NJ Transit Set To Celebrate First Camden-Atlantic City Train

As part of Atlantic City’s 150th birthday celebration, the “ghost” of Dr. Jonathan Pitney – regarded as the Father of Atlantic City – will board a NJ TRANSIT train on Thursday, July 1 to re-enact the first Camden-Atlantic Railroad train ride into the City by the Sea.

On July 1, 1854, the first trans-New Jersey train left Coopers Ferry Terminal in Camden and arrived on the then-bare Absecon Island in Atlantic City. The first train carried 600 dignitaries, politicians and members of the press.

On July 1, 2004, NJ TRANSIT Train 4611 will leave 30th Street Station in Philadelphia at 9:30 a.m. to begin the re-enactment with the “ghost” of Dr. Jonathan Pitney, played by Michael Doyle. It’s expected that hundreds of people will be onboard when the train leaves Absecon station at 10:53 a.m. before it reaches Atlantic City station at 11:09 a.m.

“NJ TRANSIT is always interested in ways to promote destinations that our transportation serves,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director George D. Warrington. “Providing promotional assistance to this venture means our current and future customers have more reasons to try transit and enjoy Atlantic City.”

Anyone interested in joining the tour and train ride should contact Michael Doyle at (609) 377-4229. Everyone is welcome to meet Dr. Pitney when he arrives with King Neptune at the Atlantic City train station.

http://www.njtransit.com/ne_pressreleas ... SE_ID=1262

Very cool! If I wasn't so far away, I'd go. Man, that's probably gonna be a long train! Cool!

Awesome!! I just have to remember to wake up early on Thursday to catch a glimpse... I'm near Atco so 4611 gets there at 10:16. I hope I can get some pics. Hopefully they will be using C4's or C5's to make a good impression, there have been alot of C3's down here on the AC Line as of late and they are definately not very impressive.

Lakini717 wrote:Awesome!! I just have to remember to wake up early on Thursday to catch a glimpse... I'm near Atco so 4611 gets there at 10:16. I hope I can get some pics. Hopefully they will be using C4's or C5's to make a good impression, there have been alot of C3's down here on the AC Line as of late and they are definately not very impressive.

Hey Lakini. NJT usually likes to make a good impression about that kind of stuff. The C3s- I like them but a lot don't. These cars looked great when built but these days look run down and compared to the bright interiors of the C4s, C5s and C2Ms, the C3s are pretty dull. But, they have doors that are pretty darn good, they have bells (for the most part- some of them have been replaced with ear piercing door chimes- and having bells makes arrow happy) and they work well together. Throw them in amongst newer Comet cars and they can screw everything up. I hope they are running them in solid sets. In my year and a half of being a railfan, I have yet to see a solid set of 3s.

While I am all for celebrating NJ's history (since we are the epicenter of the revolution and probably did more as a state to win the war than any other), I find the proposed train run pretty pathetic. I find it particularly sad that the reenactment has to leave from Philly, not Camden, and never actually passes through Camden on its way to AC.

NICE! Maybe NJT can keep with the ghosts and re-enact the ghost of the Phoebe Snow for Hoboken's Aniversary in 2007!
How about the Hookerman?

LOL
Steve

Jlo,

Is it possible to connect a NJT train from Camden on the SNJLRT to the Atlantic City line?

Steve

The NJT Atlantic City line goes over the NJT River Line at Delair.

Passenger connections between the two lines is via PATCO at Camden and Lindenwold.

chuchubob wrote:The NJT Atlantic City line goes over the NJT River Line at Delair.

Passenger connections between the two lines is via PATCO at Camden and Lindenwold.

I think he meant a physical connection, Bob.

And as far as that track connection, I don't think there is one between the LINE and the ACL at this time, although I could be wrong.

Apparently there is still a connection on the south side of the former PRSL line. There used to be one on the north side, that the PRR's Nellie Bly used to get between the C&A and the PRSL.

I hope they are running them in solid sets. In my year and a half of being a railfan, I have yet to see a solid set of 3s.

Hi Nick,

The C3's down here are mixed with C4's, mostly cabs with the exception of one train I was on... 5002, 5519 were with a C4. 5002 had the chimes, I thought it sounded pretty cool. A few weeks ago I was riding in 5007 and it had bells... it put a smile on my face since I haven't heard that in a while.

A few of the AC bound trains that I heard passing through town over the last few days have sounded different. Instead of a more high-pitched horn that I normally hear with the C4's and C3's, a few trains have had deeper sounding horns... do the C5 horns sound like this by any chance? This is just an observation that I made and it may mean squat but it's definately a different sound than what I'm used to hearing.

Anywho I'll try and catch #4611 tommorrow morning and hopefully it won't be a let down.

Lakini717 wrote:

I hope they are running them in solid sets. In my year and a half of being a railfan, I have yet to see a solid set of 3s.

Hi Nick,

The C3's down here are mixed with C4's, mostly cabs with the exception of one train I was on... 5002, 5519 were with a C4. 5002 had the chimes, I thought it sounded pretty cool. A few weeks ago I was riding in 5007 and it had bells... it put a smile on my face since I haven't heard that in a while.

A few of the AC bound trains that I heard passing through town over the last few days have sounded different. Instead of a more high-pitched horn that I normally hear with the C4's and C3's, a few trains have had deeper sounding horns... do the C5 horns sound like this by any chance? This is just an observation that I made and it may mean squat.

Anywho I'll try and catch #4611 tommorrow morning and hopefully it won't be a let down.

Yep, there will probably never be a solid set of 3s again. Oh well. It has been my experience that all of the Comet horns (3, 4 and 5) are the same horns. The Comet 3s and 4s though are more bottom heavy and can be VERY loud. The 5s tend to be more top heavy and are still loud but aren't as loud as some of the 3s. Also, on the 3s and 4s, it seems if the paddle isn't applied all the way, the bottom chimes sound and the harder the paddle is pushed, then the higher notes come out. The oppisite seems to be true on the Comet Vs though. The diesels are just LOUD all over. All the chimes activate and are released at the same time and are equal volume. BUT, this seems to be how things are overall but there are flukes on the system. Sometimes some chimes don't work so it sounds bottom or top heavy. Anyway, as you can see, if you're like me and are obsessed with understanding and differentiating the chimes, you can drive yourself crazy.

And don't worry, you'll have Comet Vs down there sooner or later. It's bound to happen. Believe it or not, up here, getting a Comet 4 or 3 cab is a somewhat rare thing (but not nearly as rare as it was when the RVL used exclusively 3, 1B and 4 cabs). If you have gotten this far in reading this long rant, I commend and salute you.

The "special" train will be a 5 car train. A Comet IV will lead (5011) followed by 4 Comet III coaches. Included in the mix is cab car 5000. 4205 will be the locomotive.

The AC press did a story of this a few days ago. It seems the crowd is expected to be much smaller than 300. We'll see what happens...

Notch 8 wrote:The "special" train will be a 5 car train. A Comet IV will lead (5011) followed by 4 Comet III coaches. Included in the mix is cab car 5000. 4205 will be the locomotive.

Right you are. Thanks for the info Notch. I went to Atco station to see the train pull in, it was really nothing special, I've seen/been on 5 car trains before. It looked like a normal load at the station. 4611 is usually one of the more crowded trains... popular with the senior day trippers. It seems that they always use 5011 to lead special trains... it is usually the cab car on the Miss America train each year.