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, 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.
Denville Jct. looking westbound in Dec 2010. Until 1903, the Morristown Line crossed over the Boonton Branch here (through what is now a NJ Transit parking lot off to the left), continuing on to Rockaway (on what would become known as the Rockaway Loop to the right) and then onto East Dover Jct. (about 2 miles west of here), where the Morristown Line joined into the Boonton Branch on its way to Dover.
Morris and Essex Railroad
The Morris and Essex Railroad was a railroad across northern New Jersey, later part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
Short Hills Station, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad ca. 1895
