Roseville Tunnel

Roseville Tunnel is a tunnel located in Byram, New Jersey between mileposts 51.6 and 51.8 along the Lackawanna Cut-Off, and is the only tunnel on the line. Roseville Tunnel was created after the DL&W decided that the rock in the mountain was not structurally stable to support a cut.

  The DL&W ultimately decided the best route of action would be to create a tunnel. This tunnel would be 1,024 feet in length, and opened on December 24, 1911. 

In 1941, a rockslide happened at Armstrong Cut, just west of Johnsonburg, and closed the Cut-Off for a month. This led the DL&W to install rockslide detectors at Colby Cut, which was at the western portal of the tunnel. 

In the 1970s, a concrete lining was installed to attempt to prevent drainage issues, however this solution proved ineffective, and the tunnel would continue to have drainage issues. 

After Conrail abandoned the Cut-Off in 1983, and ripped up the rails in 1984, the tunnel sat abandoned until work recommenced on the Lackawanna Cut-off Restoration Project on January 16, 2023. Work began by clearing trees around the site, and also included clearing the still-standing rockslide detectors. Work then proceeded further to blast the western portal of the tunnel to cut back to under 1000 feet, in order to prevent the need of a ventilation system in the tunnel. This blasting was done on September 12, 2023, and work is still underway as of now to get the tunnel to modern standards.