Newton--An appeal to the Sussex County Board of Freeholders to "encourage" the retention of the rail lines in Sussex County of the abandoned Erie Lackawanna Railroad was made by one of the directors of a private corporation which has kept such a line going in Hunterdon County.

William Whitehead, the spokesman for the Black River and Western Railroad, told the Freeholders on Tuesday that it requires an interest at the county level by the highest officials before any railroad will listen to a lease deal or cooperate in the sale of the abandoned lines as a whole.

Whitehead had appeared in Sussex County four years ago when the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad line between Stillwater Junction and Sparta Junction was up for sale or lease. He made several unsuccessful attempts then to have the county or the townships involved purchase the rights-of-way from the railroad and then lease the lines on a long term basis to the promoters of the private railroad. The private owners proposed to operate the a steam locomotive driven train over a scenic course between the two points. Whitehead pointed out then and now that such a plan would retain the rails in the county for any and all freight uses by coordination with the railroad.

The Freeholders said they were interested in finding a way to save the rails in the county and took it under study Whitehead's suggestions.

Meanwhile, Whitehead said that after being rejected in his idea in Sussex County in 1962, and in Morris County in the Chester area prior to that, he finally succeeded in Hunterdon County, with the help of a group of interested railroad enthusiasts, to purchase the Flemington Railroad between Ringoes and Flemington. He said it has been successfully run since that time as a tourist attraction and it enables freight to continue to come into the area.