CMSL Cape May New Jersey Seashore Lines Passenger Operations

This thread is for the discussion of CMSL Passenger / Tourist / Excursion operations.

Please note that while honest critique of the operation is welcome, this is not the place to settle scores. This is a private organization, and not a Yelp! review site. Railroad.net is NOT liable for what's posted here, but if it's inflammatory or libelous we will delete it and investigate. CMSL is a private operation, not a not-for-profit.

We'd like please to keep it constructive and honest.

I personally agree with Jeff and David's decisions to stop the sad state of affairs that overwhelmed the forums that many of us would like to enjoy as a hobby, not a profession. As an Ocean County boy who grew up to be a South Jersey "Jerseyanna" student and learns something new every day about my birthplace and region, I am going to miss the narratives that inform us of happenings on the Southern Secondary. I, and many friends, would love to see Clayton use the rails again. Who knows what the future holds but I will be saddened not to be updated by our many railfan/observer friends because of the actions of some. I hope that lessons are learned and Railroad.net can continue in this endeavor as intended. Your friend Teeman1770

An article updated a few months ago regarding Cape May Seashore Lines
http://m.capemaycountyherald.com/commun ... l?mode=jqm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

We have a summer home in Lower Township and are there twice a month in summer. When we go over the overgrown CMSL tracks and see them inactive, it evokes a feeling of sadness. The shore towns were built and thrived because of the railroad but today the tracks are silent.
Restoring service to Cape May would be great for the city, for tourism and for eliminating highway congestion into the area. Getting trains running again would be a job of enormous proportions and IMO it would take more than just Tony to step up. Track costs about $1 million a mile to lay down. If the the funds were there, I am certain that Tony would move to get the railroad running again quickly. NJT has the equipment to lay several miles of track in one day but this is not NJT but a small independent railroad line with limited resources.
I choose to stay away from playing the blame game but rather to think of possible solutions. One solution is for the railroad to seek museum non-profit status, apply for a state, local, grants or funding, gather up as many volunteers as possible and go to work. I do not see any other workable alternatives right now. It would be unthinkable if we allow the last remaining rail line to a southern NJ shore town to erode and fade away.

dlagrua wrote:We have a summer home in Lower Township and are there twice a month in summer. When we go over the overgrown CMSL tracks and see them inactive, it evokes a feeling of sadness. The shore towns were built and thrived because of the railroad but today the tracks are silent.
Restoring service to Cape May would be great for the city, for tourism and for eliminating highway congestion into the area. Getting trains running again would be a job of enormous proportions and IMO it would take more than just Tony to step up. Track costs about $1 million a mile to lay down. If the the funds were there, I am certain that Tony would move to get the railroad running again quickly. NJT has the equipment to lay several miles of track in one day but this is not NJT but a small independent railroad line with limited resources.
I choose to stay away from playing the blame game but rather to think of possible solutions. One solution is for the railroad to seek museum non-profit status, apply for a state, local, grants or funding, gather up as many volunteers as possible and go to work. I do not see any other workable alternatives right now. It would be unthinkable if we allow the last remaining rail line to a southern NJ shore town to erode and fade away.

We all have heard all of this MANY times before.

David wrote:
We all have heard all of this MANY times before.

Yes we have but what solution would others suggest? I'd certainly like to hear other ideas and opinions of a positive nature.

dlagrua wrote:

David wrote:
We all have heard all of this MANY times before.

Yes we have but what solution would others suggest? I'd certainly like to hear other ideas and opinions of a positive nature.

YES--All you have to do is look back the last five years on the CMSL thread and you will find every conceivable idea for this line has been examined. Nothing is new in your post. Hundreds have come up with ideas. Many redundant. Please look back.Thank you.

Let's look forward and think about ways that this NJT public asset can be used for the benefit of the public.

I prefer our conversations remain on topic to discussion of new sightings, articles, and pictures posted by members of this forum regarding CMSL passenger operations. Ideas should be submitted to Tony Macrie or NJT since they are the ones who operate and own the rail lines, respectively.

CMSL has updated their website announcing that the Santa trains will run again this year with schedules to be posted in early November. The Cape May - Rio Grande page has also been updated documenting the track damage and lending some hope that operations will resume at some point.

I have been following the progress on CMSL's website for the Santa trains and there has not been any; I am trying to plan a trip early in December for myself, my girlfriend, and her two young nieces for a weekend, will the CMSL actually be running Santa trains this year and post a schedule online? We need to plan at least two weeks ahead for this to make the arrangements with my girlfriend's family to pick up the girls and let them know where we are going. I'm not trying to start a big what for, but does anyone have any information to help me out? If the railfan community generally feels like CMSL won't be running this year that's cool, we'll take a trip out to Strasburg then. My question revolves around the need for planing with her family, not my personal opinion of the CMSL. Any help would be appreciated.

-Ed

The latest update was that they ARE running trains and that the schedule would be posted sometime in November. The website was down yesterday but appears to be back today. Hoping for an update soon as well.

There's a post, from yesterday, on their facebook page that Santa Express trains are coming.

That's weird, I am friends with CMSL on FB and I am not getting any of their status updates, have to look into that.

The CMSL website has been updated with the Santa Express banner. Looks like we should see a schedule any day.