CMSL Cape May New Jersey Seashore Lines Passenger Operations

I'm not sure if they'd expand down to OC anyways, mainly cause of the potential cost of a new bridge. Wouldn't it have to be a swing bridge of some type?

I understand that not everyone likes trains but in cases like this I really don't get why people think this way, and it's not just Seashore Lines, or railroads in general, that suffer from it either. I still remember when Funtown Pier in Seaside Park was gonna rebuild after the huge 2013 fire, and the towns people came out in droves to oppose it. They drove away one of the towns biggest money makers because "we don't want rides spoiling our ocean views!" It's ridiculous.



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I agree, the people get mad over stuff that will actually benefit them go figure. Tony has a couple towns that hate his operation but don’t know why. Local politics has played a role down there sadly. Maybe others here know more information besides what’s been posted so far.

I always thought it would be a good idea for NJT and CMSL to have some sort of "partnership" in the summers, where from Memorial Day Weekend until Labor Day Weekend, there would be a partnership between the two to run frequent trains from points on/along the AC Line to Cape May, Ocean City, etc. Even in Ocean City's case, a lot of the tracks are still there, the issue of the bridge though makes it difficult.

Doing anything with train lines to these destinations is made hard not just by NIMBYs, but the fact that these lines would only see viable passenger numbers in the summers. I'd imagine if Cape May and Ocean City had regular passenger rail, you'd see the amount of passengers on them be next to 0 for 9 months out of the year. Not exactly sustainable numbers, even with the huge crowds that would come in the summers. You could probably use these hypothetical lines for car storage in the off season to at least make SOME money, but I cannot imagine the NIMBYs would be happy about rail cars being parked in their communities.

I did hear that LBI had a record traffic jam of about 2-3 miles long, from the bridge that goes into it, back. If that's true, then something needs to be done to mitigate all the cars these seaside towns see.

They already got Beesleys Point for storage. Hopefully they get the Industrial Track as well soon.

Funny enough, a connection with the ACL at Winslow was something they wanted back in the day, and NJT wasn't opposed to the idea.
Later today I gotta find the article that references this. Bad news is its behind a pay wall most likely. It's from around 2007

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The big reason tourist trains to the shore won't work today is because of where the stations are. Think of the Cape May idea. You drive to Cape May Zoo, take a train to the station which is a mile from the beach, then get a bus or cab or hoof it to get it. In this day and age who is going to go through all that both ways, keep an eye on the time, etc., instead of just driving to the beach and pay whatever it is to park. The situation's even worse in Ocean City as the station is further away and given the fact the ROW south of the station has been built on in spots who knows where EOT would end up. These lines are only good for people who like train rides. Do you notice Tony only runs specials out of Richland and is not on a regular schedule? There's a monetary reason for this. Daily trains for beach goers would be a big money loser as they don't take you where you want to be. I like train rides and rode to Cape May on a CR train in the late 70s with about 6 other people on their Saturday run. TNJ isn't going to put millions into this that they'll never get back and have to keep plowing into, and even being a train fan, I'm also a taxpayer who doesn't want to see money that could be spent on actual, useful rail transport being wasted on this. I'm just happy the rail bikes and rail speeders are down there and it hasn't been pulled up.

The "park and ride" trains they ran between Rio Grande and Cape May in 2010 were very popular, but it was a shorter ride with better station locations. Rio Grande especially, being right off the Parkway. Was that how it was back in the day? Get on the train near the zoo? It should also be noted that, for the passenger trains, their chances of getting grant money are basically zero. They could get a freight rail grant, but one of the requirements IIRC is finding 2 customers who will consistently use rail shipping, and I'm not sure if any of the people down there who could make use of the train would do so.

I did find a link to the article but unfortunately it seems the article itself is now gone. Might have to see if I can put in the wayback machine.

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Originally they loaded at the zoo which made them a shuttle between the zoo, Cold Springs and Cape May. There was some some kind of kerfluffle that required them to start loading from Rio Grande when they weren't allowed to load at the zoo anymore. The reason escapes me. I was on one of the 2010 trips and it was half full with a lot of rail fans like myself who wanted a ride while it was available. Don't know how it did outside of my one trip but the fact that it only ran 3 days a week for 2 weeks would indicate to me that it was a money loser.

It's possible that was a factor, but I assumed it was because those runs were so close to labor day? Around that time there's less people headed to the shores, especially after Labor Day.

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WashingtonPark wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 4:47 pm The big reason tourist trains to the shore won't work today is because of where the stations are. Think of the Cape May idea. You drive to Cape May Zoo, take a train to the station which is a mile from the beach, then get a bus or cab or hoof it to get it. In this day and age who is going to go through all that both ways, keep an eye on the time, etc., instead of just driving to the beach and pay whatever it is to park. The situation's even worse in Ocean City as the station is further away and given the fact the ROW south of the station has been built on in spots who knows where EOT would end up. These lines are only good for people who like train rides. Do you notice Tony only runs specials out of Richland and is not on a regular schedule? There's a monetary reason for this. Daily trains for beach goers would be a big money loser as they don't take you where you want to be. I like train rides and rode to Cape May on a CR train in the late 70s with about 6 other people on their Saturday run. TNJ isn't going to put millions into this that they'll never get back and have to keep plowing into, and even being a train fan, I'm also a taxpayer who doesn't want to see money that could be spent on actual, useful rail transport being wasted on this. I'm just happy the rail bikes and rail speeders are down there and it hasn't been pulled up.

You hit the nail on the head and to add to it is that train interest isn’t what it was years ago due to a lot less railroad lines and trains running on the ones that do still exist. People aren’t as exposed to trains at young ages like there was years ago. I’m glad he’s kept that area from being a bike trail or possibly forgotten about altogether.

WashingtonPark wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 4:47 pm The big reason tourist trains to the shore won't work today is because of where the stations are. Think of the Cape May idea. You drive to Cape May Zoo, take a train to the station which is a mile from the beach...

It's only about 2,000' to the beach from the Cape May station, and many of the large hotels/motels/BnB's are not much further.

Cape May also offers a Jitney service to get around town and one of the stops is the train station. I believe the service is free. There's also a Jitney to the Lewes-Cape May Ferry for $6. I have a map of Cape Mays Jitney service here.

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True but people love their vehicles too much. It’s also about getting around town even after getting there. Trains can’t do that and Jitneys cost money that folks would rather spend elsewhere. I do get your point .

Double checked, the Jitney is free.

Wouldn't you be paying to park if you go elsewhere in town?

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Did not know the jitney was free. Interesting. And yes, shore towns especially are good for being expensive ha ha.

Railcar1 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2024 7:31 am True but people love their vehicles too much. It’s also about getting around town even after getting there. Trains can’t do that and Jitneys cost money that folks would rather spend elsewhere. I do get your point .

You don't need to drive around Cape May, the town is very walkable. I don't know how much time you spend there but I'm there 4 times a year typically and the only place I'll drive to is Higbee. Other than that, once the car is parked it isn't moving and I have off-street parking.