Hike #1598; Warren Railroad

Hike #1598: 3/24/24 Warren Railroad with Eric Pace, Robin Deitz, Diane Reider, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Evan "Joe Millionaire" Van Rossum, Alyssa Lidman, Ken Lidman, Linda Salveson, CJ, DJ Ray Cordts, Russ Nelson, Kirk Rohn, James DeLotto, Steve Sanbeg, Scott "Tea Biscuit" Helbing, Carolyn Gockel Gordon, Jenny Tull, Serious Sean Dougherty, Michele Valerio, Amanda Lance, Professor John DiFiore, Doug DeGroff, and Galya

It was time once again for our annual anniversary hike, and we'd get back to doing it almost the way we used to do it this time around.

This one was haunted with problems and stress from the start, but it turned out really great.

The showing for this one was quite light, but if I hadn't made changes, it would have been much lighter.

The hike was originally posted for the day before, but the forecast was the crappiest we'd had all year. I knew that a few people were going to show up no matter what, but with only a couple of days left, several of my core group members coerced me to changing it to Sunday instead of Saturday.

I think some of the people missed the memo and showed up Saturday anyway. I really hate doing things like that, but having it on Sunday was definitely a better choice because the weather was perfect.

The big changes to this over the past year would change the hike forever. In a way, some parts of this hike were more like a funeral, because places we'd loved, which made this hike so incredible, were now gone or inaccessible.

Both of the two railroad tunnels we used to pass through for this hike were inaccessible. Oxford Tunnel had collapsed in two locations, and the last one in 2017 left a ton of dirt coming through the ceiling, so I was too concerned to bring people through it again. I haven't gone all the way through since.

Since the flooding of 2023, more silt is at the north side of that tunnel, and the water will certainly be more than hip deep today, nearly impossible to get through.

Manunka Chunk Tunnel was a sad loss of a bucolic site. Catherine's Run, the tributary that flows partially through it, swelled during a major storm and washed out the entire embankment right at the tunnel, exposing it all to within view of Rt 46. That highway remained closed for quite some time due to the debris blocking it.

This was amazingly like the major flood that also happened in 1913.

There was no way I was going to go through that after all of the water had rushed through it, and I didn't know what to expect when we got to the other side if we did. It was a good thing we didn't try it, because we'd have found ourselves going right back.

Last year, I changed it up completely and had a partly different hike. That went over really well, but with all of the changes, I figured we'd better do the hike the traditional way.

I wasn't going to try to start all the way up in Portland like we did when we first started the hikes 27 years earlier. Crossing the Delaware on the big 1907 truss bridge would not go over well for sure, and especially not with a big group. Arranging it would be too complicated to be worth it.

Instead, we started the way we've been doing it in most recent years. We met at the Port Colden Mall, and then shuttled to the north to park at the former rail yard just to the north of where the Delaware station used to stand.

I was upset that I couldn't bring my son Ev with me, but again his mom didn't want me to bring him. On the big ones like Holiday NY City, March on Musikfest, and the anniversary hike, she doesn't want me to bring him. She's worried about a drunken fest, and I understand the concern, but without Ev there, that's specifically what it turns into because I have less reason to be careful.

We got together in Delaware, and went over some of the differences we would be facing. I asked that everyone try to stay a bit more together than we usually do at the approach to Manunka Chunk, just because I wanted to get through there quickly.

We'd have to all go over the mountain this time instead of through. In one way, it would be easier than it was in the past with this, because no matter how many times they've done it, assigned coleaders would often make a wrong turn going over the top.

We started out and headed on along Rt 46. The railroad bed has been wrecked for years. We used to walk through the Sanico property, but going through there is too tough these days. We didn't get onto the rail bed until we were over at Clarence Road to the east.

Traditionally, we would do our group shot on the Clarence Road abutment, but the knotweed has grown in so heavily here that everyone on the top would be leaning in funny. I decided against doing the group shot there because of that, and we continued ahead.

1913 Fred Heilich Collection

Some of the group remained on Rt 46 because the railroad bed was getting so badly overgrown, with sticks all across it.

I was thinking while I walked through this bit how sad it had become. There was a time that the entire right of way from Portland to Washington was a perfect walk, with barely any impediments. It has come so far from that, and very little of it is nicer than it was back then. It's even more sad because it has had so much potential, with so much of it in public ownership.

We continued behind the old World's Fair Cup house, and then came out to the parking area behind Smiddy's. We made a stop here for people to get drinks and snacks before we moved on. 

We sat in the pavilion behind it for a little break at the start as well before moving on.

Late 1800s Fred Heilich Collection

The right of way was still clear beyond here, but the fact that the former home of my great grandmother is now gone is just a reminder of how everything is changing so much over time.

We crossed the road across from Marshalls Fruit Stand, and then up the other side. This part thankfully remained as it had always looked, and we passed the "A Rock", a cut in the rocks where my descendants played as children.

We moved on ahead, and climbed to the left, where the cell tower road had been built up and over the railroad bed.

The slope along this where we had traditionally done the activity "The Shrub of Might" was really no more either.

Originally, there was a mountain laurel bush that we called the Shrub of Might, where we'd take turns running and grabbing into a shale slope to get up behind the shrub.

Late 1800s Fred Heilich Collection

The shrub died over the years, and it became "Tree of Might", and now the tree too was just about dead.

Late 1800s Fred Heilich Collection

We moved on downhill and across Ramseyburg Road from here. At this point, I went over to check out the Ramseyburg Brook, which I hadn't bothered to do for years.

It was a handsome old stone culvert still in place, probably from the beginning of the railroad. The historic Ramseyburg House across Rt 46 from us had originally stood where the railroad is, and was moved by the railroad when it came through in 1856.

We climbed up the other side of the road and back to the railroad bed heading eastbound.

Fortunately, this section of the railroad bed remained just as it had 27 years ago, which is a bit of a relief.

We had a nice, long stretch moving ahead where it was as we'd always remembered it, and we could see Manunka Chunk Mountain coming up around the corner the entire way through the trees.

There were no bad washouts through this entire bit, but after we crossed the driveway and then came to Manunka Chunk, the right of way is almost gone.

Workers had created a sort of sluice to keep the waters from the tunnel running down in a controlled location with a rather picturesque waterfall. 

I had several photos to emulate here, from the collection of Fred Heilich. Some of them were from the crazy washout that had occurred much in the same way in 1913.

We paused and stood back for a few moments before we pushed through the tunnel. I started setting up some of my then and now compilations, starting with the one taken from farthest away.

I had two of them taken from the mouths of the tunnels, taken in the late 1800s when there was a station either between the two portals or to the side of them both. The station configuration at this place changed substantially over the years.

A tower remnant of concrete on the left side of the right of way was adorned with new art by Extrado Art, who does a lot at Paulinskill Viaduct, featuring Simpson's charactres saying "this is where I come to cry". There was certainly a sort of sad undertone in all of this we had to make up for.

The mouth of the eastbound bore was newly collapsed inside. Daylight was coming through a short distance in, and tree roots and dirt were dangling into the portal of the tunnel.

I really wish something would be done to preserve all of this. We've seen plenty of examples of how this could be repaired. A sort of a stint, like was done with the Poe Mountain Tunnel on the Mid State Trail in Pennsylvania, would allow passage, preserve the portal, and create a bat hibernaculum. If we look at Big Savage Tunnel, spray concrete was used there. Blue Mountain, Reading, and Northern uses a mix of the spray concrete and sleeve material that allows water to pass between while still protecting the tunnel. Pinkerton Tunnel on Great Allegheny Passage basically is lined with a heavy corrugated material that has stood up to having an active tunnel next to it daylighted. 

My understanding is the state is exploring options to have it permanently closed off, which doesn't address the fact that it is now a permanent waterway, no matter how much they try to hold off Catherine's Run on the other side.

We made our way from the tunnel up the ATV trail toward the farm fields above. When we reached the fields, we went along the left field edge, which leads to a very small foot path down above the portal of the tunnel below.

The right of way was pretty dry, but a giant pile of stones had been placed across it to block water from flowing so much into the tunnel.

I brought everyone down the way we used to go, although the path today is getting pretty badly overgrown. People don't even ride ATVs out onto that part anymore.

1913 Fred Heilich Collection

We reached where we used to cross over Catherine's Run. There was originally a giant wooden flume that carried water above the railroad line, and then into a stone lined artificial canal, to usher it beneath the tracks further beyond the tunnel to the south.

I believe that when the railroad was built in the 1850s, the creek and single set of tracks were probably allowed to be side by side. When the line was double tracked, the creek had to be moved out of the way a bit more, but that was a task. 

In typical conditions, this is just a tiny stream, sometimes barely a spring, but it can get really bad during times of heavy rain.

We can still see wood on the slope remaining from the woodwork that carried the water up and into the stone sluice.

My theory is that in 1913, a second channel was dug above the railroad to carry Catherine's Run without having to deal with the wood work. This appears to have worked really well at least until the abandonment of the line in 1970. That much time with no maintenance eventually led to the mess that was last year.

The planks we crossed over Catherine's Run were once three, then two, and now only one. Some of the group chose to cross those, but I continued on down to have a better look at the work that had been done.

The pile of stones was phenomenal, and there was even a wooden walkway down to the water that now filled the rail bed. At first, I figured this might protect it, but then I realized we were not in flood stage, and that could easily still bust through.

Furthermore, they've created a secondary liability, with this enormous water body. All of it more than over my head in depth. The location of the rocks keeps anyone from walking through and trying to go through this side of the tunnel easily. This is why it was a good thing we didn't come through.

The cascade on Catherine's Run was now very visible, and not much blocks it from flowing right into the right of way. Just a little further up, very small pipes pass beneath an access road built for machines to access the site.

The pipes were certainly too small for the need to drain off the water.

If we were to have another major event, and if enough trees and debris were to fall across the right of way to the south, this entire area could badly fill back up and water could go back through the tunnels and out to Rt 46. 

While this is a pretty good temporary fix, there needs to be much better, long term remediation at this site.

Those who went over the planks missed the easy new way out. We just walked up the new road the machines had made, and came out to the edge of the fields in Beaver Brook Wildlife Management Area.

A giant stone staging area for equipment had been created on this end of the fields, which was really interesting to see. Plastic dam material was placed along the edges of the farm road heading from here back out to Upper Sarepta Road.

The access road to the rail bed filled over the top of the original channel created to carry Catherine's Run away from the rail bed. I am pretty sure whoever was building this had no idea what they were looking at.

We continued on down the road to Upper Sarepta Road, where we rejoined the railroad bed.

There were once some houses standing near the intersection of nearby Upper Sarepta Road and Ledge Road, and only one on the corner with a garage remained. The next one over had collapsed within the past couple of years, and has recently been cleared. Another one just a bit further down is now all grown in, and the only memory of the home that once stood there is the black mail box still visible where the front used to be.

We continued on the rail bed, past where a spur used to go to the Ledge Road quarry, and then crossed over Sarepta Road.

Violet and Sam had to leave us just around the tunnel, and then when we got to the Sarepta area, DeLotto met up and joined us.

Thankfully, this section too was just about how it always had been. The section of right of way all the way out to Bridgeville is property of Jenny Jump State Forest, while lands surrounding it are Beaver Brook Wildlife Management Area.

It was a very pleasant walk out along the route, next across Hope Crossing Road, and through more woods. 

We soon came to Route 519 at Bridgeville Station. The station building, although much altered and damaged in recent years by fire, is still standing on the tracks to the left.

We continued ahead across the road, and some of the group turned right to follow it out to Rt 46, and then out to Hot Dog Johnny's that way.

The rest of us headed on state land to quarry property ahead. We cut across the quarry quickly, and then followed the ATV trails on the other side, back down to the right of way again.

When we started doing the hikes, the sand quarry had not yet destroyed the railroad bed. That was all excavated starting in 1999, and was getting covered by muck by 1998.

We bushwhacked down to Hot Dog Johnny's, and had a nice sit down under the awning section. It was a really nice break.

Once we were done, I climbed steeply back up across the street onto the rail bed, then along Hoyt Lane where it had been obliterated. We then made our way out to Green Pond Road, crossed, and got back on the railroad bed in an unchanged section for a bit.

This section of the rail bed is to become county property through a donation as I understand in the near future. 

We soon reached where the gas station is along 46 at the corner of Rt 31. The railroad bed was obliterated by the gas station several years back, making it necessary to climb up behind it.

We then descended to Rt 46 and crossed, where NJ DOT recently put "no pedestrian" signs up along the highway, probably out of spite because this is where my plan for Warren Highlands Trail to cross is.

Here, Tea Biscuit, Amanda, and I'm not sure who all else decided to cut out and leave. 

We climbed up the slope where there used to be a concrete bridge over Rt 46, and then climbed over the Pequest Viaduct, which crosses both the Pequest River and the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway.

Over the past couple of years, I think I've come to realize that this three arch concrete span is probably the original one, coated with concrete.

Some of the early 1900s photos seem to show that a concrete arch had been placed on the underside of the stone arch original to the line.

If we look at the other structures on the line, even dating to the 1900s, new bridges were built next to the old ones because they could not have an interruption in traffic. There is no documentation of new bridge construction of dismantling of an old one.

This is why I believe that triple arch is actually the original one.

We crossed and passed through an area of some bad mud, but overall the next bit all the way to Oxford remained just about how it used to be.

There isn't as much ATV traffic, and in this case it's kind of a bad thing because they always kept the right of way clear. It's gotten worse because the state cannot afford to maintain it the way that the riders used to do.

We made our way along the high shelf, with the old Lehigh and Hudson bed visible below us. Eventually, we reached the former junction with the Pequest Furnace Ralroad on the left. The old Lackawanna bed went to the right, into the deep Pequest Cut here.

I always wonder if the railroad originally went around these giant rocks instead of blast through, as it would have been closer to Pequest Furnace.

I would not be surprised if the Pequest Cut was actually a reroute of the original line.

We exited the cut, and then crossed over the Beaver Brook, which passes beneath through a culvert.

We crossed over a power line, and just beyond, the clear path, which has lots of mud puddles, goes to the left, and the rail bed continues into weeds to where it used to pass beneath Pequest Road.

We had to turn right over where the rail bridge would have been, then left onto a paved trail that was put in back in 2003 on the former route of the adjacent farm road.

I understand that this paved trail was made because of a bussing system issue with Oxford, where they needed to provide something when the new development up the road was built.

The paved trail stays on the old farm road for a little bit, then gets back on the rail bed shortly.

The path passed parking, and by where a house used to stand until it was burned down by the fire department in 2001 or 2. 

There also used to be barns through this area, which lasted a little longer than the house did, but they too are long demolished now, probably around 2005.

The rail bed enters the woods ahead, and passes through a pleasant area above the Cat Swamp to the left. 

To the right, Thomas Edison's Pohatcong Railroad used to break off in this area, which served his quarry on the north side of Oxford.

The trail leaves the railroad bed and descends to the left, onto Lower Denmark Road. We used to walk through on this fine, but it was one of the first sections of the right of way to be lost, when someone erected a horse fence over parts of it. It's now totally grown in.

We followed Lower Denmark out to the spot where Oxford Station used to be. Lower Denmark Road used to cut to the right here, out to Rt 31 behind Oxford Tire.

Back in the 1990s, Lower Denmark Road was rerouted onto the old railroad bed past the station platform, to join with Wall Street to the south.

Only the concrete part of the station platform is still there today. I understand the fire department burned down this station as well years ago, as part of an exercise. 

Jenny had said at the start of this hike that she wasn't going to drink at all today, because her daughter was due to give birth to her next grandchild basically any moment. She had to be ready to exit the hike at any time.

We tried to get her to go against that for a while, without success, until Carolyn showed up.

Pretty soon, she was going at it hard, and she was absolutely hilarious. Carolyn was warning Jenny's daughter that she'd better hold out on that baby, because her mom was blasted!

We continued along Lower Denmark, on the old rail bed, and I pointed out where the original 1856 to 1862 right of way of the Warren Railroad used to diverge and head over toward Oxford Furnace.

We crossed over a branch of the Furnace Brook ahead, which the roadway now uses, and then soon came to Wall Street.

We turned right a bit, and then headed over to Mountain Valley Liquors to replenish a bit.

We always have a lot of people cutting out when we got to Oxford, and this time was no exception. Several were parked over near the school to the west.

It was cool that DJ Ray did so much of the hike, after years of him not coming out at all.

Several of us polished off an entire bottle of whiskey I had, and so I went in and got some more of it at Mountain Valley, as well as some other kind of Weyerbacher or something. I forget what kind they had in stock there.

While we were waiting to move on, Jenny somehow managed to fall into the bush outside of the place. I'm not sure exactly what happened there.

Once we were all replenished, we headed out of the store and up along Rt 31 for a bit.

There was a narrow shoulder, but we managed alright.

I was surprised that the group was still somehow into the railroad history, despite being blasted.

I pointed out where the iron mine railroad used to cross, and then where the 1856 track came back in within view on the other side of the highway, to our right.

I pointed out where that grade crossed the highway, and where we could see it down in the weeds as we passed by near the west portal of the Oxford Tunnel way below.

We cut through the Pequest Wildlife Management Area hunting lots along the road, and then the intersection with Tunnel Hill Road. Some of the flat section of that road is also the 1856 railroad bed.

Just after this intersection, we cut off of the road to the right. We had to bushwhack only a little, and there is the remnants of an old road that descends slightly from the edge of the highway, on state land at first, down to the railroad bed just to the south of the tunnel mouth.

The tunnel is now fenced off at both ends. Initially, it was fenced only at the north side, with the deep water. This was insane, because most approach from the south, the Washington side, and then walk through to Oxford, getting the wet part out of the way last.

By fencing only the Oxford side, whoever walked through from the south would be forced to turn around, because there is no means of egress. 

I got this posted in the New Jersey Monitor, and within a week, a fence was placed on the east portal.

Still, no one has done anything about it being collapsed under Rt 31. They are literally waiting for something to happen before any action is taken.

The right of way is really wet at the east portal. There was once a house up above it on the right, and I found what was either a garden plot, or maybe a workers cemetery in a cleared area around where it would have stood. I assume it must at one time have been a tunnel keeper's house.

We continued south, and the stream flowing from the tunnel went down to the side, toward the Pohatcong Creek.

The right of way in this section had lots of trees over it, but it used to be perfect. 

In fact, the section was the worst I've ever seen it. It was doable from the tunnel down to the farm grade crossing, but beyond that point, and out under the old farm overpass bridge was in horrible shape.

In fact, the worst has traditionally been the section from Jackson Valley Road in Washington to Warren Lumber area, and now this section was about the worst of the entire day. 

We were moving along super slowly, and kept stopping in a circle to drink. We left Oxford at about 3:30, but we were taking an eternity with the remainder of this.

We paused again for a bit under the old farm bridge, and I pointed out how there were old stone abutments, with concrete one top. This was to compensate for the larger locomotives that came after the railroad first developed.

When we finally moved from this spot, I think I made one of my videos about the 1856 track of the Warren Railroad. The farm overpass is the spot where you can tell where that earlier track joined the later one.

Just to the south of that bridge crossing, a slight remnant of that old rail grade makes its way down grade toward the later track bed. 

The weeds kept getting worse, and we had to climb over top of trees, or under briars. It was not easy. 

Pushing through these weeds, Kirk lost his hat, and Carolyn lost her sunglasses (Serious Sean went looking for them over the next couple days, and all he found was Kirk's hat unfortunately).

We made our way from the cut onto a fill, and eventually crossed over the Pohatcong Creek. 

Not long after that, there was an ATV trail that used to lead us down to the left, toward Jackson Valley Road. No ATV has used any of this in years.

When we got down to the side of Jackson Valley Road, I was prepared for everyone to say "screw bushwhacking" and that would be the end of following the railroad bed. Of course, the next section was the one that had gotten the reputation for having horrible weeds.

To my great surprise, everyone was so blasted drunk that they were fine with continuing on, and in fact were excited about doing so on the railroad bed!

We climbed up what used to be an ATV path on the other side of where the bridge had been across Jackson Valley Road, and then regained the rail bed.

Just a short distance beyond the bridge site, the right of way becomes seriously washed out and what most people would consider impassable. It is necessary to climb down into the big rut and walk up that, and there are still multi flora rose bushes hanging over to cut.

I pushed ahead through this, and amazingly, the others were right behind me there. We had a few more still with us when we left the tunnel, but then we became a mess.

At this point, it was just Jenny, Carolyn, Sean, Kirk, and I remaining of the group.

It got to be pretty sloppy back in there. While we were walking, there was a guy with his dogs up on the slope to the right. There was always one back yard that came right up, mowed to the right of way.

When I was in high school, there was a red Volkswagen bug down by the edge of the tracks in this section, and some young kids and a dog would be outside somewhat often.

I talked to the guy a bit while the others went ahead, and when I brought up the VW bug, he was delighted, and said "my dad dragged that car out of there!".

This guy was probably one of those young kids we used to see out along this back in the 90s. 

He really wanted to see a greenway go in on it as well. It was really cool talking to him.

For some reason, we thought it would be a good idea to bushwhack out to Route 31 before even getting to the cut through behind the police station, which used to be my insurance company, Bowers, Schuman and Welsh. 

We got torn to shreds in this absolute mess.

Somehow, we made our way back out to Rt 31, and we were a substantial distance to the south of the Draught House, where we were going to stop for dinner.

We turned left and started walking in that direction, and soon passed Lind Supply on the way.

There was a bath tub set up over in front of the store, and of course Sean had to get in it, and we had some silly photo posing. 

John told me later that he had walked by that hours earlier, and that when he saw it, he said to himself "somebody's going to be in that".

Sean saw the photos later, and he didn't remember at all being in a bathtub!

We soon made our way to the Draught House and sat down for a splendid dinner following a great hike.

This had been probably the longest it has ever taken to do that last portion of the hike, less than five miles.

It was after 7:30 when we arrived at the Draught House, and we had left Oxford at 3:30!

We hung out and talked for a while, and I think it must have been Mr. Buckett and Eric who showed up later and drove us back to the cars, so we didn't have a couple of additional miles after all of that mess we had just done.

Fortunately, Jenny's daughter held off and she didn't have to worry about racing to be there for her all drunk.

We did a great job of taking the shock and negativity of what has happened to this right of way over the years, and really made it into a good time, but it also leaves me wondering about what to do about it.

I drafted an email to state directors and figureheads noting my opinions on what should be done with the tunnels, and I got absolutely no responses.

I'm sure the issue was elevated, but I don't think anything will ever be done until it is forced.

I told myself I would make it a point to push for this to become a real trail down the road, and hopefully we and everyone else will enjoy it years along. I can tell it's going to be a battle to make anything of it, but I've already planted the seeds. They just need to be agitated.