Boonton Branch

Boonton Branch
Dover East Dover Jct. fmr M&E main line/Rockaway Loop (freight only) Denville - junction created in 1903 NJT Morristown Line - fmr M&E main line/Rockaway Loop Fox Hill (closed) Mountain Lakes Boonton Montville (closed) Rockaway River and Montville Railroad Towaco Lincoln Park NJT Montclair-Boonton Line/Fmr Greenwood Lake Mountain View (closed) Water Spur (abandoned) Totowa–Little Falls (closed) West Paterson (closed) Paterson High Bridge over Passaic River Paterson (closed) NJT Main Line / Fmr Newark Branch Erie Newark Branch Clifton Passaic Delawanna Lyndhurst Draw over Passaic River Lyndhurst Kingsland Harrison Cut-off Kingsland Tunnel Upper Hack Lift over Hackensack River Secaucus Yard Erie Newark Branch/NY&GL Morris and Essex Railroad Erie Railroad Bergen Tunnels Hoboken Yard Hoboken
This diagram: view talk edit

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.