Delaware River Railroad Excursions

The excursions run on the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway (BDRV), a Class III short line formed in 1995 when the Black River Railroad System bought Conrail's Delaware Secondary — a right-of-way that began as part of the original Belvidere Delaware Railroad and passed through Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, and Conrail control. Passenger service arrived in 2002, when the town of Phillipsburg, New Jersey partnered with the BDRV to start excursions toward Carpentersville after Trenton declined to back a proposed New Jersey Transportation Museum. In 2003 the New York, Susquehanna and Western Technical and Historical Society joined the partnership, looking for a home for its newly acquired steam locomotive No. 142; the engine was ferried to Phillipsburg over NJ Transit and Norfolk Southern rails in April 2004 and hauled the line's inaugural train on May 1. The society runs its trains under the Delaware River Railroad Excursions name, with all departures originating at Lehigh Junction in Phillipsburg. Volunteers cleared the overgrown line south of Carpentersville beginning in late 2010, and in May 2023 excursions reached Riegelsville, where riders step off at a replica of the Pennsylvania Railroad station that once stood on the same spot.