The ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

Belvidere-Delaware Railroad (Bel-Del, 1851–1871) was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

running along the eastern shore of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

from

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Phillipsburg, New Jersey Phillipsburg is a town located along the Delaware River in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located across the river directly east from Easton, Pennsylvania. Phillipsburg is the most populous municipality in Warren County w ...

to the small village of Manunka Chunk, New Jersey. It became an important feeder line for the

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, w ...

's join to the

Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...

, Sayre, Robert H., 1889, Chief engineer, Lehigh, Schuylkill, & Susquehanna Railroad Company, later renamed Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1853 re-printed from the collections at the University of California Libraries. Personal papers of this seminal individual starts with Engineering Survey of 1846, then various annual reports in early years of railways operations: Aug 1852, '1st' 31 Dec 1855, 30 Nov 1856; & Annual reports of 30 November: 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, 29 Nov 1862 (Lengthy multi-part 7th annual rpt.), reports of 4 July 1859, and lastly, 30 Nov 1863. which was constructed into

Phillipsburg, NJ Phillipsburg is a town located along the Delaware River in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located across the river directly east from Easton, Pennsylvania. Phillipsburg is the most populous municipality in Warren County w ...

at about the same time. This connected

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Trenton, NJ Trenton is the capital city, capital city (New Jersey), city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.

at one end of the shortline railroad to the rapidly growing lower

Wyoming Valley The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan are ...

region, and via the

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a common carrier anthracite coal canal across northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals at Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its western terminus at Phillipsburg, New Jers ...

or the CNJ, a slow or fast connection to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

crossing New York Harbor from

Jersey City, NJ Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and i ...

allowing the CNJ to penetrate to the upper

, over some stretches, competing directly with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and with the

Lehigh Canal The Lehigh Canal, or the Lehigh Navigation Canal, is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of twenty years, beginning in 1818. The low ...

and the trunk road connection of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad to New York became less profitable since Philadelphia connected more easily to Northeastern Pennsylvania thereafter without needing a double-crossing of the Delaware River; a general revenue decline ensued, leading to the Pennsylvania Railroad acquiring the rights, where it served as part of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

(PRR) system, carrying mainly anthracite coal and

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

from northeastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

to population centers along the coast.

History

Early history

The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad was chartered on March 2, 1836 and was constructed between 1850 and 1855 from Trenton along the

north to

Belvidere, New Jersey Belvidere is a town in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the town's population was 2,681,Lambertville section opened on February 6, 1851, eventually reaching Belvidere on November 5, 1855. On June 7, 1854, the Bel-Del agreed to operate the Flemington Railroad and Transportation Company, where a connection was made with the

(CNJ) at

Flemington, New Jersey Flemington is a borough in and the county seat of Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

trains began using the Bel-Del in January 1856, joining the Bel-Del by the LV's bridge over the

where it connected in

Phillipsburg, New Jersey Phillipsburg is a town located along the Delaware River in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located across the river directly east from Easton, Pennsylvania. Phillipsburg is the most populous municipality in Warren County w ...

. An extension was then completed in 1864 that gave the Bel-Del access to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) at Manunka Chunk, and permitted trains to operate via trackage rights to

East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Poconos region of the state. Originally known as "Dansbury", East Stroudsburg was renamed for geographic reasons when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and ...

through the

Delaware Water Gap Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The gap makes up the southern portion of the Delaware Water Gap ...

. The

(PRR) began operating the Bel Del as the Belvidere Division of the United Railroads of New Jersey Grand Division in 1871 and purchased the line soon afterwards. The Flemington Railroad & Transportation Company then merged into the Bel-Del on February 16, 1885. For much of the late 19th century and early 20th century the railroad line proved vitally useful. In 1882 the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway made a deal with PRR to operate on the Bel-Del between Phillipsburg and Belvidere where L&HR's track to Maybrook, New York connects. By the 1950s steam locomotives had been replaced with diesel operated self-propelled doodlebugs as a cost-saving measure resulting from dwindling patronage. In August 1955, flood waters from the

caused by

Hurricane Diane Hurricane Diane was the first Atlantic hurricane to cause more than an estimated $1 billion in damage (in 1955 dollars, which would be $ today), including direct costs and the loss of business and personal revenue. It formed on August 7 ...

washed out portions of the line north of Belvidere near where the right-of-way crosses modern-day US Route 46, although the line still remains active south of this point to serve the

Hoffmann-LaRoche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...

pharmaceutical plant. North of where the plant is now to the junction at Manunka Chunk, the line was subsequently removed in late 1955. On December 31, 1957, the Bel-Del was merged into the

United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...

, with passenger services ending on October 26, 1960. Heritage operator Black River & Western Railroad (BR&W) began leasing the Flemington Branch from PRR on weekends to operate steam excursions. As part of the leasing agreement, BR&W was required to pay PRR for all track expenses, totalling $5,000. Trains began operating between Flemington and Lambertville by May 16, 1965.

Decline

The PRR merged with rival

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

in 1968 to form the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

(PC), which fell apart faster than it came together. PC remnants were absorbed by

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

in April 1976, which treated the Bel-Del as a dispensable secondary line. The chief function of the Bel-Del — bringing coal and iron ore between the LV connection at Phillipsburg with the PRR system — had long since ceased. The main priority freight trains were rerouted to other lines. With little industry remaining between Trenton and Lambertville, Conrail had little use for the line. Though the south end of line passed within a few hundred yards from the central business district and state capitol complex in Trenton, no official interest in taking advantage of the line's passenger potential was raised. To preserve track from possible future abandonment, the BR&W purchased approximately three miles of track in the Lambertville area to continue to serve several freight customers located in town. (The BR&W had already purchased the 11-mile line between Flemington and Lambertville from PC in March 1970 for $153,000.) The Trenton-Lambertville segment was abandoned in March 1977. While the Trenton-Lambertville segment was not included in their system, Conrail retained the rest of the line from Lambertville to Belvidere, renaming it their Delaware Secondary. Conrail ceased interchanging at Lambertville with BR&W in January 1977 when a new connection opened at Three Bridges, and with freight business drying up in Frenchtown, they eventually abandoned the line south of Milford to Lambertville by January 1979 after running a signal removal train on the Milford-Lambertville segment in November 1978. Track removal began in the summer of 1979 and ended in the spring of 1982. In those three years Conrail dismantled approximately 31 miles of the line. The former railroad bed was converted for use as part of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Trail.

Current

Conrail later sold the Phillipsburg-Milford section to the newly formed Belvidere & Delaware River Railway (BDRV) in 1995. In 1998, BR&W ceased regular operations into Lambertville when track was demoted to excepted prohibiting the continuation of passenger trains on that segment of the line. Freight service was non-existent by the late 1990s. Service trains operated over the Ringoes-Lambertville portion on a seldom basis until 2002. BDRV served a paper plant south of Milford, New Jersey, until 2003 when the paper plant closed. The line south of Carpentersville was soon after closed to Riegelsville in 2005 when another paper plant decided to not continue using rail service. Flooding also partially damaged the line in the Riegelsville area at the time. The New York Susquehanna & Western Historical & Technical Society (NYS&WH&TS) started running passenger trains in 2004 between Phillipsburg and Carpentersville and has since become a successful operation. In recent years both the NYSWHTS and the Black River Railroad Historical Trust (the entity that now runs passenger trains on BR&W) have been gradually restoring the dormant Milford and Lambertville lines.

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...

(NS) retains ownership of the Phillipsburg-Belvidere main line after the

split of 1999 with

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

. They continue to use the line serving several customers in Martins Creek accessed by the former

Lehigh & New England Railroad The Lehigh & New England Railroad was a Class I railroad located in Northeastern United States that acted as a bridge line. It was the second notable U.S. railroad to file for abandonment in its entirety, the first being the New York, Ontari ...

Martins Creek Branch, Roxburg via a spur over the river and Belvidere. NS also interchanges with the

Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially the Scranton area. DL began service in August 1993 and is the designated operator for of trackage in Lackawanna, Wayne, Northampton, ...

in Portland, PA, via the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Bangor-Portland Division.

Former stations

Pennsylvania

* East Stroudsburg (via trackage rights over DL&W)

New Jersey

* Manunka Chunk * Belvidere * Foul Rift * Roxburg * Hutchinson * Brainards * Harmony * Phillipsburg * Lehigh Junction * Carpentersville * Riegelsville * Holland * Milford * Frenchtown * Kingwood * Tumble Falls * Byram * Raven Rock * Stockton * Lambertville * Moore * Titusville * Washington's Crossing * Somerset * Scudder Falls * Wilburtha * Dix Haven * Cadwalader Park * Trenton (on PRR New York Division, today's

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

) Flemington Branch (current BR&W) * Lambertville (on Bel-Del mainline) * Alexauken * Mount Airy *

Bowne Bowne is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alan Bowne (1945–1989), American playwright and author * Andrew Bowne (c. 1638–c. 1708), American colonial politician *Borden Parker Bowne (1847–1910), theologian associated with ...

* Boss Road * Ringoes * Copper Hill * Muirheid * Flemington

References

External links

''The Belvidere Delaware Railroad (Bel-Del)''
*PRR CT 1000 Stations & Sidings 5-1-1945.pdf, located in http://www.multimodalways.org/archives/rrs/PRR/PRR.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Belvidere Delaware Railroad Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Defunct New Jersey railroads Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Railway companies established in 1836 Railway companies disestablished in 1957 1836 establishments in New Jersey 1957 disestablishments in New Jersey American companies disestablished in 1957 American companies established in 1836 Closed railway lines in the United States