millions of tons of fill material using techniques similar to those on the Panama Canal. Running through hills and across valleys, the Cut-Off never exceeds a gradient of 0.55%, and only one curve has a speed limit of less than 70 mph (110 km/h).

Opening on December 24, 1911, the Cut-Off was operated by the DL&W until October 17, 1960, when the railroad merged with the Erie Railroad (ERIE) to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad (EL); it was operated by the EL until April 1, 1976 when the EL was conveyed into Conrail who operated it until January 1979. The line was officially abandoned in 1983, with trackage removed the following year. Efforts to restore the railroad that began prior to abandonment resulted in track reconstruction beginning in 2011 (after several extended delays) for reinstated commuter service under the auspices New Jersey Transit. Dubbed the "Andover Extension", regular passenger service is expected to commence 2014.

History and planning (1851–1908)

The DL&W's "Old Road" via Oxford, New Jersey, chartered in 1851 and completed in 1862 under the supervision of railroad magnate John I. Blair, was meant to provide a more or less straight route between the mainlines of the Lackawanna Railroad in Pennsylvania and the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ). But when the railroads' proposed end-to-end merger fell through, and the DL&W subsequently merged with the Morris and Essex Railroad (M&E) in New Jersey, the Old Road was immediately transformed into a circuitous and, therefore, obsolete route.

The eastern portal of Oxford Tunnel on the Old Road in August 2011. Operational problems here led to the building of the Lackawanna Cut-Off

The operational problems caused by the Old Road worsened as the railroad's business grew, and by the beginning of the 20th Century it had become the DL&W's chief bottleneck. Trains were limited to 50 mph (80 km/h) on the route, and 20 mph (32 km/h) through the route's two tunnels. By 1901, the increasing size of locomotives and train cars required the installation of gauntlet track (two overlapping tracks that in effect were a single track) through the 2,969-foot (905 m) Oxford Tunnel. A second 975-foot (297 m) tunnel (actually two single-track tunnels) near Manunka Chunk also had chronic drainage problems that occasionally plagued operations.

William Truesdale, who had become president of the DL&W in 1899, recognized that the railroad needed to replace the Old Road. By 1905, engineers had surveyed more than a dozen potential routes between Port Morris, New Jersey, and Slateford, Pennsylvania. Because any east-west route in northwest New Jersey would cross the north-south hills at a right angle, tunneling seemed inevitable. Indeed, several of the surveyed routes would have required much longer tunnels than already existed on the Old Road. For instance, Line "C" — the surveyed lines were given letters — would have passed about a mile south of the town of Hope, New Jersey (roughly five miles (8 km) north of where the Old Road ran), and would have required three tunnels totaling four miles (6.5 km) in length. On the other hand, Line "M", which ran about 10 miles (16 km) north of the Old Road, and which of all the surveyed routes most closely mirrored the route eventually chosen, would have required no tunneling, but would have been longer and would have had speed restrictions near Roseville and Tranquility, N.J.

The only way to avoid the operational problems associated with Line "M" would be to build a massive land-bridge across the Pequest River Valley, which Truesdale wanted, but which the civil engineers on his staff thought impossible to build. Truesdale, an adroit corporate executive with a strong tendency towards perfectionism, was acutely aware of the political pitfalls of spending an enormous sum of company money on a railroad line that was not first-rate in every respect. Truesdale pushed for the seemingly impossible land-bridge to be built, and prevailed. The result would come to be known as the Pequest Fill.

Building the right-of-way (1908–1911)

A May 1909 view of the Wharton Fill looking east from atop Roseville Tunnel, 10 months into construction

To finance the enormous cost of building the Cut-Off, Truesdale created a new corporation in 1908, the Lackawanna Railroad of New Jersey. As built, the route ran from the crest of the watershed at Lake Hopatcong to Slateford on the Delaware River, 2 miles (3 km) south of the Delaware Water Gap. The line was 28.45 miles (45.8 km) in length, some 11 miles shorter than the Old Road's 39.6 miles (64 km). The new line reduced the ruling grade of 1.1% to 0.55%. The Cut-Off runs downgrade from east to west, except for a short stretch of less than 0.1% upgrade on the Pequest Fill east of Greendell that accounts for the entire 11 feet (3.4 m) of "rise and fall" on the Cut-Off.

The Cut-Off had 1,560 degrees less curvature (more than four complete circles) than the Old Road (meaning far fewer speed restrictions), as well as none of the significant operational problems associated with the Old Road's tunnels. A 1,024-foot (312 m) tunnel at Roseville was required when construction of a cut there encountered unstable rock. This most likely disappointed Truesdale, whose experience with the Old Road made him want to avoid tunnels on the new line at all cost. Fortunately, Roseville Tunnel caused no major operational problems, and a 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) speed limit was permitted through the tunnel.

The line was built without railroad crossings, which the DL&W was discovering in its more heavily-populated service region to the east was a highly desirable design feature that was costly to introduce once a line had been built. Grade separation eliminated the hazard of automobiles, horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians crossing the right-of-way at roadway crossings, as well as the noise pollution of train whistles required at grade crossings.

Construction began August 1, 1908, and was divided into seven sections, each the responsibility of a different contracting company. A total of 14,621,100 cubic yards (11,000,000 m³) of fill material was required for the entire project, more than could be obtained from the project's cuts. The DL&W purchased approximately 760 acres (310 ha) of farmland for borrow pits. The earth and gravel was scooped out to a depth of 20 feet (6 m) and hauled up onto the embankments. During construction, several foreign governments sent representatives on inspection tours of the Cut-Off.

The Pequest Fill extended westward from a point 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Andover to 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Huntsville, New Jersey. It is 110 feet (34 m) tall and 3.12 miles (5.0 km) long, and required 6,625,000 cubic yards (5,100,000 m³) of fill. The original Huntsville schoolhouse is buried under the Pequest Fill; the DL&W paid for a second schoolhouse to be built nearby.

Armstrong Cut (the Cut-Off's largest) just west of Johnsonburg, New Jersey, is 100 feet (30 m) deep and 1 mile (1,600 m) long, mostly through solid rock. In 1941, a massive rockslide there shut down the line for a month. The line's deepest cut is Roseville Cut, just west of Roseville Tunnel, at 130 feet (40 m) deep.

During the summer of 1911, as construction fell behind schedule on the Roseville section, contractor Waltz & Reece Company used torchlight, as there was no electricity available, to work around the clock.

The Paulinskill Viaduct in Hainesburg, New Jersey, was the largest concrete structure in the world when it was constructed.

The Cut-Off's 73 reinforced concrete structures include underpasses, overhead bridges, culverts, and, most notably, two viaducts. The Paulinskill Viaduct (also called the Hainesburg Viaduct after the nearby town) crosses the Paulins Kill. At 115 feet (35 m) high and 1,100 feet (340 m) long, it was at the time the world's largest reinforced concrete structure. The Delaware River Viaduct, 65 feet (20 m) tall and 1,450 feet (440 m) long, has five arches that span 150 feet (50 m) each. For stability, its abutments were excavated 62 feet (19 m) down to bedrock.

Three reinforced concrete stations were built in the towns of Greendell, Johnsonburg and Blairstown. Greendell and Johnsonburg, set in rural areas previously unserved by trains, provided only modest business for the railroad, whereas Blairstown was more of a regional center and became a regular stop for passenger trains.

Three reinforced concrete interlocking towers were built on the line: Port Morris Junction and Greendell Towers in New Jersey and Slateford Junction Tower in Pennsylvania. Greendell Tower, about 12 miles (19 km) west of Port Morris, controlled the crossovers, long passing siding, and short freight siding there. It was manned until 1938, when its operation was transferred to Port Morris Tower due to lack of activity. Slateford Junction Tower, which controlled the junction with the Old Road, remained in operation until January 1951, when its functionality was transferred to East Stroudsburg Tower, about 6 miles (10 km) west. Port Morris ("UN") Tower, which controlled the junction with the line to Washington, New Jersey, remained in operation until 1979.

The Cut-Off cost about $11,065,512 to build (equal to $361,842,242 today) It would take the DL&W 30 years to pay off the bonds that financed the building of the Cut-Off, so the Lackawanna Railroad of New Jersey remained a separate corporate entity until 1941, when it was merged into the DL&W proper.

Operations (1911-1979)

A brochure about the construction of the Cut-Off, given to reporters during November 1911 inspection trips

According to lore, Truesdale issued an ultimatum as construction fell behind schedule in 1911, saying that the Cut-Off would have to open by year's end. A new timetable did go into effect on December 24, 1911, officially inaugurating service on the new route. The first revenue train to cross the Cut-Off was No. 15, a westbound passenger train that passed through Port Morris Junction at 12:15 a.m. Shorter and able to handle higher speeds, the new route shaved 20 minutes off the schedule for passenger trains and saved freight trains a full hour. Long-distance trains, such as the Lackawanna Limited, which traveled from Hoboken to Buffalo, and provided sleeping car service on to Chicago and St. Louis, shifted to the Cut-Off. The Old Road was immediately downgraded to secondary status.

Passenger operations

The Cut-Off was built to permit an unrestricted speed for passenger trains of 70 mph (110 km/h). The overall speed limit on the line was later raised to 75 mph (121 km/h), and then to 80 mph (130 km/h), after heavier rail was installed and in recognition of the fact that roughly 85% of the line was tangent (straight) track. The table of speed restrictions below shows that, for example, a westbound train passing the location of the future Andover Station would have 20 miles (32 km) of 80 mph (130 kmph) running, interrupted only by two short 75-mph (121 kmph) speed restrictions near Blairstown.

Speed restrictions for passenger trains on the Cut-off in 1943: These are stretches of track on which trains were required to travel slower than 80 miles per hour (130 km/h). "Milepost" indicates miles west of Hoboken.

Speed Restriction (point of interest)	Milepost	to Milepost	Curvature	Speed limit - mph (km/h)
Port Morris Junction	45.8	--	#20 switch*	40 (64)
1st curve west of Port Morris (Route 602 grade crossing)	46.8	47.1	2°	70 (110)
2nd curve west of Port Morris (Route 605 overhead bridge)	47.6	48.1	2°	70 (110)
4th curve west of Port Morris (just east of Lake Lackawanna)	49.3	50.1	2°	70 (110)
Roseville Tunnel (Byram Township)	51.6	51.8	--	70 (110)
1st curve west of Roseville Tunnel (Andover Station)	52.5	53.0	2°	70 (110)
1st curve west of Johnsonburg Station	63.1	63.4	1°30'	75 (121)
1st curve east of Blairstown Station	64.1	64.3	1°30'	75 (121)
1st curve east of Slateford Jct. (just west of Delaware River Viaduct)	73.2	73.5	3°30'	50 (80)
Slateford Junction	74.3	--	#25 switch	50 (80)

[*Note - A #12 switch, permitting a 25 mph (40 km/h) speed limit, will be installed at the new Port Morris Junction.]

Engineers occasionally ran faster than 80 mph when their trains were running late. Although no official records exist, the DL&W's Hudson-type 4-6-4 locomotives could exceed 100 mph (161 km/h) with their passenger trains along suitable stretches of track. In later years, the DL&W's F-3 diesel locomotives, which were geared to run at a maximum of 90 mph (148 k/hr), were known to make up time as well.

Several passing sidings were built on the Cut-Off to permit freights going up the eastbound grade to pull off and allow faster trains to overtake them. Originally, sidings existed east of Slateford, west of the Paulinskill Viaduct (Hainesburg siding), east of Blairstown, at Greendell, east of Roseville tunnel (Roseville siding), and west of Port Morris Junction. About 25% of the Cut-Off had a third track as originally built. With upwards of 50 trains a day (about an equal number in each direction), towermen often ordered freight trains to take a siding or rerouted them over the Old Road. (In 1925, 47 people died when an eastbound passenger special from Chicago, rerouted over the Old Road to avoid freight traffic, wrecked three miles west of Hackettstown, N.J.) In later years, as traffic levels dropped, Hainesburg and Roseville sidings, which were not controlled by interlocking towers, were removed. The remaining sidings, with alterations to their configurations and points of control, remained in operation until the Cut-Off ceased operations in 1979.

Roseville Tunnel also posed occasional problems, especially during the winter with snow and ice buildup. Rockslides were always a threat west of the tunnel. During the early years of World War II, watchmen were posted at Roseville Tunnel and the Paulinskill Viaduct to look out for saboteurs armed with dynamite. The station agents at Blairstown and Johnsonburg were also expected to be on guard. As the war progressed and the general level of fear decreased, these guards were reassigned. While no acts of sabotage were known to have occurred, the 1941 rockslide at Johnsonburg—in Armstrong Cut—was detected quickly by a watchman at nearby Johnsonburg Station, which had been closed to passengers a year earlier. The north side of Armstrong Cut was trimmed to prevent more rockslides. In 1950, a mechanical detector fence was installed west of Roseville Tunnel to change trackside signals to red in the event of a rockslide at that location. Over the years, the daylighting Roseville Tunnel has been occasionally discussed.

At the outset, the DL&W's woman in white—Phoebe Snow—advertised the Cut-Off in posters that showed the Pequest Fill and proclaimed the DL&W ("The Road of Anthracite") as having the shortest route to Buffalo. During the steam era of the 20th Century, and into the early diesel era (late 1940s), the Lackawanna Limited was the railroad's premier train. The Limited would be joined on the railroad's roster of passenger trains by the Pocono Express, the Owl, and the Twilight. In 1949, the Lackawanna Limited's name was retired in favor of a name that had not been used by the DL&W since the days when the Lackawanna's engines burned anthracite coal: Phoebe Snow. The use of the Phoebe name was a throwback to the days when the railroad exclusively used this clean burning fuel to fire its locomotives. As the Lackawanna's premier streamlined diesel train, the Phoebe Snow helped breathe freshness, albeit temporarily, back into a passenger train program that had seen only modest modernization since the 1930s. While the Phoebe Snow ran—it would only run for 11 years as a DL&W train and then as an EL train from 1963 until it was finally discontinued in November 1966—the Cut-Off was considered a scenic highlight of the trip to Buffalo.

Freight operations

File:DL&W1Map.gif

The Cut-Off was part of the Lackawanna Railroad's mainline from New York City to Buffalo, New York. This 1922 DL&W map shows all major rail lines in the region, except those of its competitor, the ERIE

Besides cutting travel time, the Cut-Off also required fewer engines to pull eastbound freights up to the summit at Port Morris, saving operating costs. For westbound freights, the only issue was keeping trains from going too fast. Initially, no speed limit existed on the Cut-Off. In the 1920s, most freights were officially restricted to 50 mph or less, depending on the locomotives, rail cars, and the priority of the train being operated. By 1943, 131-lb (59 kg/m) rail had been installed on the Cut-Off, which permitted fast freights to run at 60 mph. The speed limit for freights decreased to 50 mph during the Erie Lackawanna and brief Conrail eras.

Local freights served customers on the Cut-Off throughout its history. For instance, the Johnsonburg creamery, which was built in anticipation of the opening of the Cut-Off, served local dairy farmers for years. All three stations handled freight shipments, although only Blairstown had enough business to justify a separate freight house (freight at Greendell and Johnsonburg was dispatched at the stations). The final local shipment was shipped in 1978: fertilizer for a customer in Johnsonburg that was delivered instead to Greendell because the Johnsonburg freight siding had deteriorated.

Accidents

The Cut-Off saw only one accident in its active history. At 6:31 a.m. on September 17, 1929, two eastbound freights collided in heavy rain just east of Roseville Tunnel when the trailing freight ran through a red signal and rear-ended the caboose of the leading freight at about 30 mph (48 km/hr). Four employees were injured. The engineer in the trailing freight was found to have been at fault.

Two other accidents indirectly involved the line. At 11:27 p.m. on a misty July 2, 1948, a westbound passenger train, No. 9, derailed at the 40 mph (64 km/hr) curve at Point of Gap while going faster than 73 mph (118 km/hr). The train had left Hoboken 38 minutes late, and had made up 14 minutes on the schedule by the time it was recorded as having passed Slateford Tower, suggesting that the train had exceeded the speed limit during the 75-mile (121-km) trip. The engine (No. 1136, a 4-6-2) and tender overturned and ended upright in the Delaware River. The first car uncoupled from the tender and ended up in the river behind it. The remaining seven cars of the train continued for another 1,735 feet (533 m) down the track. The engineer and firemen were killed. In 1958, a string of cement cars broke loose from Port Morris Wye and started rolling west. The cars picked up speed along the Cut-Off and derailed into the Delaware River at about the same location as the 1948 accident. Fortunately, no one was injured in this accident, although an eastbound freight, which quickly took Greendell siding just ahead of the runaway cars (which may have reached speeds of 80 mph), just barely avoided what would have been a catastrophic collision with the freight's caboose. To this day, one of the cement cars is still visible in the river when the water level is low.

DL&W decline

Main article: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad

The DL&W was one of the most profitable corporations in the United States when it built the Cut-Off. Over time, that profitability would decline, somewhat after World War I and especially after World War II, for a combination of economic and political reasons, eventually leading to a 1960 merger with the railroad's bitter rival, the ERIE. That merger would have consequences for the DL&W's mainline in general and the Cut-Off in particular.

EL, Conrail (1958–1979)

Ex-Reading Company #2102, a 4-8-4 locomotive, heads up an eastbound railfan excursion over the Cut-Off, having just exited Roseville Tunnel headed for Hoboken in June 1973

Main article: Erie Lackawanna Railway

In anticipation of the merger with the ERIE, the Cut-Off was single-tracked in 1958, leaving a four-mile (6 km) passing siding at Greendell and shorter passing sidings at Port Morris and Slateford. After the October 17, 1960 merger, freight traffic was shifted to the ERIE's mainline through Port Jervis, New York.

The final EL train operated in January 1970, and the last station on the Cut-Off, Blairstown, was closed. The same year also saw the demise of the Old Road, which had been abandoned. 1970 also saw nearly all of the EL's freight traffic return to the Cut-Off after the creation of the Penn Central resulted in the closing of the New England Gateway interchange at Maybrook, New York.

In 1972, the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) abandoned all its freight-only operations in Pennsylvania, causing additional through freights to be run daily between Elizabeth, New Jersey on the CNJ and Scranton on the EL. The trains, designated as the eastbound SE-98 (Scranton-Elizabeth) and the westbound ES-99 (Elizabeth-Scranton), traveled via the Cut-Off and were routed via the CNJ's High Bridge Branch. This arrangement ended with the creation of Conrail on April 1, 1976. Initially, labor contracts kept Conrail's freight schedule over the Cut-Off largely unchanged. Moreover, the railroad replaced thousands of crossties on the line, returning it to better physical condition than it had been in some time.

A westbound Conrail freight snakes its way through the Delaware Water Gap in summer 1977

Conrail opertaed final through freights in late 1978, and suspended the Cut-Off in January 1979. Conrail cited the EL's early-1960s severing of the Boonton Branch near Paterson, New Jersey, and the grades over the Pocono Mountains as the primary reason for removing freight traffic from the entire Hoboken-Scranton route and consolidating this service within its other operating routes.

All routine maintenance on the line ceased, and two sections of rail were removed at Port Morris Jct., isolating the Cut-Off from the mainline. The Port Morris wye track was left in place, and the Scranton Division west of Slateford Junction remained in service for another year.

Preservation efforts (1979–1984)

Later in 1979, supporters of the Cut-Off convinced Amtrak to operate an inspection train between Hoboken and Scranton to look at operating intercity trains on the line. Dubbed the "Pocono Mountain Special", the 133-mile (215 km) inspection trip ran on November 13, 1979. It turned out to be the last passenger train to operate on the Cut-Off in the 20th century, and the only Amtrak train to ever operate over the Cut-Off. The idea of Amtrak Hoboken–Scranton service faded due to Amtrak funding shortfalls, insufficient political support, and poor track conditions.

However, over the next few years, several attempts were made to purchase the line from Conrail, which was wary of the possibility that a future competitor might acquire and reactivate the line. The Sussex County Freeholder Board in New Jersey pursued a purchase, and the Monroe County Railroad Authority in Pennsylvania nearly reached a deal to buy the 88-mile (142 km) section of track between Port Morris and Scranton from Conrail for $6.5 million. The railroad authority would have borrowed $4.1 million from the federal government (at 3.25% per annum) and issued bonds to cover the rest of the purchase price plus additional unspecified costs to restore the line. The deal would have granted Conrail permission to remove one track from Analomink to Scranton (about 40 miles, 65 km), with an option for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through PennDOT, to purchase the second track to Moscow for Steamtown National Historic Site operations out of Scranton. The agreement stipulated that the designated operator of the railroad would be expected to repay the loan using revenue from operations.

The deal began to fall apart on August 10, 1983, when the U.S. Department of Transportation informed Monroe County officials that the federal loan guarantee had been revoked (it would go instead to the financially ailing Detroit and Mackinac Railroad in Michigan). Monroe County officials remained optimistic, reasoning that Congress could be convinced to provide financial support. They invited 16 potential operators to submit proposals; seven did so on August 26, 1983. However, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) approved of Conrail's abandonment request in late 1983 and ruled that the line could be abandoned if it were "out of service" and had no originating or terminating shipments for two years and was not required for service to any other trackage. Until that time, a lengthy regulatory process had discouraged railroads from abandoning unwanted routes. Moreover, the dismantling of the line was supported by Atlantic City gambling interests who feared that renewed rail service might allow casinos to open in the Poconos. (The first Poconos casino would not open until 2007.)

The Monroe County Railroad Authority, with support from PennDOT and a threat to use a privately owned World War II tank, managed to dissuade Conrail from severing the line between Slateford and Scranton. In Scranton, the DL&W mainline from New Jersey connected with the DL&W mainline from Binghamton. In 1983, Conrail sold the small parcel of land that connected the two mainline segments and allowed direct train movements between Binghamton and New Jersey. The buyer immediately erected a large warehouse on the property.

Further preservation efforts (1984–2001)

Members of several rail advocacy organizations promote the restoration of service on the Lackawanna Cut-Off and the 1989 New Jersey bond issue for the acquisition of rail rights-of-way on WFMV, 106.3 FM, a radio station located in the Blairstown station

Conrail began track removal in the summer of 1984. Starting at the east end of the Delaware River Viaduct, the train worked eastward, and pulled the last rail on October 5. The wooden ties and rock ballast were left in place, somewhat unusual for Conrail, which typically removed all components (rails, wooden ties, signals, poles, rock ballast) when dismantling a railroad.

Still, Conrail's efforts to eliminate the Cut-Off as a viable route for any potential competitors continued the following year, when the railroad sold the abandoned right-of-way (except for the easternmost 1.5 miles (2.4 km)) to New Jersey developer Gerald Turco. Turco later said he had not intended to buy the Cut-Off; instead, he had asked Conrail in late 1984 to sell a small parcel of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) right-of-way in Andover so that he could expand anursing home that he operated there. Turco stated that Conrail would not sell the Andover parcel to him, but did offer to sell the entire 32-mile L&HR right-of-way from Sparta Junction in Sparta Township to BD Junction in Belvidere. Although the exact timing is unclear, Conrail would also offer to sell the Cut-Off to Turco (the L&HR right-of-way crossed under the Pequest Fill near Tranquility). Turco accepted, and acquired nearly 60 miles (97 km) of right-of-way for roughly $2 million. Conrail subsequently removed the track from the L&HR, as Turco had only acquired the land and not the trackage.

Conrail subsequently sold the remaining 1.5-mile (2.4 km) parcel of right-of-way to developer Burton Goldmeier, who reportedly wanted to use the Cut-Off as an access road to a proposed project. Conrail had also added constraints to its agreement covering trackage west of Slateford Junction, another step that would hamper a potential competitor's effort to enter the New York market via the Cut-Off.

Public efforts to save the Cut-Off gained pace in 1986, after Turco announced plans to move fill material from the Pequest Fill and other large Cut-Off fills to the Westway (New York) project in New York City, then dump garbage and construction materials into the large cuts. It was never entirely clear whether Turco was serious about the proposed Rebar Landfill, as it was called, or if it was just a ploy to stir up public opposition and force the New Jersey state government to step in and acquire the Cut-Off by condemnation. Regardless, the controversial proposal helped galvanize support for preserving the Cut-Off via a $25 million state bond issue for acquiring abandoned railroad rights-of-way in New Jersey.

Voters approved the bond issue in November 1989, and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) subsequently began the use of eminent domain against the corporations that Turco and Goldmeier had established in New Jersey for the Cut-Off. Of the two parcels, acquisition of Turco's parcel was by far the most complicated; Turco had established separate corporations for the sections of right-of-way in each municipality that his section of the Cut-Off ran through: Knowlton, Blairstown and Frelinghuysen townships in Warren County; Green, Byram, and Andover townships and Stanhope and Andover boroughs in Sussex County; and Roxbury Township in Morris County. In addition, separate corporations had been set up for the Paulinskill Viaduct and the Delaware River Viaduct, as well as for the mile (1.6 km) of right-way in Pennsylvania (which would be subsequently acquired by Pennsylvania's Monroe County Authority). In addition to these corporations, Turco created a holding company to oversee these other companies: OLC, Inc., OLC standing for Old Lackawanna Cut-Off.

Restoration efforts (2001–present)

The new bridge over County Route 521 in Blairstown, shown before it opened in November 2006, is a replica of its older companion to the left

In 2000, the third leg of the wye at Scranton was restored, although with a much sharper curvature requiring much slower train speeds. By 2001, New Jersey and Pennsylvania had acquired their respective portions of the Cut-Off for a total of $21 million. In 2003, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter secured initial funding for the restoration of passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City.

In July 2006, the final environmental review was submitted to the Federal Transit Administration for review and approval. The following February, the Lackawanna County and Monroe County Railroad Authorities were merged to form the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority. One of the objectives of the new rail authority was to help expedite the effort to restore passenger service on the Pennsylvania side of the Cut-Off project.

In May 2008, the North Jersey Transportation Authority approved funding to rebuild the first 7.3 miles (11.7 km) of the Cut-Off between Andover and Port Morris Junction. By 2009, the environmental assessment for the remainder of the project to Scranton was completed, with a "Finding of No Significant Impact" (FONSI). The EPA subsequently concurred with this finding in July 2009.

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Lackawanna Cut-Off
Lackawanna Main Line to Scranton 74.3 mi 119.6 km Slateford Junction Lackawanna Old Road Delaware River Viaduct PA NJ I-80 Susquehanna RR Lehigh and New England RR Route 94 Paulinskill Viaduct (Paulinskill) Paulinskill Valley Trail (LNE & NYSW) 64.8 mi 104.3 km Blairstown 60.7 mi 97.7 km Johnsonburg 57.6 mi 92.7 km Greendell Lehigh and Hudson River Railway Sussex Branch US 206 53.0 mi 85.3 km Andover Roseville Tunnel Musconetcong River Morris Canal Boonton Line to Hackettstown 45.7 mi 73.5 km Port Morris Junction 45.5 mi 73.2 km CR 631 Landing Masonry Bridge 45.5 mi 73.2 km Lake Hopatcong Morristown & Boonton Lines 0.0 mi 0 km Hoboken Terminal

Brush removal and general preparation to restore trackage between Port Morris and Andover was originally slated to begin in 2010 but was delayed until early 2011 due to a dispute over the exact location of the Andover Station area. Separately, a small area of wetlands was identified near County Route 605 in Stanhope where a narrow stream passes along the north side of the right-of-way. The stream, which is not seen on the 1906 survey map, may have been underground within the adjacent hill until construction of the Cut-Off exposed it. Having done so, the original contractor built retaining walls to channel the stream which runs year round. With abandonment of the line, and lack of regular maintenance, the stream has spread over the right-of-way, causing the area to meet the technical definition of wetlands. Further, the Sierra Club, an environmental group, objected to brush clearing along the line during the mating season of the endangered Indiana bat. This caused further delay.

As of 2012, most of the right-of-way between Port Morris and Lake Lackawanna (roughly the halfway point between Port Morris and Andover) had been cleared of trees and debris and ballasted. The section between Lake Lackawanna and Andover, however, was still awaiting approval of environmental permits for right-of-way clearing. The laying of railroad track began at Port Morris in September 2011, and just under about one mile (1.5 km) had been laid west of Port Morris as of December 2011, when a Norfolk Southern rail train brought 7.5 miles (12.5 km) of continuously-welded rail to Port Morris, sufficient to re-lay a single track to Andover.

New Jersey Transit proposal

In 2008, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) approved a proposal by New Jersey Transit (NJT) to restore rail service to the Cut-Off and westward along the former DL&W mainline in Pennsylvania to Scranton. The approval made the project eligible for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding for engineering and design work.

NJT proposed to reopen train service in two phases:

• Phase I (also known as the Minimal Operating Segment) will extend rail service to Andover (7.3 miles, 11.8 km), where a new station at Roseville Road will be built with 125 parking spaces. This site has the area's only land parcel of sufficient size that is at grade with the Cut-Off and near a major highway; the site is about 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from U.S. Route 206 and about 0.9 miles (1.5 km) from Sussex County Route 517. Initially, this section will be operated as a single-track railroad with a 70 mph (113 km/hr) speed limit, using dual-mode locomotives. Construction of this section of track is currently in progress. Twelve daily Midtown Direct trains will run between Andover and New York, six eastbound and six westbound.

Andover Extension Construction Progress as of September 2012 ("Milepost" indicates miles west of Hoboken.)

Section	Milepost	to Milepost	Track installed?	Remaining work (estimated completion date)	Photo
1. Port Morris Junction	45.8	--	Yes	Install prefabricated #12 switch at junction to replace temporary switch; install Automatic Train Control and signal system on Cut-Off; lay additional track into Port Morris Yard (PMY) from Morristown Line (2013-14).
1a. Port Morris Wye Track	PMY	46.4	No	Complete grading of cleared wye trackbed; more roadbed work within Port Morris Yard; lay track and reinstall signals to connect yard and mainline. (2013-14).
2. Port Morris Junction to County Road 602	45.8	47.0	Yes	Connect wye track to mainline (2012-13); align track, superelevate curve (2013-14).
3. Route 602 grade crossing	47.0	47.0	No	Raise utility wires that cross the railroad right-of-way; adjust height of roadway and/or Cut-Off roadbed; install tracks across roadway with quad gates in order to create a quiet zone needing no sounding of horn for grade crossing (2013-14).
4. Curve at and west of Route 602 grade crossing	47.0	47.1	No*	Minor right-of-way clearing; lay ballast and track (temporary track was installed on wooden ties with no ballast and later removed) (2013-14).
5. Tangent track west of Route 602 grade crossing (continues to start of 2nd curve west of Port Morris)	47.1	47.6	Yes	Add ballast; align track (2013).
6. 2nd curve west of Port Morris (includes new and old Route 605 overhead bridges)	47.6	48.0	No	Clear right-of-way; lay ballast and track; remediate adjacent stream (2013-14).
7. Section east of Lake Lackawanna (includes tangent track and 3rd and 4th curves west of Port Morris)	48.0	50.0	Yes	Track ends at Lake Lackawanna. Add ballast; align track and superelevate curves (2013).
8. Lake Lackawanna to Roseville Tunnel (tangent track)	50.0	51.6	No	Clear right-of-way and re-lay track (2013-14).
9. Roseville Tunnel (tangent track)	51.6	51.8	No	Lower tunnel floor; reseal portion of tunnel roof; deepen drainage ditches (2013-14).
10. Roseville Tunnel to Andover Station (on 5th curve west of Port Morris)	51.8	52.9	No	Clear right-of-way; improve drainage immediately west of tunnel; install new rockslide detectors on north side of right-of-way (2013-14).
11. Andover Station	52.9	53.1	No	Clear area of trees and regrade; build parking lot and connect to Roseville Road (adjacent); build station building and platform; install end of track device; install signage (2014).

Restoration of trackage, February 2012

• Phase II will extend rail service along the remainder of the Cut-Off (21 miles, 34 km) and into Pennsylvania, possibly as far as Scranton (60 miles, 97 km), a total of 88 miles (142 km), including the Andover Extension. The estimated cost would be $516 million for track, station sites, signals, and bridgework along the Cut-Off; station sites and signals to Scranton, and additional locomotives and passenger cars. Steps in this phase include:
  • Rebuild the remainder of the Cut-Off as a single-track railroad (with concrete ties and welded rail), but with an 80 mph (129 km/hr) speed limit, reflecting the more favorable curvature of the line west of Andover;
  • Remove and rebuild the bridge deck of the Delaware River Viaduct;
  • Partially rebuild the decking of the Paulins Kill Viaduct;
  • Construct passing sidings west of Andover station and in Blairstown, New Jersey;
  • Reopen Blairstown Station, with 230 parking spaces;
  • Build a maintenance-of-way facility at the former Greendell station site.
  • Replace removed overhead highway bridge at Slateford Jct. (removed during the 1990s).

Stations in Pennsylvania would include Delaware Water Gap (a new station near the Delaware Water Gap Visitors' Center in Smithfield Township, with 900 parking spaces in a five-story parking garage); East Stroudsburg (a new station site, slightly south of the old station site, with 228 parking spaces); Analomink (a new station, near the old station site, with 250 parking spaces); Pocono Mountain (a new station, near the old Mount Pocono station, with 1,000 parking spaces); Tobyhanna (an existing station, with 102 parking spaces); and Scranton (a new station, west of the existing station, with 30 parking spaces). All stations will have high-level platforms and would comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

Passenger service to Scranton and points east would consist of 18 trains a day (nine eastbound and nine westbound) to Hoboken or New York City. By 2030, it is estimated that the service would carry 6,000 passengers a day from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to jobs in New Jersey and New York City.

Future commuters traveling to Hoboken using this service would board a Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) train to travel into lower Manhattan or would switch to a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train to points along the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. The estimated two-hour travel time from northeastern Pennsylvania to New York City is comparable to the commute from New York's northern suburbs such as Poughkeepsie, Brewster, and New Haven, Connecticut. NJT will operate the service to Scranton, which is projected to cost about $26 million a year.

Stations and landmarks (Port Morris – Scranton)

Milepost*	Town	Station/Landmark	Notes
45.8	Roxbury Township	Port Morris Junction	Junction between Lackawanna Cut-Off and Montclair-Boonton Line to Hoboken Terminal and Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan (via Midtown Direct service) – nearest station at Lake Hopatcong (MP 45.5). NJT's Port Morris rail yard is also located here. (Morris Canal passed under the Cut-Off just west of yard tower until it was filled in by the mid-1920s).
51.6	Byram Township	Roseville Tunnel	No station, 1024 foot (315 m) double-track tunnel.
53	Andover	Andover	Proposed NJT station - new station on Cut-Off.
57.6	Green Township	Greendell	Future maintenance-of-way facility on Cut-Off. Station and tower closed in 1938.
60.7	Frelinghuysen Township	Johnsonburg	No station currently proposed. Old station closed 1940, partially rebuilt in early 1990s; demolished in 2007.
64.8	Blairstown Township	Blairstown	Proposed NJT station using existing station building. The only regularly scheduled stop for passenger trains on the Cut-Off.
71.6	Knowlton Township	Paulinskill Viaduct	No station. Also known as Hainesburg Viaduct.
73	Stateline (NJ/PA)(Delaware River)	Delaware River Viaduct	No station. I-80 passes under arches of viaduct on New Jersey side of the river.
74.3	Slateford	Slateford Junction	Junction between Lackawanna Cut-Off and Old Road - Interlocking tower (no station)
77.2	Delaware Water Gap	Delaware Water Gap	Proposed station. Old station (about 0.5 miles (800 m) east of proposed station) vacated in 1967.
81.6	East Stroudsburg	East Stroudsburg	Proposed station (south of old station site).
86.8	Analomink	Analomink	Proposed station (near old station site).
100.3	Mount Pocono	Pocono Mountain	Proposed station north of former station in Coolbaugh Township near PA 611.
107.6	Tobyhanna	Tobyhanna	Station closed January 1958. Proposed station using existing station building.
133.1	Scranton	Scranton	Proposed station (existing station building currently a Radisson Hotel).

(* Note - Milepost refers to the number of miles west of Hoboken, NJ.)

Cut-Off photo gallery

• 
  The original 75-foot (23 m) survey map of the proposed Delaware Valley Cut-Off (as it was called in a handwritten note from September 25, 1906) depicts the topography of the right-of-way
• Lake Hopatcong station, 1,322 feet (400 m) east of Port Morris Junction was expanded to four tracks in anticipation of the opening of the Cut-Off. The Morris Canal borders the westbound station platform[2][4]
  Lake Hopatcong station, 1,322 feet (400 m) east of Port Morris Junction was expanded to four tracks in anticipation of the opening of the Cut-Off. The Morris Canal borders the westbound station platform
• 
  A NJ Transit train at Port Morris, New Jersey, before the installation of a second track into the train yard, passes the area where the connecting switch to the Lackawanna Cut-Off would be rebuilt (Port Morris Junction).
• 
  Port Morris Junction and railyard with the Cut-Off (the straight line going towards the upper right [west]) and the NJT line to Hackettstown (line curving off to the left [south]) in this aerial photo from 1985
• 
  Port Morris ("UN") Tower had not seen a regularly scheduled train pass in over a decade when this photo was taken in 1990. The connection to NJ Transit's Montclair-Boonton Line to New York is a short distance beyond the tower.
• 
  The Route 605 bridge over the Cut-Off in Byram, NJ, shown here in 1989, was replaced by a much wider bridge that opened in 2008. The original bridge was retained and now carries a hiking trail
• 
  Lake Lackawanna in Byram Township, about two miles (3 km) east of Roseville Tunnel
• 
  Roseville Tunnel looking west about five years after the tracks were removed. The hill above the tunnel has been partially blasted away, part of the original, aborted plan to create Roseville Cut. Former DL&W workers reportedly referred to the blasted area above the tunnel as "rattlesnake territory"
• 
  Andover, a proposed station site (on right); photo looks west onto the Pequest Fill
• 
  The US Route 206 underpass that crosses under the Pequest Fill facing north towards Andover, NJ. Out of view to the left is the Sussex Branch, which parallels Route 206
• 
  The L&HR crossed under the Cut-Off near Tranquility, New Jersey. One mid-1980s proposal would have created a connecting line for freights from the Cut-Off to the L&HR here.
• 
  October 2010 View looking west on the Pequest Fill in Andover, New Jersey, where it crosses over US Route 206 and the Sussex Branch
• 
  A view facing south from atop the Pequest Fill similar to what passengers travelling on the Cut-Off might have seen
• 
  Construction of the Pequest Fill near Tranquility, New Jersey nears its completion during summer 1911
• 
  Greendell station (foreground) and interlocking tower (background) facing east in 1988. The tower closed in 1938. One track was removed (leaving two tracks at this location) when the Cut-Off was singled-tracked in 1958. The station was rebuilt by Gerald Turco, but has since fallen into disrepair. The tower still stands
• 
  Johnsonburg (station on right, creamery on left) was a flag stop for most of its existence. The station building acted as a construction command post for about a month following a massive landslide within Armstrong Cut (distant background) in 1941. The station closed about a year or two later, and was razed in 2007
• 
  The westbound Lackawanna Limited nears Paulina, NJ (between Johnsonburg and Blairstown), circa 1912
• 
  Blairstown. Commuter tickets were sold here until 1970, after which the building housed a radio station, WHCY-FM, until the 1990s. A freight station was also here, behind the station in this view facing west. The station building is currently privately-owned
• 
  Fill work west of Blairstown in March 1909. Note the tower in the distance (far left of photo). The twin 70-foot (21.5 m) tower in the foreground provides some idea of the scale of the fill to be constructed
• 
  The Paulins Kill Viaduct in Hainesburg, NJ at about the time of the opening of the Cut-Off. Note that the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYS&W) passes beneath the bridge, under the second arch from the right; Hainesburg Station on the NYS&W was located below and just east of the viaduct
• 
  The rural nature of the area through which the Cut-Off ran is evident in this 1912 photo (from a cracked glass plate negative) just west of the Paulinskill Viaduct. Note the short string of boxcars sitting on Hainesburg Siding. About 25% of the Cut-Off had rail sidings
• 
  The tunnel for the L&NE railway (right) never saw a train, save for the dinky trains that built the tunnel. The tunnel for NJ Route 94 is on the left. The L&NE tunnel currently provides access to Knowlton Township's Tunnel Field
• 
  The Delaware River Viaduct looking north towards the Delaware Water Gap. Deteriorated bridge decking will need to be replaced before service is restored
• 
  The Lackawanna's Old Road where it passes under the Delaware River Viaduct in Pennsylvania. The tracks have been shifted to the center of the underpass to give greater overhead clearance
• 
  Slateford Junction, looking north to the Delaware Water Gap. The Cut-Off (left) and the Old Road (right) converge about 1,500 feet (460 m) past the obscured Slateford Tower

See also

• North Jersey Rail Commuter Association
• Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority

Sources

• The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Nineteenth Century (1 volume) by Thomas Townsend Taber III, Lycoming Printing Company, 1977.
• Farewell to the Lackawanna Cut-Off (Parts I-IV), by Don Dorflinger, published in the Block Line, Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Inc., 1984-1985.
• Erie Lackawanna - Death of an American Railroad, 1938-1992, by H. Roger Grant, Stanford University Press, 1994.
• The Lackawanna Story - The First Hundred Years of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad , by Robert J. Casey & W.A.S. Douglas, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1951.
• Erie Lackawanna East, by Karl R. Zimmermann, Quadrant Press, Inc., 1975.
• The Route of Phoebe Snow - A Story of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, by Shelden S. King, Wilprint, Inc., 1986.
• The Lackawanna Cut-Off Right-of-Way Use and Extension Study (for the Counties of Morris, Sussex and Warren), Gannett Fleming and Kaiser Engineers, Corp., September 1989.
• Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company, Timetable No. 85, November 14, 1943
• Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Company, Timetable No. 4, October 28, 1962
• Map of Proposed Route of Lackawanna Railroad From Hopatcong to Slateford. L. Bush - Chief Engineer. September 1, 1906.

Further reading

• New Jersey Transit - Lackawanna Cut-Off
• The Great Lackawanna Cutoff - Then & Now
• DL&W Booklet (1911) - The Story of the New Jersey Cutoff
• Touring the Lackawanna Cutoff (Skylands Visitor magazine)
• Lehigh & New England Railroad map of Hainesburg (NJ) area

External links

• Penn-Jersey Rail Coalition
• Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Historical Society
• Lackawanna Coalition
• New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers