The Sussex County Freeholder Board in New Jersey pursued such a purchase. Several attempts were made to purchase the line from Conrail, which was concerned that a competitor might try to restore freight service on the route. In the beginning, finding an operator for the line was less pressing than preserving the track and right-of-way itself. The 133-mile (214В km) inspection trip marked the end of one era, and the beginning of another: a 30-plus-year effort to save and then reactivate the Cut-Off. The idea of HobokenвЂ“Scranton service faded as Amtrak faced funding shortfalls and the need for significant track and station repairs in order to run passenger service on the line. It was the last passenger train in the twentieth century-and the only Amtrak train-to operate over the entire route. The train ran to Scranton, where it was met by a group of political dignitaries. With the main line severed at Port Morris Junction, the special train detoured through Port Morris Yard, ran over Port Morris Wye, and then rolled onto the Cut-Off. Dubbed the 'Pocono Mountain Special', the train left Hoboken and ran west on the Morristown Line on November 13, 1979, reaching Port Morris shortly after 9В a.m.

In November 1979, Amtrak operated an inspection train between Hoboken and Scranton to investigate intercity rail service between the two cities. (Conrail officials later said they might not have abandoned the Scranton Route, including the Cut-Off, if the EL had not severed a section of the Boonton Branch near Paterson, New Jersey, in the early 1960s for the construction of Interstate 80.) Early preservation efforts (1979вЂ“86) Д®fforts to preserve the Cut-Off began almost immediately upon the route's closing. But the conveyance of EL into Conrail on April 1, 1976, gave Conrail excess eastвЂ“west trackage, and service on the Cut-Off ended in January 1979.

In the early 1970s, freight traffic was revived on the line after the closure of a key junction with the Penn Central in Maybrook, New York. The railroad's flagship passenger train, the Phoebe Snow, traveled via the Cut-Off until it was discontinued in November 1966, and the last regularly scheduled passenger train (the Lake Cities) ran over the line in early January 1970. The EL initially shifted most freight traffic away from the Cut-Off, though it continued to run passenger trains over the line. Although the DL&W was profitable during its corporate life, competition from trucks and other economic pressures after World War II forced it to merge with competitor Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad (EL) in 1960. The line was considered an engineering marvel-a 'super-railroad', in the vernacular of the day-with deep cuts, tall fills, and two large viaducts that allowed a mostly straight route through the mountains of the state's northwest region. Built between 19 by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W) to speed service between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York, the 28.45-mile (45.79В km) Lackawanna Cut-Off was the last main line built in New Jersey.

Nj transit train status