NJ's Best Amusement Park Trains

I remember the train ride at the amusement park at Lake Hopatcong! It was unusual in that it actually crossed the paved areas where people walked - I remember it well, now. I can "see" the lady who ran the train - that is funny. She must have been in her late 40's back then, at least 35 years ago...wow....... I remember riding on the train, but I can't remember what it looked like.

So Turtle Back Zoo still exists? I used to go there a lot as a kid, but I can't remember any train ride! How odd.... I used to ride any train I could find...!

Great thread, by the way. I've really enjoyed this one.
BigDell

I haven't been to GA in years but it seems they removed the train when Six Flags took over. The last time I was there was in the late 80's and you could see where the track use to be. the fences along both sides of the track were there and you could see where they replaced a piece of concrete that were their was a grade crossing at a sidewalk.

Turtle Back Zoo, run by Essex County still has two trainsets and still operates daily. I have two boys under five and we go there about 4 times a year. Free with park admission.

Van Saun Park in Bergen County has a nice train ride too. I believe they have only one trainset, didn't see any others. $.50 per ride. It runs around their County Zoo.

Land of Make Believe in Hope still runs a train through the park too. Free with admission.

The Morristown & Erie rebuilt the track for a train ride in Roxbury at a municipal park a few years ago. I remember seeing a picture in the local paper of the guys pounding the half size spikes into new ties. Have not been there to see it though.

The Gingerbread Castle in Hamburg had a train ride too. It was sold off after the castle closed in the 1980's. I remember seeing a truck carrying some of the equipment going south on Route 23.

If you have young kids you WILL find these rides. And I have to admit they are pretty fun

Chris

Olympic Park had a nice train ride. There were two runs, the standard one inside the fence that was used most of the time and occasionally a longer run that ran on an extension loop in a field outside the fence. I did had the occasion to ride the longer run a couple of times. Every time I went there, that was ride #1 for me. I belive Olympic Park closed around 1964 or so. By the way the GA train found a new life at Hershey Park. Saw it there a few years back, and one of the engineers confirmed that's where the equipment came from. The engines are still propane fired and the operators of these trains were not teenagers. Going to really age myself, Sea Side Heights, the Kidde Park about the center of the board walk. Back in the fifties an old gentlemen had a live steam engine with several cars that ran on a loop, I believe it was 1-1/2 inch scale. A ride consisted of two times around the loop. Everytime my family went there, I rode the steam train. I always rode at least two trips. An extensive fire destroyed about half the board walk up to and including the Kidde Park. The live steam operation never returned when the boardwalk was rebuilt.

There is a train at Bowcraft Amusement Park on Route 22 in Scotch Plains. I believe it is the same model as the one in Van Saun Park. It travels around a loop of track around the outside of the park, there are plastic animals and other scenery placed trackside.

Anyone else remember the train that used to run around Hunt's Pier in Wildwood? That too was a park train similar to those in Bowcraft and Van Saun. I believe that one was removed in the early 90's.

transit383 wrote:There is a train at Bowcraft Amusement Park on Route 22 in Scotch Plains. I believe it is the same model as the one in Van Saun Park. It travels around a loop of track around the outside of the park, there are plastic animals and other scenery placed trackside.

Anyone else remember the train that used to run around Hunt's Pier in Wildwood? That too was a park train similar to those in Bowcraft and Van Saun. I believe that one was removed in the early 90's.

Yeah, it's not too far from my home. I rode the train as a kid MANY times. Didn't know they removed it though.

OK guys! Here it is! The real thing!

Own your own "Amusement Park Size Operating Steam Locomotive"

http://www.whistlestoptrains.com/ddollar1.html

I'm sure it costs a small fortune.

The Jenkinson's Beach Train station was what is now the public restrooms across from the aquarium. The north turn around loop was where the pro volleyball courts are now, just south of what's called the inlet pavilion at the foot of Broadway. The rails and rolling stock are still in storage as far as I know.

A couple of years ago I asked the operator of the Bowcraft train how fast it can actually go.
he claimed it can travel as high as 110 MPH and it is diesel powered.
I find it VERY HARD to believe that the Bowcraft train can travel at that high rate of speed but then again, I don't have much knowledge on these types of vehicles.

Now--don't be shocked by this--but I suspect that the operator at Bowcraft was joshing you.

BigDell wrote:

When GA first opened, they had a train ride with four Crown 4-4-0s, propane fired, over in the general area of Congo Rapids. I think the gauge was two foot. The cars were open flats, and had air brakes, which came off a truck compressor chain driven from the lead driving axle of the engine. House air for fire-up and initial main reservoir charging, of course.

Thats it! I remember!!!! I knew there was some sort of train.... back in the 70's, I was still in high school. wow.......
I'd love to know what happened to the equipment. It was actually a nice little ride. I remember it was near the water...

Interesting point. Most of those rides are indeed run by kids as a summer job. That eliminates the possibility of any rides with a "skilled operator" at the controls. Just a lot of computer programming and engineering. The actual operation of the ride would just be a start/stop switch for the operator... Hmmmmm...

Anyway, thanks for the info on the GA train!
BigDell

I was one of the engineers on GA's Great Train ride during the "75 and "76 seasons . There were five of us, and it was the one ride that was not run by "kids", since a boiler license was required. Two were retired school custodians, and the other three (myself included) were railfans with experience with the steamers at Pine Creek.

I can draw a positive cause-and-effect line from my dad taking me to Becker's Farm to my current employment with NJT (and posting here!)

was one of the engineers on GA's Great Train ride during the "75 and "76 seasons . There were five of us, and it was the one ride that was not run by "kids", since a boiler license was required. Two were retired school custodians, and the other three (myself included) were railfans with experience with the steamers at Pine Creek

I rode that train a lot at GA back then... That would have been my sophomore/junior year in HS! Wow.... You were probably the engineer on some of those trips... Amazingly small world! Was it a blast to do or did you get over the thrill pretty quickly? Any good "war stories" from carting us teens and such around those two years??
BigDell

Here's a few updates and corrections on the trains mentioned here. The original Turtle back Zoo trains are/were Chance Maunufaturing Co. products. The locos are their standard 4-2-4 C.P. Huntington model. The reason they have/had Erie-Lackawanna heralds on the engines is that the E-L Track Department built the track. I grew up in West Orange and remember well the building of the zoo.

The railroad at Van Saun Park has three Chance trains all powered by their 4-4-0 General model. My wife and I and my in-laws took out daughter there many times whne she was little and we always rode the train. Some of the guys operating it are/were retired Engineers and Conductors form the Erie and Erie-Lackawanna RR's. The train cirlces the Bergen County Zoological Park, as it is now called, which is a beautiful place to take the kids. When we first went about 14 years ago they only had two trainsets but acquired another several years later. On busy days two trains are run to handle the crowds.

I was glad to learn that things at Turtle Back Zoo had improved. My wife and I took our daughter there about 8 or 9 years ago and things were a mess. Only one train was servicable and the center drive wheels(which aren't powered) were missing from the engine running that day. The entire place was very rundown,

When Olympic Park closed the two trains were sold. One is/was at Fairy Tale Forest in Oakridge, NJ, on Oakridge Road near the NYS&W tracks and the other is at Wild West City in Netcong, NJ. The one in Fairy Tale Forest was involved in an accident several years ago in which it rolled over alledgedly due to excessive speed.

It was Gene Becker, son of Henry E. Becker who last owned Becker's Dairy Farm in Roseland, NJ. Gene passed away in April of 2003. When he closed the Centerville & Southwestern RR in 1972 he donated everything except the steam locomotive 4-8-4 No. 1503 to the Monmouth County Park System. The park authority never proceeded with plans to relay the railroad and with Gene's blessing everything was donated to the Phillipsburg RR Musuem which has set up a short stretch of track and restored one of the two remaining diesel locos to operation.

Gene donated the steamer to the Henry Ford Mueum in Greenfield, Michigan, after lengthly negotiations only to have them auction it off a few year later to the founder of Domino's Pizza. The fellow in turn sold it to a private party in Michigan where it remains a last I heard.

Is there still a train ride at Allaire airport in Wall Township? Does anyone remember it?