CMSL Cape May New Jersey Seashore Lines Passenger Operations

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 28, 2024 5:08 pm 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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Doesn't matter. People aren't going to park at Rio Grande, wait and pay 10 dollars or more for a round trip train ride for each member of the family, then wait for a Jitney to take them where they want to go. Impatience is part of human DNA. This makes 0 sense economically for either CMSL or TNJ. The coolness of doing this only applies to a very small fragment of the population.

And a segment that is sadly shrinking

@WashingtonPark True, but from what I can tell most of Cape Mays tourist attractions and whatnot are towards the southwest end of town, a few blocks from the train station. Many passengers who rode the RDC excursions walked down there and stayed for a few hours before catching the return train to Rio Grande, so many may not make use of the Jitney. That said, I don't see why the Jitney can't be timed to be at the station within 5 minutes or so of a train arriving, kinda like how the taxis and busses did in Long Branch when I still railfanned there.

I know Atlantic City has a jitney system from their train station with a ton of other stops in town. Closest comparison I can make. Wonder what their ridership is like between Memorial and Labor Day weekends...

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WashingtonPark wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2024 10:11 am Some of the information comes from the rail bike people who have been told not to worry about their business as there will be no trains running to Cape May again. Never is a long time and things may change but it is not in anybody's future plans. According to those working in the Cape May station the bridge needs massive work, not just a few wooden guides as a quick fix, now in the millions, and there are no plans by anybody to do it. The people running the train shows at Tuckahoe have said the track improvements are for storage which is very lucrative. Weed clearing around Cold Springs is for the rail speeders. You might consider this negative information but that doesn't change whether it's right or not. If you have any real information by somebody who would know that there's any plans whatsoever to undertake this massive project to run tourist trains to Cape May please post it and who you got it from. We would all like some positive news on this.

I get my information from the only one who is the most informative.

On August 17th, CMSL will be hosting motorcar rides out of Rio Grande. Train show will also be that day at the firehouse.

The motorcars will take passengers along the Cape May Branch between Rio Grande and Wildwood Junction. Rode them last year and it was a real eye opener as to the condition of the Cape May Branch

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Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 12:28 pm On August 17th, CMSL will be hosting motorcar rides out of Rio Grande. Train show will also be that day at the firehouse.

The motorcars will take passengers along the Cape May Branch between Rio Grande and Wildwood Junction. Rode them last year and it was a real eye opener as to the condition of the Cape May Branch

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Me too--Tracks are in great shape. In the future the trip could be longer.

Hopefully plan on being there with some others. Hope it's a good day to encourage attendance.

I plan on attending. Depends on what my schedule looks like.

Quick question, at any point in it's history has CMSL ever ran on the line to Cape May Point? When was the last train?

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CMSL never ran to Cape May Point. Have to check with my brother-in-law who was working for Conrail at the time but it was shortly after passenger service stopped between Winslow Jct. and Cape May. By 1985 Conrail had shut the whole track down from the Canal Bridge to Cape May.

OK. I was curious since this Branch was brought up in previous conversations. Pity the crossings are paved over, otherwise it would make a great railbike/motorcar excursion line.

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Yesterday I went down to Rio Grande to ride the motorcars and go to the train show. On the ride home I checked out the branch between there and Tuckahoe, and documented what I saw. First up, here's the track conditions at Wildwood Junction looking towards Rio Grande.
At Cape May Court House looking south.
Curiously, the crossing at Mechanic Street had a brand new electric meter which was powered up, but it seems no power was going to the relay case. Other crossings also had new meters but i only have a picture of this one.
Also at Court House, two abandoned Boston and Maine RDC-9s...

This is part one of what I've seen. I'll post the rest when I have the time. Maybe later tonight. Have some pictures of the vandalized track near Dennis, and of some construction going on in Tuckahoe.

Part 2. Here's Petersburg Rd in Dennis looking towards Tuckahoe.
Other side of the road still looking north. This road crossing was repaired recently...
Looking south now, notice all the missing tie plates. I believe this is where the vandalism occurred...

Moving on to Tuckahoe. Nothing new in the yard, but towards the back end of the property something is going on. Looks like some form of site preparation...

I don't have a picture but there also seemed to be hundreds of new ties in storage back there. They were off the to left behind the tree line. Since the work from Richland to Winslow is finished, I'm curious as to what they may be for...

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Whoops. Forgot to show this. I believe it's owned by the CMSL. It was parked next to the water tower.

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Thanks for documenting this! I didn’t know there were still of couple of the RDC’s stuck down there. I was under the impression all of that stuff was moved to Tuckahoe with the other equipment. I wonder what the deal is with them.

Your welcome. I assume they purchased those at some point to either use as parts or to use in between cab cars. With the track in shambles in Dennis, they are effectively stranded there along with three gondola cars in Cape May. There used to be more freight cars down there, but they were removed a few years ago. Don't know what happened to them.

I'm curious as to what all those new ties are for. Perhaps Richland to Tuckahoe is next on the repair list?

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