Excerpt from The Roustabout Issue #40 Published by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Historical Society, Inc. Winter 2021
Jacques “Jac” Belet was born in Switzerland in 1887 and spent some time there as a youth so he had a knowledge of French and Italian which helped him with the Italian laborers. His railroad career started with the NYS&W as part of a section gang out of Two Bridges, NJ “Beaver Lake” around 1910.
On July 13, 1913, John Runion, a prosperous businessman from Tranquility, NJ and Belet’s Father-In-Law, sent him a letter of a job opportunity in the DL&W.
In August 1914 he joined the DL&W as a section foreman on the New Jersey Cut-Off. He and his gang were in charge of Section 806 from Johnsonburg, NJ to Blairstown, NJ. In the 1938 he became section foreman on Section 68 of the Sussex Branch stationed out of Newton, NJ. He retired from that position in 1948.
Section 806 had a section house and tool house on the Cut-Off that was located within sight of the Marksboro-Silver Lake Road overpass at Kerrs Corner which was about midway between Johnsonburg and Blairstown. The Cut-Off was three tracks wide with a siding at this location. I have no information on his original gang on the Cut-Off other than an early 1910’s photo of him and five others on the handcar at Blairstown.
By the late-1980s, Frelinghuysen Township Mayor Charles Rydell was the longest serving mayor in the State of New Jersey, about 40 years. His farm in Johnsonburg was bisected by the Cut-Off.
Periodically the section gangs were rated for the quality of their work including ditches & banks, policing, ballast, buildings & grounds, line, surface, spacing of ties, spiking, joints & bolts, switches & sidings. A copy of December 1914 Inspection of Tracks Report shows that the Section 806 crew was rated second place
The next series of photos were taken in the 1920’s at Kerrs Corner. He is the individual shown in these photos. I have no information on who took them or for what purpose, but they document the area of 90+ years ago.
View 1 is looking toward Johnsonburg showing the four tracks the signal bridge, the tool house, and the stacked rail.
Note the white stones on the left embankment by the bridge. They spell out “Lackawanna”. Also, note the dry masonry stone wall on the right. Belet even did things like that at his home in Paulina, NJ. One of these was the construction of a large fireplace in the back of the property along the Paulins Kill that was part of his grandchildren’s’ playground that included the fireplace with a bronze bust of Lincoln (someone just needed this in the 1980s and pried it out and his initials JB 1949 on the chimney piece. Much of the playground was destroyed in the flooding of August 1955. It would be interesting if any of this stone work at the foot of the bridge is still there under all of the over growth after nearly 100 years along the old ROW.
Again, note the condition of the ballast, the grass, the edging, flower beds, etc.
Views 7 & 8 appear to be Section 806 and show the east-west sidings west of Johnsonburg, but are labelled as west of Blairstown for the water towers supplied by Cedar Lake in Blairstown.
From a January 1939 Roster of Section Foreman and Laborers for Division there were two members of the section gang Carmelo Carruba with a June 1920 hire date and Gilbert Cosner with a December 1923 hire date. (Full List to follow this article) However, a 1942-43 DL&W Pass was issued to him and 10 employees.
Belet obtained his Explosives License from the Department of Interior on 12 April 1918. He used this on the railroad over the years and after he retired he did work for Blairstown Township when they were building the new Sunset Hill Road along the Paulins Kill near the present day Blairstown Elementary School. Also during Hurricane Diane in August 1955, he was asked by the NYS&W foreman in Blairstown to set a charge to relieve the pressure against the bridge in Paulina.
While he was the section foreman on the Sussex Branch he was the Special District Fire Warden for the area.
He was a member of the Lackawanna Railroad Masonic Association and the Lackawanna Railroad Veterans Association.
The last photo is of Jacques Belet with Mike Tozzi (on the right) who was MOW Foreman on the Cut-Off and Eugene Morgan (on the left) who was section foreman for Section 807 on the Cut-Off. This photo was taken at the Blairstown station in the late 30’s or the early 40’s.
(All photos and printed items are from the collection of Jacques Belet’s grandson, Fred W. Heilich III).
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