Ocean City Service

Bill, you may want to check this out, it contains the track diagrams for all of the PRSL's interlockings, as well as some related information, including speed limits. http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Prr/M ... _prsl.html. According to the diagrams, maximum passenger speed between Crook Horn and OC station was 45 mph, Tuckahoe to the bridge was 50 mph and Winslow to Tuckahoe was 70 mph. Apparently there were also searchlight signals governing traffic into and out of the station up to at least 1968. I have no recollection of them but do remember the signals and smashboards protecting the bridge. The mast for the westbound signal and a good portion of the rodding that controlled it are still observable along what's left of the ROW west of 51st Street.

Here's a picture I took of the signal mast's remains:


http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~jkz22/oc3.jpg

glennk419 wrote:Bill, you may want to check this out, it contains the track diagrams for all of the PRSL's interlockings, as well as some related information, including speed limits. http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Prr/M ... _prsl.html. According to the diagrams, maximum passenger speed between Crook Horn and OC station was 45 mph, Tuckahoe to the bridge was 50 mph and Winslow to Tuckahoe was 70 mph. Apparently there were also searchlight signals governing traffic into and out of the station up to at least 1968. I have no recollection of them but do remember the signals and smashboards protecting the bridge. The mast for the westbound signal and a good portion of the rodding that controlled it are still observable along what's left of the ROW west of 51st Street.

Both the mast for the westbound distant signal (which stood just west of the end of the 51st Street passing siding) and the mast for the westbound home signal for the bridge still exist...however, the home signal has been knocked to the ground. You just have to look a little bit...look for the armstrong pipes, and watch where they lead, and you'll find the mast on the ROW. A good time to go would be now...no darn flies to deal with, and less summertime tourists to deal with as well (some of these can be just as bad as the flies)...

Mike DiMunno

I was just back there this afternoon. The ROW looks in pretty good shape from West Ave south of 46th street for a few blocks. It looks like it would be a good walk but the only problem seems to be getting out there as there are trenches filled with water and the municipal building has lots of bushes that make getting to the ROW difficult.

I had that problem in the summer. I just followed the right of way from 27th street where I was staying to 51st by staying as close to the bushes as possible. I imagine the view would be better now, if not the access. One neat sight back there was a place where the ground was washed out from under the tracks, and the rails were holding the ties a few feet in the air.

Does anyone know if the station building along 9th St is an old train station? Looks like it is used as a NJT bus stop but it looks conspicuously like a train station, yet there is no evidence of a railroad ever being there.

Yes, the bus station at 10th and Haven is the old PRSL train station. Fortunately the building has at least been retained and restored, even if the trains have been gone for 24 years. If you continue south along Haven Avenue, you will see some remnants of the rail line between roughly 21st and 24th Streets. The ROW is also still largely intact all the way through town, although a good portion of it has been paved over. More track exists along the back yards of West Avenue from 40th to 51st Streets. From 51st Street to the site of the Crook Horn Bridge, the ROW is still intact with ties, a signal mast and some signal rodding still visible, including remnants of the passing siding once located there.

glennk419 wrote:Yes, the bus station at 10th and Haven is the old PRSL train station. Fortunately the building has at least been retained and restored, even if the trains have been gone for 24 years. If you continue south along Haven Avenue, you will see some remnants of the rail line between roughly 21st and 24th Streets. The ROW is also still largely intact all the way through town, although a good portion of it has been paved over. More track exists along the back yards of West Avenue from 40th to 51st Streets. From 51st Street to the site of the Crook Horn Bridge, the ROW is still intact with ties, a signal mast and some signal rodding still visible, including remnants of the passing siding once located there.

And interestingly enough, between 10th Street Station and 12th Street, the tracks are still under that pavement...they were just paved over. Go out there with a metal detector, and you shall see...

Take a look at the roadway there on Haven and 10th. In the middle, you can see a segment that looks out of place...that's the paved over area. The rails are under there.

Also still existing under there are remnants of a switch to Berger Lumber, 11th Street.

Mike DiMunno
www.SJRail.com: All about South Jersey Railroads!

Mike,

Is Berger Lumber the current Shoemaker Lumber? That facility sure looks like it could have been served by rail at one point. Also, other than the team track (on which I do remember seeing boxcars spotted), what other freight customers were served?

glennk419 wrote:Mike,

Is Berger Lumber the current Shoemaker Lumber? That facility sure looks like it could have been served by rail at one point. Also, other than the team track (on which I do remember seeing boxcars spotted), what other freight customers were served?

Shoemaker Lumber is another lumberyard on the line, closer to 12th Street. This was served at one time, though I can't confirm a date when that ended. There were at one time a number of customers between 12th and 10th streets, including (listed from south to north):

Shoemaker Lumber
Burkhard Coal Company
Berger Lumber
Team Track / Delivery Siding

At the end, the only thing that was going in there was boxcars for the team track. That was a once-weekly trip in there by the Tuckahoe local...

Mike DiMunno
www.SJRail.com: All about South Jersey Railroads!

Update from this past weekend...the ROW between 24th and 29th Streets has been paved over as a bike/walking trail. This was the grassy section where Haven Avenue was truncated and the pavement now makes a continuous ride possible from 35th Street all the way to the station. Glad to see that the ROW at least continues to be preserved. On the southern end of the branch, nothing has changed along the ROW other than the evergreens gettings a little taller and the poison ivy returning for the summer. It also looks like some gravel has been dumped in a few spots along the road out to the "bridge", obviously a concession to the fishermen who go out there.

I was walking around the ROW this weekend, too, Sunday morning. I don't suppose you were one of the people I passed? I didn't go to see the ROW from 24th to 29th, though. I'll have to check it out when I go back in September. I always hate to hear of more being paved over but I guess you're right that at least the ROW is preserved.

I was out on the south end on Friday morning and rode the new trail on Saturday. I actually view the new pavement as a positive thing since they did not remove any of the remaining rails between 24th and 21st and you can now easily traverse the ROW through an area that was formerly grass and tire tracks.

glennk419 wrote:I was out on the south end on Friday morning and rode the new trail on Saturday. I actually view the new pavement as a positive thing since they did not remove any of the remaining rails between 24th and 21st and you can now easily traverse the ROW through an area that was formerly grass and tire tracks.

Yeah, I'm usually anti-rail trail, too...I generally tend to lean towards not disturbing railroad ROW's, but in this case, it means that it's preserved well...and there wasn't much to find between those points anyway, so this is only a good thing...

Great report too...I appreciate it. Haven't been down that way for a railroad expedition in some time. Thanks.

Mike DiMunno

Time for my monthly update.....

Over July 4th weekend, I was waverunning behind OC and took a little time to check out the Crook Horn bridge site. Just west of the bridge, either the ROW has washed away or a short wooden deck bridge that was there has collapsed. Remarkably, the rails are still suspended a couple feet above the water, although most of the ties are gone. I was also able to easily view the approach and smash board signal masts which are still standing along the ROW west of the bridge. Nice to see the branch continuing to hold on for dear life.

I also had a chance to ride the CMSL last week. Nice ride as always, they were running push-pull with LV 576 powering the club car and M407, with the RDC being used as a cab car. Although M407 can run under its' own power, M410 remains out of service and they need the extra capacity on the weekends. As much as I love the authenticity of riding in the RDC's, it was also nice to ride one way in the club car and grab a cold drink, plus the ride of the car is remarkably smoother.