Netcong-Stanhope Cutoff

[1][2] 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 was at Waterloo, New Jersey.

Built with the intent of delivering anthracite coal from the west at Scranton, Pennsylvania, 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.

And, fourth, Sussex Branch trains could be run into nearby Port Morris Yard.

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.

NJ Transit's Netcong Station in 1990 looking westbound in the direction of Waterloo. The track in the foreground is the former eastbound mainline. The westbound mainline track and the Sussex Branch track (Netcong-Stanhope Cutoff) were located in the lower area to the right, which is now a commuter parking lot.