History
The High Bridge Branch connected to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W)and the Wharton & Northern Railroad just west of Wharton, New Jersey and to the Mount Hope Mineral Railroad and the Dover and Rockaway Railroad in Wharton. It originally connected with the Chester Branch of the DL&W at Chester just north of U.S. Route 206, but from Long Valley to Chester became the Chester Branch when the railroad was extended north from long Valley to the Wharton area. The line once carried both freight and passengers, with iron ore being its primary commodity.
Most of the line was abandoned soon after Conrail assumed operations of the CNJ. The portion from Bartley to High Bridge was converted to a recreation trail, known as the Columbia Trail and the portion from the crossing of the High Bridge Branch and the DL&W Chester Branch to Main Street, Wharton was abandoned; the portion in Wharton is being converted to a hiking trail.
The northern portion from Bartley to Kenvil was purchased by the Morris County on July 1, 1986 and was immediately leased to regional short line operator Morristown and Erie Railway (M&E). Shortly thereafter, a new track connection was built just east of Kenvil with the former DL&W Chester Branch named Ferromonte Junction.
After the county acquisition of the High Bridge Branch, freight customers were sought. The first was R. P. Smith & Co., a brick customer near Route 10 in Ledgewood. Service began to that location on May 2, 1988. Within the next few years, the railroad was opened to Flanders to a plastic extruding company and ultimately to Bartley where Toys "R" Us built an almost fully automated regional distribution center of 1/2 million square feet with a footprint to expand to 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2). The line currently ends in Bartley, just south of Toys "R" Us.
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