The Netcong-Stanhope Cutoff was a three-mile-long line built by the

Lackawanna Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of . The railroad wa ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 1900. Built as part of the Sussex Branch, this was one of the first projects undertaken by the Lackawanna after William Truesdale became president in 1899. Up until the building of the cutoff, the connection between the Sussex Branch and the

Morris & Essex Railroad The Morris and Essex Railroad was a railroad across northern New Jersey, later part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. History The M&E was incorporated January 29, 1835, to build a line from Newark in Essex Co ...

was at Waterloo, New Jersey. Built with the intent of delivering

anthracite coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highe ...

from the west at

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

, to towns along the Sussex Branch, the connection at Waterloo was not aligned to permit trains from the Sussex Branch to travel eastward towards New York. Although the Lackawanna could have left the line to Waterloo in place and simply built an eastbound connecting switch at Waterloo, there were compelling reasons to moving the connection eastward to Netcong. First, Waterloo was widely perceived as being a bucolic backwater—a "canal town" (on the

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a toll road, common carrier Anthracite, anthracite coal canal across North Jersey, northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals in Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its weste ...

)—whereas Netcong, only two miles away, was a growing and prospering town. Second, building a bypass line to Netcong avoided the steepest part of the mainline west of Netcong. Third, trains would not have to cross the mainline at Waterloo; rather they could wait on their own track at what would be the new

Netcong Station Netcong may refer to the following in the U.S. state of New Jersey: *Netcong, New Jersey Netcong is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in southwestern Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United ...

. And, fourth, Sussex Branch trains could be run into nearby Port Morris Yard. With the building of the Netcong-Stanhope Cutoff, the line to Waterloo was immediately abandoned and torn out. Vestiges of the old line to Waterloo and the new line to Netcong (which itself was abandoned 77 years later) still exist. A new bridge over US Route 206 was built in the late 1980s, which preserved the integrity of the cutoff's right-of-way at that location.

References

{{Reflist Railroad cutoffs Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Erie Lackawanna Railway Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad lines