Commuters Say DL&W Blocks County Progress
Sussex County commuters who describe
themselves as daily users of "the diesel powered prairie schooners
that serve as rolling stock" for the Lackawanna Railroad, this week
began digging in for a do or die fight with the railroad company.
Last week the Lackawanna filed a petition with the State Public Utilities
Commission asking permission to discontinue all passenger service
on the Boonton Branch, which serves Sussex County.
This week, the embattled and embittered
Sussex County commuters level their first blast at the railroad company's
move to cut out service by writing a letter to the PUC urging the
commission to "stop coddling the greedy monster who is stifling progress
and growth in Sussex County with the stern choice -- Either stay as
a constructive factor, rendering adequate service as a common carrier--or
get out!"
Full text of the commuters' letter follows:
"We, the undersigned, are year-round
commuters from Sussex County and as such travel daily on the diesel
powered prairie schooners that serve as rolling stock on the Boonton
Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Co. Those
of us who have traveled for some years have witnessed steadily rising
fares, paralleled by disintegrating service and are not surprised
at the railroad's latest proposal to discontinue passenger service
entirely on the Sussex County section of the Boonton Branch as certainly
there is nothing left to cut.
Development
Ahead
"Sussex County is one of the few desirable
undeveloped sections adjacent to the New York-Newark metropolitan
area. As such it is destined to develop rapidly in the next few years
with or without the D. L. & W. However, adequate transportation
facilities are an essential to proper development of an area and that
in our opinion is rendered impossible by the Lackawanna. The small
number of "year rounders" commuting from this beautiful section of
our State stands as mute evidence of the few with strong enough backs
or sufficiently weak minds to be willing to contend with covered wagon
travel in the atomic age. Furthermore, the monstrous "cut-off" prevents
the building of modern highways in some parts of the county because
of the murderous bottlenecks that would be created by the narrow tunnels
through the "cut-off".
Serve--Or
Go
"In a sense we wish to join with the
railroad in its effort to discontinue passenger service in Sussex
County but go further by humbly urging that action be started immediately
to cancel the franchise of the railroad covering at least that section
of the Boonton line lying in Sussex County. Surely if a railroad is
unwilling to serve its territory, it should not be privileged to foul
the countryside with the dust and din of railroading. With the abandonment
of the line, and the removal of the rusty rails and gas light era
coaches, progress could be started in the development of a 20th century
system of transportation. A philosophy of curtailment and contraction
is incompatible with an expanding economy, and we feel that the welfare
and healthy development of Sussex County would be furthered by this
suggested action. In many instances, the abandoned roadbed would serve
as an excellent means of developing a dual highway system on sections
that parallel present highways and then the railroad tunnels through
the "cut-off" could be used as highway tunnels.
"It is our feeling that the time has
arrived to stop coddling the greedy monster who is stifling progress
and growth in Sussex County with the stern choice-- "Either stay as
a constructive factor rendering adequate service as a common carrier--or
get out."
"We are releasing a copy of this letter
to The New Jersey Herald, in the hope that others supposedly served
by the "Boonton Branch," in Warren and Morris Counties as well as
Sussex will wish to join us in urging this action. We shall recommend
the slogan: THE LACKAWANNA MUST GO SO THAT PROGRESS CAN BE MADE.