Slateford Junction was a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge), provided by ''points'' ( ...

in the small town of

Slateford, Pennsylvania Slateford is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which has a population of 861,899 and is the 68th most populou ...

. It was built to connect the existing mainline of 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 . Incorporated in ...

, the so-called

Old Road Old Road is a town located on a roadstead in southern Antigua island in Antigua and Barbuda. It is overlooked by Boggy Peak, which lies to its northwest. Old Road F.C. is based in the town. Demographics Enumeration Districts * 80800 ...

with the new Lackawanna Cut-Off. It was in service from 1911 until 1979. The junction sat west of

Port Morris Junction Port Morris Junction is the railroad connection between NJ Transit's Montclair-Boonton Line and the Lackawanna Cut-Off. Opened in 1911 by the Lackawanna Railroad, it is in the Port Morris, New Jersey section of Roxbury Township, New Jersey, south ...

, where the Cut-Off connects with what is today

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

Morristown Line The Morristown Line is an NJ Transit commuter rail line connecting Morris and Essex counties to New York City, via either New York Penn Station or Hoboken Terminal. Out of 60 inbound and 58 outbound daily weekday trains, 28 inbound and 26 outbound ...

. When operations began on December 24, 1911, the junction merged four tracks (two main tracks and two sidings) from the Cut-Off with two from the Old Road. An

interlocking tower On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetabl ...

at the junction opened four days before the Cut-Off itself. The junction also included a 60-foot

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, but this saw limited use; it was dismantled in the 1930s and its pit filled in shortly thereafter. The tower closed on January 11, 1951; the switches at the junction became hand-throw with electric locks. Today, the

Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) is a bi-county creation of both Lackawanna and Monroe counties to oversee the use of common rail freight lines in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The designated freight operator of the Pe ...

(PNRRA) owns the remaining tracks at Slateford Junction as well as the right-of-way of the Cut-Off on the Pennsylvania side 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 ...

. 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, a ...

currently operates freight trains at Slateford Junction and over the rest of the PNRRA's tracks. As of 2022, there are plans to restore service along the Cut-Off via

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

and

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 ...

References

Rail junctions in the United States Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Transportation in Northampton County, Pennsylvania Lackawanna Cut-Off {{Pennsylvania-transport-stub