getaway and weekend vacation spot for residents, and the Netcong-Stanhope Cutoff was completed in 1900, prompting the abandonment of the line to Waterloo. As industry began to decrease in the area, the rise of the automobile and trucking took away valuable passenger and freight business from the Sussex Branch. As the area suffered during the Great Depression, so did the railroad. Permission was granted by the Public Utilities Commission to discontinue service to Franklin on February 23, 1932, with total abandonment of the Franklin branch being approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission on May 26, 1934. The remaining line was that of the 21-mile (34 km) Branchville to Stanhope line. By 1945, the Sussex Railroad ceased to exist and the company was finally fully merged into the DL&W. End of service (1945–present) The downward trend continued, with the 1950s seeing more industries served by the railroad go out of business. By 1959, mail service via the Sussex Branch ceased, and the final milk train ran in November 1964. The last passenger train departed from Branchville on July 10, 1966; the last passenger train from Newton on July 13, 1966; and the last passenger train on the entire branch departed Andover on October 2, 1966. By 1969, all track formerly owned by the Sussex Railroad was out of service, with the exception of the former South Vernon extension currently used by the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway on its way to Syracuse and Utica, New York. After abandonment, buildings deteriorated and track was dismantled. The Newton passenger depot was demolished in November 1970. The final stretch of track between Andover and Stanhope/Netcong was removed in July 1977. The roadbed for the Sussex Branch has mostly been preserved, however. The earliest purchase of a former right-of-way occurred in 1938 when Sussex County bought the former Franklin branch after service was discontinued. After all service ceased on the line, the state preserved the remainder of the line in the form of the Sussex Branch Trail, a division of the Kittatinny Valley State Park system. The trail stretches from Stanhope up to Branchville with only minor interruptions from privately owned sections. Station list All mileposts are from Hoboken Terminal. See also Mine railway Footnotes References External links History of the Sussex Railroad by Kevin W. Wright. Kittatinny Valley State Park site with information on the Sussex Branch. Defunct New Jersey railroads Predecessors of