Boonton Branch

Although not yet as significant as it would become in the 20th Century, the Morristown Line also passed through numerous small towns that were served by passenger trains, which could interfere with freight movements.

From a competitive point of view, the canal carried significant coal traffic at the time the Boonton Branch was built.

From a topographical point of view, the Boonton Branch's alignment allowed for fast freight service over a line that was relatively uncongested by commuter and passenger traffic.

When the section of the branch through the Hackensack Meadowlands was destroyed in 1917 by the Kingsland explosion (caused by German sabotage of an ammunition plant in Lyndhurst),[1] it was quickly rebuilt.

The Lackawanna's freight business grew consistently from the time of the opening of the Boonton Branch until the First World War.

The highway department agreed it was feasible, but quoted a cost of $2 million to rebuild a single track—an offer that was of no interest to the EL as this would not result in any cash.

Faced with the inevitability of the highway, the EL decided to accept the offered $2 million, rather than risk getting less from an eminent domain seizure.

[2] Indeed, in a decade's time after the severing of the line at Garret Mountain, all long-haul freights would be brought back to the "Lackawanna side".

The aforementioned Greenwood Lake Branch had a grade profile similar to that of the Morristown Line—a line which the Morris & Essex Railroad's management had decided to bypass a century earlier.