Beesley's Point Future

Would it need to be a bigger tourist attraction than Cape May? CMSL hasn't run there in a decade. ( I know. Somebody stole some spikes and rail braces back in 2012 but that would have been repaired years ago if the service wasn't a money loser and the Cape May Canal moveable bridge wouldn't have fallen into the state of disrepair it's in now.)

I’m not sure. CMSL has a number of Budd RDC cars so I’m thinking if they ever reopen to Cape May, have a transfer in Tuckahoe using those. One car fits 90 or so people with room for luggage on the overhead racks, and there’s no need for a locomotive.

Another thing they might want to consider is bringing the speed up to 15 MPH if possible. At 10 MPH between Tuckahoe and BL England the ride could be somewhat long...

Sounds like another rail trail in the future.

Dcell wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:04 pm Sounds like another rail trail in the future.

ew.

if only NJT would reopen the Ocean City Line. I could see it being used pretty heavy in the summers, but for the other 8-9 months out of the year, no one would take it. Hardly anyone lives in these shore towns year-round anymore

Google maps shows the most of the ROW is still there AND unimpeded, with tracks being intact in one or two spots on the "island"

There’s a few problems with going to Ocean City. NIMBYS are obviously one of the biggest obstacles, but the ROW only goes up to a certain point and not onwards to the old train station. This would be fine for anyone who’s only going for the beach but most of the attractions are gonna be north of where the existing track ends by a few miles and I don’t think Ocean City wants any street running trains.

That's true. The development in OC since trains last ran to it is insane, crazy to think that the NIMBYs there have so much power even though they reside there for maybe 3-4 months of the year. The furthest you can get the train to is around the ACME supermarket in Ocean City. The tracks that are still left there are not too far from there.

That being said, the Coastline, which is the quintessential Jersey Shore railroad, has most of its stops pretty far away from not only attractions (think Point Pleasant), but also the beaches. Yet in the summers, people still pack the trains to and from these destinations.

If it's such an issue, NJT could run a shuttle from the station down to, say, the convention center there, and back. Make that shuttle only run from May to September, or something.

While this is fun to talk about the chances of OC having a line return are near zero. If it was warmer longer/year-round in Jersey, I'm sure NJT would still be servicing it.

https://www.stb.gov/proceedings-actions/filings/

Cape May Seashore Lines, Inc. (“CMSL”), a Class III railroad, files this Verified Notice
of Exemption (“Notice”), pursuant to 49 C.F.R. § 1180.2(d)(7), for CMSL’s acquisition of local
trackage rights over a line of railroad owned by New Jersey Transit Corporation (“NJ Transit”)
pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement among CMSL, NJ Transit and Consolidated Rail
Corporation (“Conrail”).
NJ Transit has agreed to grant local trackage rights to CMSL on a line
of railroad comprised of a portion of the Cape May Branch between MP 27.02± at Winslow
Junction and MP 53.0± at Tuckahoe, and the Ocean City Branch between MP 53.0± at Tuckahoe
and MP 58.7± at Palermo, a total distance of approximately 31.68 miles (the “Subject Trackage”).

Good to hear that most of the line will be preserved. It's been a hard lesson, I'd reckon, by NJT and other rail companies that it would be better to let short lines/small companies dabble with whatever OOS lines they have than to abandon them and/or let them get converted into rail trails. Land is not cheap anymore, and even if you have the ROW putting those tracks back in after getting the removed will be a nightmare.

Wonder they got in the works. The filing mostly mentions freight movements so maybe that’s what we can expect? Maybe take all those stored cars off the Cape May Branch and move them to BL England? Maybe they’ll pick up some customers north of Tuckahoe? Like the Old Castle aggregate place.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:33 am Wonder they got in the works. The filing mostly mentions freight movements so maybe that’s what we can expect? Maybe take all those stored cars off the Cape May Branch and move them to BL England? Maybe they’ll pick up some customers north of Tuckahoe? Like the Old Castle aggregate place.

According to the filing, Conrail still has overhead rights to BL England. The Beesley's Pt Industrial track ( where BL England is located) was not granted to CMSL, so it looks like they cannot move cars to that site. Atlantic Sweetener at the Folsom Team track is the only consignee on that section of track and even then I think they get less that 50 cars a year.

CR8776 wrote:

Atlantic Sweetener at the Folsom Team track is the only consignee on that section of track

I'm surprised that section is not served by SRNJ. They are quite close by,

@JohnFromJersey "That being said, the Coastline, which is the quintessential Jersey Shore railroad, has most of its stops pretty far away from not only attractions (think Point Pleasant), but also the beaches. Yet in the summers, people still pack the trains to and from these destinations."

From Long Branch south, the beach, boardwalk, and other attractions are about a mile from the railroad, easily walking distance for most. Otherwise, there are plenty of cabs and Uber available. I did okay during the summer months driving a taxi around Asbury and Bradley Beach. Sometimes Asbury ran a free shuttle from the station to the boardwalk. Rail service a mile or so from the beach isn't a big deal.

I underestimated how far the Acme in OC is; it's almost 2 miles to the boardwalk, and another 1.5 miles from there to any attractions. Plus, on those beach towns, there's a bunch of restaurants, etc. on the way, which doesn't seem like the case for OC.

They'd either need street runners or frequent shuttle service from the station if they brought back OC service. I'd imagine cabs and Ubers and whatnot would eventually start hanging around the hypothetical station when demand materialized.

The P-RSL train station still stands at 10th and Haven and serves as the NJT bus terminal. Good news is that is has been restored and is well maintained. The bulk of the ROW between downtown and 35th ST is intact but is now a bike path. As there is no desire whatsoever for train service to return, at least until gas hits $7.00 a gallon, things will remain SOP for the foreseeable future, if not forever.

Another thing is, NJT has a bus that runs from the Atlantic City train station to Ocean City. So which would be faster and/or cheaper? Probably the bus would be cheaper but is there enough ridership to justify the faster and more expensive train?

I say have the train run to Cape May where seasonal congestion seems to be a far bigger issue there, or at least it was pre-pandemic. Unsure how traffic is now.