Blairstown Railway
Encyclopedia
History
The Blairstown Railway opened in 1877 and ran between Blairstown, NJ and Delaware, NJ, a distance of approximately 12 miles (19 km). The single-track railroad was built under the direction of railroad magnate John I. Blair, one of the wealthiest persons in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at that time, who had previously built the Warren Railroad, and for whom Blairstown is named.
The Blairstown Railway (BRW) started at what is now Footbridge Park in Blairstown, NJ and ended at the Lackawanna Railroad's station, which was located between Clinton and Clarence Streets in Delaware, NJ. The BRW itself never grew beyond its initial size. Legend has it that Blair built the BRW so that his wife to be able to travel from their home in Blairstown to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and back in one day for shopping. Although such a tale is plausible, and serves to give Blair a more human side than he is often given credit for, it would have been completely out of character for the notoriously frugal Blair to have built what would have amounted to an extavagent toy for the occasional use of his eighty year-old wife.
Rather, it is far more likely that the keanly shrewd Blair was already accutely aware that there were railroads−specifically, the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad and the Lehigh and New England Railroad
Lehigh and New England Railroad
The Lehigh and New England Railroad was a connection from northeastern Pennsylvania towards the Poughkeepsie Bridge across the Hudson River. Originally planned as a continuous line east to Boston, plans were later cut back to a section west of the river....
−who were surveying routes through the Blairstown area into Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and who might want to use his BRW as part of their route if he built it before they could. Indeed, given the topography of the Blairstown area, and Blair's penchant for being at least one step ahead of the competition (and ideally holding the trump card
Trump Card
Trump Card was an American syndicated game show that aired from September 10, 1990 to September 6, 1991 and was hosted by Jimmy Cefalo. Debi Massey served as hostess and Chuck Reilly was the announcer. The show was produced by Telepictures Productions, Createl, Ltd., & Fiedler-Berlin Productions...
too), Blair's strategy was probably to build the BRW−and wait.
Blair would only have to wait four years (1881) before the New Jersey Midland Railroad extended its tracks from Sparta, NJ to connect to the BRW, and through trains began plying the rails of the BRW. Later, the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad (NYS&W), a corporate successor of the NJ Midland RR, and the Lehigh & New England Railroad (L&NE), a competitor that also needed Blair's route (via trackage rights
Trackage rights
Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....
), would turn Blair's bucolic branchline into a somewhat bustling mainline, albeit for two relatively small players in the railroad arena.
Clearly, if it had Blair's intent that the entire BRW would be used by another railroad to connect to the Lackawanna Railroad at Delaware, NJ, he was sadly mistaken. For the L&NE would use only about six miles of the BRW (to Hainesburg Junction) and the NYS&W about nine miles (to about where Interstate 80
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following Interstate 90. It is a transcontinental artery running from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey in the New York City Metropolitan Area...
runs today), with the remainder of the route to Delaware, NJ being run as a vestigal branchline. But, perhaps this was Blair's plan all along. Blair would die in 1899 at the age of 99. A dozen years after Blair's death, in 1911, Blairstown would receive a second train station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
, located about a mile or so up the hill from Blair's station. This one, however, would be located on the Lackawanna Cut-Off.
As such, the Hainesburg-Delaware section south of Hainesburg Junction−the so-called Delaware Branch−would be abandoned in 1928. The L&NE went out of business in 1961, resulting in the tracks west of Hainesburg Junction being removed. In 1963, the NYS&W removed the tracks from Sparta Junction to Blairstown, NJ. And, in the late 1980s, the abandoned rail right-of-way
Right-of-way
Right-of-way or right of way may refer to:*Right of way , legally granted access*Right-of-way , a strip of land granted for a transportation facility...
between Sparta, NJ and Knowlton Township, NJ would become the Paulinskill Valley Trail.
What Remains of the Blairstown Railway Today?
The train stationTrain station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
in Blairstown was located in what is now Footbridge Park. The parking lot
Parking lot
A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
for the park was originally a small railyard, complete with passing sidings, and a coaling dock that is still extant (a skate park is currently located under the old coaling dock). The footbridge
Footbridge
A footbridge or pedestrian bridge is a bridge designed for pedestrians and in some cases cyclists, animal traffic and horse riders, rather than vehicular traffic. Footbridges complement the landscape and can be used decoratively to visually link two distinct areas or to signal a transaction...
across the Paulinskill River, which opened at about the time of Blair's death, provided direct access between the town of Blairstown and the train station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
, and later to Footbridge Park.
Most of the route of the Blairstown Railway, from Blairstown southwest to Delaware, NJ, can still be traced today, although parts of the route have ceased to exist. Indeed, the right-of-way
Right-of-way
Right-of-way or right of way may refer to:*Right of way , legally granted access*Right-of-way , a strip of land granted for a transportation facility...
from Footbridge Park to Blairstown Airport
Blairstown Airport
Blairstown Airport is a public-use airport located two nautical miles southwest of the central business district of Blairstown, Warren County, New Jersey, United States. It is privately owned by J.D. Air Inc. Blairstown is located in the Lehigh Valley, from the Delaware Water Gap and from New...
is still fully intact as the Paulinskill Valley Trail. However, the right-of-way
Right-of-way
Right-of-way or right of way may refer to:*Right of way , legally granted access*Right-of-way , a strip of land granted for a transportation facility...
has been severed by the airport, with signage pointing the direction to where the trail continues south of the airport. The trail runs another three miles from there, passing under the Paulins Kill Viaduct, continuing until it passes under Interstate 80
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following Interstate 90. It is a transcontinental artery running from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey in the New York City Metropolitan Area...
, in an unusual pipe tunnel, and then ends near the defunct power dam on the Paulinskill River near Columbia, NJ.
From there, the old right-of-way can no longer be followed, as it continues only briefly, and then dead ends on private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
. After that, the right-of-way has been mostly obliterated by US Route 46, traveling along the eastern shore of the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
until the town of Delaware, NJ is reached. In Delaware, the only remaining vestige of the BRW is a short, deep cut high into the steep rock wall on the southern outskirts of town along US Route 46. The rather odd position of the cut is explained by Blair's apparent desire to have his railroad end at, rather than across the tracks from, Delaware Station. The Lackawanna Railroad's railroad station in Delaware, NJ was torn down in 1968 and the tracks of the old Warren Railroad were removed from the location in 1970.