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Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Mainline

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western was an anthracite railroad that ran between Buffalo, New York, on the shores of Lake Erie in the west to Hoboken, New Jersey, on the shore of the Hudson River in the east. The railroad had a large presence in northern New Jersey. It had two mainlines that arched separately from the Bergen Tunnels across the highlands and rejoined at Denville Junction. Long-distance passenger trains almost always went by way of the electrified Morris & Essex line through Summit and Morristown. For this reason, Morris & Essex was often referred to as being the mainline. The other line went through Paterson and Boonton and took the name of the Boonton Branch. Its main function was to have freight traffic be unimpeded by the excessive grades and commuter traffic present on the M&E.



Despite it being referred to as a branch, it was a branch only in name, however, as it took more trains per day and all through freight. In practice, the Boonton branch boasted higher speed, few curves, and lower grades than the M&E. Up until the Great Depression the railroad was in the process of turning the Boonton Branch into a four-track line. It was never completed but it did have four tracks between Delawanna, on the west side of the Passaic River to Paterson Junction, East of Paterson. Another section was also quadruple tracked farther west from Lincoln Park to East Dover Junction.



Today, the Boonton Branch lives on in two different sections of active rail service. Following the merger between the Lackawanna and Erie Railroads, the middle section of the Boonton Branch was sold to the Highway Department. The right-of-way between Paterson Junction and Mountain View was demolished and Interstate 80 was built in its place. On either side of that, commuter service lives on. To the east, New Jersey Transit operates the Main Line over Lackawanna track before changing over to Erie track at Paterson Junction. In the west, New Jersey Transit operates the Montclair-Boonton Line from Mountain View on the now single tracked line towards Dover and Hackettstown.



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This route aims to recreate the Lackawanna Railroads prideful mainline to Pennsylvania by way of the Boonton Branch as it was in the mid-1930s. As it stands today in its first phase, the route runs from Lackawanna Terminal in Hoboken to Paterson, 15 miles down the line. Also Included is the 4 miles of the Morris & Essex line to the transfer yard in Harrison as well as the 5.5 mile long Harrison Cut-Off, which connects the transfer yard to the classification yard in Secaucus.









Major features this route are:



-34 Miles of Mainline Track to Denville

-8 miles of the M&E to Newark Broad Street

-5.5 Miles of Harrison Cut-Off

-Hoboken Passenger Terminal & Yards

-Jersey City Dock Yards

-Secaucus Classification Yards

-Paterson Branch to Downtown Slater Street Yard

-Passaic Waterworks Spur





-Super-elevated track

-Accurate track grades

-Historically accurate scenery complete along the vast majority of the route

-Historically accurate sidings and industrial areas

-Historically accurate yards large and small



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The next phase is phase IV Dover

Let me know if you notice an issues that should be addressed







For those who are curious, the following phases have been planned out all the way out to Port Morris. Phases might come out in several updates or one. This is not a promise of what will be completed, it's what I like to complete. As with anything in in the time of Covid, its best to take things one step at a time. Farther west from Port Morris over the Cutoff is also desired. If you have an interest in driving over the Cutoff now, you can try my first route, Lackawanna Cutoff, which extended the Morristown line created by DTG to around Blairstown.











Phase I Hoboken-Paterson - Complete except Jersey City area, which is being gradually being reworked

Phase II Paterson-Boonton - Complete

Phase III Boonton-Denville - Complete

Phase IV Denville-Dover -Construction underway

Phase V Rockaway Loop -Research underway

Phase VI Dover-Port Morris -Research underway



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This route is being built with the purpose of recreating the Lackawanna Mainline as it was in the pre-war years. A lot has changed in those 80+ years and so a considerable amount of research is needed to create the route as accurately as possible. To do this, I use a combination of Historic Maps, Charts, and Photographs. These resources are collected from books, the National Archives, and the internet if I am ever so lucky. I also try to walk the line wherever it still exists (or does not exist in the case of Paterson to Mountain View).





If you own, have knowledge of, or access to historic photos, maps, or charts that you believe could be help to this project, I would love to see them! Feel free to DM me through Steam. Thanks in advance and I hope you enjoy the route!



Here are the pieces of information I am currently seeking out:



Track Chart/map of the Pennsylvania Railroads Meadows Yard



Track Grade Charts of the long abandoned Rockaway Branch





-C Johnson