May Abandon Railroad Line

Application Made to Close Branchville Junction Franklin Branch of Sussex Railroad

At a recent meeting of the stockholders of the Sussex Railroad Company, a subsidiary of the D. L. & W. R. R. Co. they voted to authorize the officers to abandon the Branchville Junction Franklin branch which covers a distance of nine miles. Application has been made to the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon this piece of railroad as a matter of economy.

This piece of railroad was started in 1869 and was constructed to carry supplies and products of the mining and quarrying industries active at that time. The iron mines at Franklin were active until 1890 when Franklin Furnace shut down because of the competition from Lake Superior ores. Since that time the limestone quarries have closed and the shipments of ore from the Zinc Company's mines at Franklin have been greatly reduced. Another factor reducing the amount of business over this line is changing the transfer of freight to the L. & H. R. R. from Franklin Junction to Andover Junction. Still further inroads on the amount of freight traffic is the reduction of transfers from the N. Y. S. & W. R. R. largely due to the closing of the paper mill at Hamburg. Twenty years ago it required several trains a day to carry the ore from the Zinc Company's mines and the limestone and limestone products from the Windsor Lime Company and the New Jersey Lime Company.

Transportation of farm products by automobile has had its effect upon the business over this nine mile stretch of railroad also.

The passenger service was discontinued some time ago, due to the fact that the majority of the passengers preferred to use the bus, reducing the number of railroad passengers to one or two per day.