Lackawanna Cut-Off
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 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.
| Lackawanna Cut-Off | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Westbound Lackawanna Limited near Pequest Fill, c. 1912; the photo that later inspired a Phoebe Snow poster | |||
| Overview | |||
| Status | Restoration in progress (Port Morris Junction–Andover) Abandoned (Andover–Slateford Junction) | ||
| Owner | State of New Jersey, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority | ||
| Locale | New Jersey Pennsylvania | ||
| Termini |
| ||
| Service | |||
| Operator(s) | Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (1911–60) Erie Lackawanna Railway (1960–76) Conrail (1976–79) NJ Transit (2011–present) | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 1911–1979, 2011–present (NJ Transit currently uses short section from Port Morris Jct. for temporary storage) | ||
| Closed | 1979–2011 (tracks removed in 1984) | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 28.45 mi (45.8 km) | ||
| Number of tracks | 2 (1911–58) 1 (1958–84) 0 (1984–2011) 1 under construction (2011–) passing sidings: 7 (1911); 3 (1979); 0 (1984) | ||
| Character | Surface | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Operating speed | 80 mph (130 km/h) | ||
| |||
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 It was 11 miles (18 km) shorter than the Lackawanna Old Road, the rail line it superseded; it had a much gentler ruling gradient (0.55% vs. 1.1%); and it had 42 fewer curves, with all but one permitting passenger train speeds of 70 mph (110 km/h) or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, 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 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; the short section in Pennsylvania was eventually conveyed to the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority. A project to restore service on 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.
Lackawanna Cut-Off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||