The Warren Railroad was a railroad in Warren County, New Jersey, that served as part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's mainline from 1856 to 1911. History The Warren Railroad was chartered on February 12, 1851, by special act of the state of New Jersey, to provide a connection from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's (DL&W) terminus at the Delaware River to Hampton, New Jersey, on the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), in anticipation of a merger between the two railroads. The railroad's date of organization was March 4, 1853, and construction began that June. Terrain made the Warren expensive to build, requiring a large amount of excavation, three large bridges, and two tunnels. DL&W began operating on the railway on May 28, 1856, from Delaware, New Jersey, to Hampton, and continuing over CNJ to Jersey City. DL&W formally leased the Warren Railroad in October 1857. The tracks were originally gauge, continuous with the DL&W's Pennsylvania tracks. A third rail was added to CNJ's track. When the railroad opened in 1856, the Van Nest Gap Tunnel was not yet completed, and a temporary track was used. The tunnel was completed in September 1862, and the temporary track removed. Merger talks between the DL&W and CNJ broke down and on December 10, 1868, the DL&W signed a lease for the Morris & Essex Railroad (M&E), effective January 1, 1869. The DL&W then shifted their mainline off of CNJ to the M&E with a new junction at Washington, New Jersey. While the Warren Railroad was straight from the DL&W's former terminus at the Delaware River to the CNJ, its route to the M&E was circuitous. Additionally, the section between the Washington and Hampton (later called the Hampton Branch) was deemed useless. The M&E was originally built to a gauge of , but was converted to in July 1866. After the DL&W lease, a third rail was added for from Washington eastward to Hoboken from 1869-1870. DL&W's tracks from Scranton to Washington were converted to on May 27, 1876. The unused third rail on the M&E was subsequently removed. The Lackawanna Cut-Off was built to minimize grades and curves, and to avoid the operational problems of the Warren Railroad. The Cut-Off was completed in 1911, becoming the new mainline of the DL&W. This relegated the Warren Railroad and the M&E line west of Port Morris Junction to a branch line