Hiking the Laccawanna cutoff end to end?

Hiking?Montain Biking the Laccawanna Cutoff?
by gearhead » Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:20 pm

I plan on taking the Steamtown Train to Tobbyhanna and Hiking/Biking to Andover...What obstacles will I come across? What is the Surface like? If it is large crushed gravel it will be impossible to ride.

The line is active all the way down to Slateford Junction where the cutoff begins. The cutoff itself is heavy ballast and I walked about 2 miles of it a few years ago and it was not fun.

Mike

I bicycled the Dutchess County Trail east out of Poughkeepsie, NY before they started improving it, and the heavy ballast was very unpleasant to ride on. Felt like my axle was broken, the way I kept sliding back and forth.

Don't hike the viaduct there in Slateford across the Delaware River. People have a tendency to fall from it.

Do you mean the concrete Lackawanna Cutoff viaduct or the steel one? The steel one can be tricky.

Mike

mediccjh wrote:Don't hike the viaduct there in Slateford across the Delaware River. People have a tendency to fall from it.

mikeexplorer wrote:Do you mean the concrete Lackawanna Cutoff viaduct or the steel one? The steel one can be tricky.

Mike

mediccjh wrote:Don't hike the viaduct there in Slateford across the Delaware River. People have a tendency to fall from it.

There's only one viaduct -- the one serving the cutoff -- but if he's talking about the Old Road iron bridge just a few miles south, kids have a tendency to jump from it.

I count 10 illegal trespassers that should be arrested and charged. I get very tired of reading about people jumping off of Railroad Bridges and then when they get hurt, it's the Railroad's fault! Each one should have to pay a fine and do community service. A few years ago there was a piece in the paper where a woman was suing NS because they allowed her husband to jump off this very bridge and was killed. She wanted restitution and for the Railroad to remove the bridge. It's stuff like this that makes it bad for the responsible railfans.

NYS&W142Fan wrote:I count 10 illegal trespassers that should be arrested and charged. I get very tired of reading about people jumping off of Railroad Bridges and then when they get hurt, it's the Railroad's fault! Each one should have to pay a fine and do community service. A few years ago there was a piece in the paper where a woman was suing NS because they allowed her husband to jump off this very bridge and was killed. She wanted restitution and for the Railroad to remove the bridge. It's stuff like this that makes it bad for the responsible railfans.

Photo's too blurry to get names. I also question statue of limitations since it is a 2005 photo.

Also, the sue-happy idiots always win, why bother arresting them?

I've had them fall into the concrete; I have no clue how.

Either way, it can't/shouldn't be done. You'll have to use the Appalachian Trail, which uses the I-80 DWG bridge.

I have seen this bridge, rail still exists on one side and looks like part of it is used as a tail track since there are active rails on the PA side. The NJ side, the rails and railbed are gone. Bridge is in good shape including the ties.

Mike

mikeexplorer wrote:I have seen this bridge, rail still exists on one side and looks like part of it is used as a tail track since there are active rails on the PA side. The NJ side, the rails and railbed are gone. Bridge is in good shape including the ties.

Mike

Rails have been gone for a long time on the NJ side. Hell a washout near Oxford prevented any DL&W trains running down there.

About 3 years ago I hiked the entire length of the NJ Cutoff from Port Morris Yard to Slateford JCT. Took about two days to do but there is virtually no grade. Terrain is a bit rough as it an old RoW that hasn't been maintained in almost 25 years.

sullivan1985 wrote:About 3 years ago I hiked the entire length of the NJ Cutoff from Port Morris Yard to Slateford JCT. Took about two days to do but there is virtually no grade. Terrain is a bit rough as it an old RoW that hasn't been maintained in almost 25 years.

There had to be 25 people on the Delaware River Viaduct Saturday afternoon when my father and I went hiking Mt. Tammany. Was amazing how people got up there.

Now that construction has started, is hiking the cutoff considered trespassing? Was it trespassing to begin with?

TDowling wrote:Now that construction has started, is hiking the cutoff considered trespassing? Was it trespassing to begin with?

Yes it is, and I would not advise doing that at this point!!

Sorry, but I'm locking this up!