SUMMIT

The switch connection to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W, Lackawanna) was at MP 7.11, which was the RV’s end of track. The connection was called Summit.

Summit, originally referred to as the “Summit of the Short Hills,” was reached in 1837 by the Morris & Essex Railroad. The railroad’s presence led to the development of the area that was incorporated as the Township of Summit in 1869 (it was reincorporated as a city in 1899). The Morris & Essex was leased to the DL&W in 1868. Thereafter, this section of the DL&W was known as the “Morris & Essex Division.”

The tracks through Summit were originally at street level. They were depressed, to eliminate four dangerous grade crossings in the middle of the city, between 1902 and 1905. An earlier water tank and two stall engine house were removed in 1904 as part of the project. The project led to the construction of a new passenger depot, freight house, and freight yard. The yard also contained a turntable in its early years.

The long stated goal of the RV, and its predecessors, was to reach Summit and make a connection with the Lackawanna. This connection would give the RV the enviable position of being a bridge route between three Class I railroads - which would afford its patrons competitive freight rates. After the railroad completed to Summit, formal application was made to the Lackawanna for a connection at Summit in October 1906. The Lackawanna, however, was of the position that such a connection would interfere with its bustling suburban commuter service. Therefore, the Lackawanna denied the request. Years of court battles ensued which culminated in a crushing defeat for the RV in a United Supreme Court decision handed down in March 1910.

After the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, talks between the RV and DL&W over a connection at Summit were rekindled. The connection was constructed and opened for interchange traffic on March 22, 1930.

Cars interchanged at Summit were restricted to 110,000 pounds until 1932. A strengthened Broad Street bridge permitted the increase of that restriction to 169,000 pounds which persisted through the end of regular operations.

The same year the interchange was opened, the DL&W inaugurated its electrified multiple unit (MU) commuter service over the Morris & Essex Division. The RV interchanged with the Lackawanna, under wire, in the small three track MU yard located just east of the Summit depot.

The RV usually spotted outbound cars on the “hole track,” which was the old lead to a few coal dumpers that lead east of the RV’s switch. Inbounds were ordinarily picked up on the “interchange track” which was the middle track in the small yard. Sometimes, other arrangements had to be made if other cars were blocking the usual tracks. The Summit tower operator would hold for the RV to run out onto the P&D wall track so they could run around their cars. The RV was not qualified on the Lackawanna and therefore not supposed to travel out onto signalled territory. The tower operators continued this practice well into Erie Lackawanna days, until the Trainmaster forbade the practice.

The Lackawanna connection accounted for 20-25% of the RV’s interchange traffic through the 1930s and 1940s. Cars to and from the Rahway Valley at Summit were handled by the Lackawanna’s “Summit Roustabout” which left Port Morris yard at 6:15 PM every day, except Saturday. The train would go to Summit and return to Port Morris by 2:15 AM, handling cars for Morristown, Madison, Chatham, Summit, and the Rahway Valley. The train would also perform switching duties at Morristown, Madison, Chatham, and move westbound cars from Morristown off of the Morristown & Erie Railroad.

The DL&W merged with the Erie Railroad in 1960 to form the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. The importance of the interchange at Summit declined during the E-L years. With the consolidation of services between the two railroads, the train that handled the RV’s cars was shifted from the nightly Port Morris drill to the P&D drill out of Croxton. The RV interchanged with the E-L five days a week through the 1960s but this dwindled to three days a week by the 1970s.

On April 1, 1976, Conrail took over the Erie Lackawanna along with the CNJ, LV, and others. The RV, now with three connections to one railroad, consolidated its interchanges to the former LV connection at Roselle Park. The former E-L connection was closed almost immediately. Only a small handful of cars were interchanged at Summit in May 1976. 

Thereafter, even though it was closed, there were some occurrences at the connection. Once, Conrail dropped a plastic car for Monsanto in Kenilworth at Summit. The RV refused to interchange at that point and eventually Conrail brought it around to Roselle Park. Conrail would use the RV lead to store cars and equipment. On one occasion a gondola was spotted on the RV that subsequently ran away as far as Springfield. The RV denied Conrail’s request to come and pick up the car. The RV shoved the car back up to Summit. In July 1986, NJ Transit had the wire train stored on the RV lead and it, too, ran away down the hill; it made it as far as Briant Pond. The RV, then operated by the NYS&W, brought the train to Aldene for eventual transport to Hoboken for repair.

The Lackawanna’s Summit station and accompanying shelter, pedestrian bridge / walkway, and platforms were built 1902-5 in connection with the railroad’s track depression project through the city. The station is located at MP 20.1, the distance measured from Hoboken. The station remains in use today (2025) although the platforms are now high level and the old wooden walkway over the tracks is now an enclosed glass structure.

The railroad’s Summit depot was located at 270 Broad Street. It was constructed about 1906. The main depot building measured 18’ 4” x 25’ 4” x 12’ to the eaves and 18’ to the peak. The interior contained a 10’ x 10’ ticket office. The remainder of the interior space was a waiting room. It was made of clapboards and had a tar paper roof. The roof extended out 3’ feet all around. A platform extended from one side along the track. The platform measured 121’ x 10’ and was made of 2” planks on 4” x 8” beams located 5’ center to center. There was a roof over a portion of the platform that measured 63’ x 17’ x 12’ to the eaves and 18’ to the peak. The roof was supported by fourteen 8” x 8” posts that were 18’ in length. The depot was supported by a wood foundation and some concrete piers. The depot was partially damaged by fire on February 16, 1916. The blaze was believed to have been caused by an overheated stove. The fire started in the ticket office and worked its way through the rafters before the arrival of the firemen. The fire caused about $100 (or $2,370 in 2020 dollars) in damage. In 1928, after the platform and roof were torn down, the freight house was tacked to the side of the building to form one structure. The depot was torn down about 1974 after the RV sold the property to Overlook Hospital.

The freight house at Summit was located at MP 7.01, the far end of the yard. It measured 15’ x 20’ x 10’ to the eaves and 16’ to the peak. It was made of clapboards and had a tar paper roof. The freight house sat atop a platform which extended out from the freight house on two sides, outward 8’ from the short side of the building and 6’ from the long side of the building. The platform was 21’ wide and 28’ long. It was made of 2” planks, was 5’ high, and boarded tight with 2” planks. The freight house contained one two wheel hand truck. In 1928, after the platform and roof were torn down, the freight house was tacked to the side of the building to form one structure.

After crossing Morris Ave., the railroad encountered Overlook Mountain. A cut needed to be dug along the mountain face. The cut extended from MP 6.88 to MP 6.99. It measured 550’ long, twenty five feet deep, and fifty feet wide. Excavating the cut took several months, it was completed in June 1906. Presently (2025), the first section of the Summit Park Line trail travels through the cut. 

MP 7.11 - This siding paralleled the Lackawanna mainline and was commonly referred to as the “hole track.” The RV listed the industries served by this siding as its own despite them being within Lackawanna territory. It is unclear if these industries were Lackawanna customers, RV customers, or both. This siding was for Eastern Fuel Co.