Greendell Tower

Greendell Tower is located about a quarter of a mile east of the Greendell Train Station in Sussex County, New Jersey. Built by the Lackawanna Railroad this tower opened on December 23rd, 1911, one day before the Lackawanna Railroad opened this line to replace The Old Road. Only two other places along the Cutoff had interlocking towers, Port Morris Jct. and Slateford Jct. Greendell Tower was abandoned sometime in the late 1930’s.

Greendell Tower would have had a towerman to throw levers which would throw switches so trains could operate from one track to another. The operator here would have also overseen the additional sidetracks from the Lackawanna Cutoff to the sidetracks at Greendell. The Greendell operator would have also been in contact with trains passing through Greendell and passed along any information pertinent to train movements in the area. 

Located in rural Sussex County, New Jersey the towerman would have accessed this location by train. The train would have made a special stop to allow the towerman to reach this location. The interior of the tower would have had two levels. The top level near the windows would have had levers which were connected to the switches. The towerman would have had to have orders hooped up to trains as they passed by as radio communications were not yet used by the Lackawanna Railroad in the 1930’s. 

Future plans of the LCHC do not include any plans to restore this tower as of now.