Hike #972; Warren County Rail Loop

Hike #972; Warren County Old Railroad Loop

9/29/16 Pequest and Belvidere area Loop with Jason W. Briggs, Annika Krystyna, and Sue Bennett.

It’s always classic and never boring to do the Warren County old Rail loop I have posted several times, utilizing the former Lackawanna old main line, the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad, and the Belvidere Delaware Railroad. With only short road walk a great loop is possible.

Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad bridge over the Pequest beneath the Lackawanna bridge over the same

It had been a little while since I’d last posted it; I wanted to do a scouting trip for the Warren Highlands Trail, but some of the key players involved in the trail could not make it, and so I posed it to the group to instead do the rail loop. No one along had done this loop entirely before, so it seemed like a great idea.

Historic view of Pequest Furnace

We met at he site of the Pequest Furnace to start the loop. This time, I ran it slightly out of order because I was concerned with private landowner issues in Buttsville. It turned out not to be a problem; I thought they would have something over the right of way that would make it more difficult to do in the dark.

Historic view of Pequest Furnace

We started by following the LHR right of way through Pequest Wildlife Management Area, across the through girder bridge over the Pequest at the start. This was the former site of the Pequest Furnace. In the 1880s, the iron rich highlands was site of a multitude of ironworks, many of which are nearly erased today. We continued from here on the LHR line and then across the second through girder bridge at Buttsville. We were able to continue on the rail bed from there to the next road crossing, then followed short road walk up to Green Pond Road, and up to the old Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western main line, which I use every year on my anniversary hike (the first Metrotrails hike in 1997).

Bridgeville

We followed roads on and parallel to the right of way for a little bit, then the side path/ATV trail to the right to circumvent some of the sand quarry out to Bridgeville.
It had been a little while since I’d visited Bridgeville Station. It had burned very recently, which is particularly sad for me. The station was the only original Warren Railroad/Lackawanna Railroad old main line station remaining on the NJ side. It wasn’t damaged as badly as the section closer to Rt 519, but it was certainly bad enough. The only positive thing about this site was that there was a sign saying “Please Stay on the Trail”. It was cool to actually see the old Lackawanna acknowledged as a “trail”.

Old Bridgeville Station

The roof of the station is the giveaway of it’s former use. The entire building has a roof at a certain level, and walls at a certain level. It’s rather obvious that the old station building had the awning section at the former platform filled in to make more space inside. As we walked by it, we could see inside the opened doors to the old stone facade of the station. The roof also has a little cupola thing in it which looks railroad station line, which the other side does not have. Up until a few years ago, the station still had a slate roof, while the rest of it was metal and such.

Looking into the old station

In more recent years, they replaced the old slate roof with a metal one.
I really hope that after they do whatever with their insurance and such that they can somehow preserve the old station rather than demolish. It’s really an awesome little thing that could add to the ambiance of the area quite a lot.
We passed the station and continued to the north across Hope Crossing Road and on to Sarepta. We crossed Sarepta Road and the former spur site to the Ledge Road quarry, then continued across Upper Sarepta Road into Beaver Brook Wildlife Management Area.

Old Bridgeville Station

At this point, we turned right to follow the path along old fields that parallel the right of way, which is both overgrown and really wet below. We continued to the plank crossing at Catherine’s Run, and then had to decide who wanted to go through Manunka Chunk Tunnel and who wanted to go through. Jason was keen to go through, but Sue and Annika didn’t want to get their feet wet this time. I gave directions over the top, which they managed with no problem at all, and we headed down to go through.
Walking the right of way to the tunnel was slightly less wet than it can typically be, but there’s just no avoiding it all. We got through a good amount clear, and then just before the bad cave in it got very muddy. I gave Jason a pair of my socks to go through with, which he tucked in as not to have a shoe full of crazy mud.
Jason noted that part of the tunnel wall had come down, and in it was a square area, probably for water to spill out through. I also pointed out the little tunnel that connects the two tunnels, through which you can see the rails in the other tunnel still in place.

Inside the tunnel

We came out the other side and everyone was back together with no problem.
I gave a brief historic dissertation about the Lackawanna and Manunka Chunk, how the line opened in 1856, how it was originally a single tunnel, and how there was a station developed right between the two portals. It’s hard to picture it today, but I have included a few photos.
From there, we turned to the left on the right of way of the old Belvidere Delaware Railroad, which connected from Trenton to Manunka Chunk, by way of places such as Lambertville, Phillipsburg, and Belvidere. The section at the tunnel was damaged and considered not worth repairing during the Flood of 1955.

Jason in the tunnel with some nice socks

It’s different walking this than the old Lackawanna because it was a single track right of way all the way through. We followed the Bel Del line to the north, and the sun was starting to go down as we were within sight of the river. We continued to where the line crossed over present day Rt 46, and I pointed out where the old concrete from the earlier alignment of the highway could still be seen.
We had to walk a section of Rt 46 from here to Manunka Chunk Road. That’s the worst part of the entire hike, with trucks rushing by. At least there’s a grassy swath to walk on for most of it.

Historic view of Bridgeville Station

When we reached Belvidere, at the swimming pool park, we turned right into the woods onto the paved little loop trail. I pointed out a sign to Sue that reads “2000 More Miles”, which had something to do with some grant program for funding when it was installed (other trails including Bedminster Hike and Bike Trail have the same sign).

Bridgeville Station in the sixties. Note that the facade had already then been covered

We turned right on the trail through pleasant woods. I had to watch my GPS on my phone for a little bit, because I couldn’t tell quite where we would have to turn right to reach the old Bel Del tracks, which are here still used as an industrial spur to reach Hoffman LaRoche.

View of the east portal of Manunka Chunk Tunnel in the later days, when it was back to a single track

We ended up going slightly too far. There are a couple of these trails back there, and there’s a turn that’s necessary to get to the informal path which takes us to the tracks.
Once on the tracks, we started heading to the south. I tried walking the rails a bit, but wasn’t doing too well. They were a bit slippery.
We headed into town and made our way across the series of bridges that go over many street on the line. We lastly crossed the bridge over the Pequest River, near it’s confluence with the Delaware, by far the longest one.

View of Manunka Chunk Tunnel west portal when the station was still in place

After crossing, we climbed down carefully and walked a block to the east into town. We headed slightly up hill to make a pit stop at Skoogy’s Deli. I don’t think anyone got anything at this time, and instead opted to continue on our way.
I told everyone as we walked by about my history with Musical Theater. We passed the Country Gate Theater next to Skoogy’s, a community theater troupe I was a part of for several shows including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Funny Girl, Hair, and Grease. I had met Bill Scurato when he was my theater arts teacher in High School, and shortly after he rang me up asking me to help him fill in for a production at his own theater. I met much of his family then and made some fantastic memories.

Manunka Chunk Station. This shelter platform spanned from between the tunnel portals to the current clearing

Just as we were standing out front, Mr. Scurato himself happened to walk by! It was rather dark, so he didn’t recognize me right away, but we chatted for a few moments before he had to scoot back in. They were in the middle of dress rehearsal for I believe their production of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
We continued on from here a short distance and then made a right turn to head back to the railroad tracks. On the way, we passed my grandfather’s vacant lot, on which (in the wooded section) the creamery used to stand. I pointed some things out as we moved on.

Manunka Chunk Tunnel after abandonment of the old northbound

We turned left into a large open lot which years ago was used to park trucks. This used to be the parking area for the train station when Belvidere Station on the Bel Del was still in service. This was once an impressive large station, but only the platform and foundation remain today.
There is also an old concrete railroad phone booth in the weeds out there from the later Pennsylvania Railroad days, but we didn’t get to see it this time.
We continued southbound on the Bel Del, which was harder walking than it had ever been before. The entire section was very antiquated in that it had never been ballasted, meaning the rocks placed for erosion prevention were never laid here.

Manunka Chunk Tunnel in the sixties

We continued on the tracks until we got to where the junction with the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad’s southbound track went (the northbound connection has been abandoned much longer).
We turned left to follow the LHR eastbound. The tracks are all still in place for a good while from here, but at first you can’t even see them. In fact, at first there are two sets of tracks, one set that is somewhat visible, and another that is about three feet lower on a separate right of way from the visible ones. We continued on the ATV path that followed it, under an underpass, and then to a very muddy section.

Historic postcard view of Belvidere Station

We had to go around the puddles, or in my case right on through them. Fortunately, they didn’t last all that long. We passed the long abandoned couple of hopper cars, and I pointed out the old railroad station which is being used today as an office. The rail yard was just ahead, with a couple of tracks still in place. Jut beyond, they end.

Belvidere Station, showing the shelter which is still in place

After the railroad bed re-entered the woods, we soon reached the crossing of the Pophandusing Brook. This time was different than any times I’d crossed it in the past: all of the railroad ties on it had been removed, which meant we’d have to cross on the remaining I beams or simply climb down and wade across.
Three of us went over, but Jason ran down and hopped across the creek below. It was really surprising to see it this way. I can understand they want to try to keep the ATVs out, but by removing the ties they’ve created a more of a liability than it’d ever have been before.
We continued on the rail bed beyond, which soon enters the 55+ community. At this point, on or very close to the right of way a narrow trail has been placed. We followed that over several streets, then out to cross the road at Hazen.
After the cars had all passed by, we continued into the woods by the Unangst Farm. I tripped and fell as I was heading into the woods, fortunately not hurting myself.
We followed this very nice section out to the wide open fields, one of the most amazing bits of the entire old right of way. It’s become one of my favorite places to night hike in Warren County. No where else I can think of has a railroad right of way kept completely open through farming, where it is still passable, yet not overgrown on either side. Unobstructed pastoral views are unparalleled on other rights of way.
This property was supposed to go into farmland preservation, but I understand the unclear title with regard to the railroad bed had held that up.
We continued out the far end of this, and there was high corn planted. We walked the farm road the last bit out to Rt 519 because no one wants to fight through itchy, high corn in the dark.
We turned left on 519, then made a side trip out across Rt 46 to the Quick Chek. Annika bought me some sort of a chicken sandwich as I recall.
I’d been having stomach problems since coming home from Connecticut, possibly from the water, but it could also be due to stress from work. I’d been facing some very difficult situations there since my first day back, which had now resulted in reporting to higher ups. I’ve literally been feeling sick thinking about it. Even the small chicken sandwich was hard for me to finish.
We crossed back from Quick Check to turn onto Titman Avenue heading to the east. No one wanted to wade across where old Edison Avenue used to be, so we continued along 46, the only other bad part of the hike. When we reached Buttsville area, we turned left, up the hill back to the old Lackawanna right of way, which we were able to follow out to the intersection of 31 and 46, then through Pequest Wildlife Management Area back to the Pequest Furnace site.
The last leg of it was very relaxing, and the rail bed still has no ballast rock or surfacing, making it quite pleasant. We made the left turn at Pequest Cut onto the former Pequest Furnace Railroad right of way, then turned down hill through the furnace site on the ATV path back to the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad right of way across the river from the cars.
I was glad to be able to share this particular hike with a few more friends; it really brings back a lot of memories for me, and it’s cool when others can see and experience some of these routes that were the subjects of my earliest group hikes, and set up the framework for all of the MT hikes to come.