CMSL Cape May (NJ) Seashore Lines Non-Passenger Operations

While some of these ventures may be viable, a publicly available NJ upper court judgment search reveals that Cape May Seashore Lines has many open monetary judgments of record against it aggregating over $300,000. That makes it rather unlikely that CSML could obtain the financing and business partners to engage in such ventures. https://tinyurl.com/CMSLucjsNJ

Ken W2KB wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:28 pm While some of these ventures may be viable, a publicly available NJ upper court judgment search reveals that Cape May Seashore Lines has many open monetary judgments of record against it aggregating over $300,000. That makes it rather unlikely that CSML could obtain the financing and business partners to engage in such ventures. https://tinyurl.com/CMSLucjsNJ

So just out of curiosity, is BR&W also lobbying to run this service?

Glenn. No idea. I am not privy to any BR&W or its affiliates' business matters.

@glennk419 The Southern Secondary has been put up for sale before and Chesapeake and Delaware (the parent company of BR&W) was one of the potential buyers. However, talks of a sale never went past the talking phase, so it’s probably not gonna happen at this point. Plus, NJT isn’t too willing to let go of this line for whatever reason.

South Lakewood to Toms River is owned by Conrail and they want nothing to do with it, so Seashore Lines could take it over. Anything north of Cross Street in South Lakewood is likely to be Conrail territory for the foreseeable future.

@Ken W2KB Another interesting find. I wasn’t aware that Seashore Lines owed these companies money.

At the same time, $300,000 isn’t too terribly much when it comes to railroads. Unless Seashore Lines has trouble making ends meet. I am not aware of the company’s financial status, but they do seem to be doing somewhat okay. They have income generated from their rail car storage and whatever they make off the passenger trains.

So here’s a question.

If Seashore Lines runs two trains a week with 30 cars each from Lakehurst to Woodmansie and back, how much would such a train make annually?

Looks like Conrail came in and spray painted the words “Milepost 65.85” on the abandoned signal tower in Lakehurst recently. Any idea what that’s about?

In addition, the ROW has been completely cleared of weeds for about a mile or so south of Union Ave. There’s tire tracks on the rail head so they might have run a hi-railer recently...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nj.com ... utType=amp

Looks like they have the go ahead to start working on the new Portal Bridge. Does this mean they gotta get this line open soon?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ypcT9cXHZBcV1nsb6

Here’s an update on the work going on in Lakehurst. Not the milepost markings spray painted on some structures.

Also included are pictures of how Union Ave looks. The contractor crew should return to finish the crossing soon.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:16 pm https://photos.app.goo.gl/ypcT9cXHZBcV1nsb6
...Here’s an update on the work going on in Lakehurst. Not the milepost markings spray painted on some structures.
....

Note the CNJ concrete phone booth in the one picture . JS

@pumpers Yep. A number of those are still along the Southern. All have had the phones removed though.

There was a derailment on the Southern Secondary Thursday night at milepost 61.2, where the in service portion of the track ends. The train ran off the end where Conrail tore the rail out so trains can’t go to Lakehurst.

Would anyone know if this means Conrail will have to reopen to Lakehurst? The derailment happened partly because there’s no space to turn large trains around at Cross Street, and Lakehurst has a 25 car long siding, and reopening it could also mean they finally set up an exchange with Seashore Lines for when they are ready...

@Bracdude 181.. Just to confirm.. Are you saying that those cars backed over where the rail was pulled?? Sorry.. Just catching up on this.

@MedicSutton Sorry for the late response.

Yes SA38 pushed the train over where they tore the rail out and the boxcar tipped over into the adjacent ditch.
They did not put the rail back in unfortunately.

David wrote: ↑Thu Dec 10, 2020 8:12 pm Perhaps the two engines I saw in the Clayton Sand facility were pups with the green paint and yellow lettering. They had a trail of hoppers coupled together ready to pull out of the loop .This was in the 70s.

@David,
Green w/yellow on the Southern Secondary in the 1970s screams CNJ! If before C-day it was CNJ. After C-day it could have been Conrail crew in an ex-CNJ loco. (CR did not self off or repaint everything right away) Clayton did not acquire the line until 1985, so it couldn't have been Ashland.

@R&DB If it was CNJ engines then that means we should have CNJ 1523 back on its home rails lol.

Also, Conrail was still doing Lakehurst to Woodmansie as a separate train? That would’ve been cool to see because it means Lakehurst yard stuck around, at least for a little while.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 23, 2021 6:18 pm @R&DB If it was CNJ engines then that means we should have CNJ 1523 back on its home rails lol.

Also, Conrail was still doing Lakehurst to Woodmansie as a separate train? That would’ve been cool to see because it means Lakehurst yard stuck around, at least for a little while.

The engines I saw were pups (2) green with large yellow lettering "Pine Belt".
'They were in the area where they were being loaded with sand. In the 80s. Looking for the pictures. From there we traveled to Winslow Jct and photographed what was left of the water tower on the CNJ.