Boonton Branch

Dover

East Dover Jct., connection with Rockaway Loop (abandoned)

Denville - junction created in 1903

Current NJT Morristown Line/Morris and Essex Railroad

Mountain Lakes

Boonton

Montville (closed) - Rockaway River and Montville Railroad

Towaco

Lincoln Park

Current NJT Montclair-Boonton Line/Former Greenwood Lake Branch

Mountain View

Totowa - Little Falls (closed)

Paterson (closed)

Current Main Line

Lyndhurst Draw over Passaic River

Lyndhurst

Kingsland

Kingsland Tunnel

Kingsland Branch

Upper Hack Lift over Hackensack River

Morris and Essex Railroad

Hoboken

The Boonton Branch refers to the railroad line in New Jersey that was completed in 1870 and ran 34 miles (54.8 km) from Hoboken to East Dover Junction as part of the Morris & Essex Railroad (M&E). Although the branch hosted commuter trains (and to a lesser extent, passenger trains), the line was primarily built as a freight bypass line. The term "branch", therefore, is somewhat of a misnomer since the Boonton Branch was built to higher mainline standards than the Morristown Line, the line that it bypassed. As a result, the Boonton Branch better meets the definition of a "cut-off" rather than a branch. Some of the towns that the Boonton Branch passed through included Lyndhurst, Passaic, Clifton, Paterson, Wayne, Lincoln Park, Mountain Lakes, and its namesake, Boonton.

By the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the management of the Morris & Essex Railroad had recognized that the Morristown Line was inadequate as a freight line. The line was circuitous and had to climb the steep 1.5% westbound grade to Summit, New Jersey. Although not yet the issue it would become in the 20th Century, the Morristown Line also passed through numerous small towns that were served by passenger trains. (The term "commuter" was just coming into vogue at that time.) Rather than attempting to rebuild an existing line, the Lackawanna Railroad, which controlled the M&E, decided to build a completely new line. The new line would leave the Morristown Line just west of the Bergen Tunnel at West End and then would rejoin the Morristown line at East Dover Jct., a total of 34 miles. (In 1903, Denville Jct. would be created at its present location and East Dover Jct. would be downgraded.)

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Wikipedia