It was the end of a legendary railroad on this July 31, 1984, when Conrail was lifting the 26-mile Lackawanna Cut-off across the western third of Northern New Jersey. To keep the line out of the hands of competing railroads, Conrail rushed a sale of the property to a developer while it sent the rail to its Lucknow plant near Harrisburg to be welded into quarter-mile lengths for elsewhere in its improving system. As a young railfan photographer and new Tri-State Chapter NRHS member, I followed the railtrains, while the train crews were themselves taking pictures, parking the engines each night next to a landmark on the line. A small party went out with small strobes to document passing history after the sun set. Here, we see the second of the three rail trains parked in front of the tower at Greendell. The last previous train through here was an Amtrak special in 1979 to evaluate service on the route, so the sumac and other vegetation were crowding the train crews. Long-time Tri-Staters Bob Bahrs, Bob Rose, the late Mike Miterko and I were all throwing flashes into the rural blackness. Nearly 30 years later, NJTransit has begun to lay the first seven miles of track over this route for commuter service, but that first segement won't get this far.
