New Jersey Museum of Transportation

For the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway located in Pennsylvania, see Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway.
New Jersey Museum of Transportation & Pine Creek Railroad Museum

The Ely-Thomas Lumber Company No. 6 train
Location within Monmouth County, New Jersey
Established 1952 (1952)
Location Wall Township, New Jersey
located within Allaire State Park
Coordinates 40°09′36″N 74°07′47″W / 40.160130°N 74.129861°W / 40.160130; -74.129861
Type Railroad museum
Collections See "Collections" for list
Founder James Wright
Jay L. Wulfson
Pierre "Pete" Rasmussen
Nearest parking On-site
Website www.njmt.org

The New Jersey Museum of Transportation is a museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, and operation of historic railroad equipment. The organization runs excursion trains on a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge tourist railroad named the Pine Creek Railroad. The museum is independently operated along with the Allaire Village and is located in Allaire State Park in New Jersey.[1] The museum runs Santa Special trains on the weekends in December.

History

The origins of the New Jersey Museum of Transportation began with the purchase of a Baldwin 0-4-0T engine from the Raritan River Sand Company in 1952 by a pair of railroad enthusiasts. This first engine was named the Pine Creek No. 1 and was eventually sold to the Walt Disney company, where it was overhauled and renamed the #4 Ernest S. Marsh. The engine is still in use today at the California theme park.

Initially a 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) plot of land on Route 9 in Marlboro was purchased where the railroad was run as a tourist attraction, but in 1952 when the organization was facing large property tax increases the not-for-profit Pine Creek Railroad Division of the New Jersey Museum of Transportation was formed and the operations were moved to its present day location in Allaire State Park.

While the Pine Creek railroad loop runs adjacent to the abandoned Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad that skirts the park (now known as the Edgar Felix Bikeway), it was never part of that rail line right-of-way.

Collection

The following is only a partial listing of equipment that has been or is currently at the Museum.[2]

Original Owner Number Wheel Arrangement Builder Acquired Sold Status More
Raritan River Sand Co. 10 0-4-0T Baldwin Locomotive Works 1950 1959 [3]
Hope Natural Gas Company 3 0-4-0T H. K. Porter, Inc 1956 1960 [4]
Raritan Copper Works 9 0-4-0T H. K. Porter, Inc 1956 In storage [5]
Ely-Thomas Lumber Co. 6 Two-Truck Shay Lima Locomotive Works 1955 Under restoration [6]
Chiriqui Land Co. 46 2-6-0 H. K. Porter, Inc 1969 Under restoration [7]
Cavan and Leitrim Railway 3 4-4-0T Robert Stephenson & Co. 1959 In storage
Lehigh Valley Coal Company 117 0-4-0T Vulcan Iron Works 2005 On display [8]
Jackson Model 4000 Track Tamper 2005 Under restoration [9]

Sunken engines

In 1985, two Civil War-era steam engines were found side by side and in an upright position by charter boat Captain Dan Lieb in 90 feet (27 m) of water 5 miles (8.0 km) off the coast of Long Branch.[10] The origins of these engines remained a mystery until 2004 when a team of diving and railroad enthusiasts working along with the a History Channel production team investigated the engines. After viewing several digital images it was discovered, through the evidence of several artifacts on the engines themselves, that the engines were Planet Class 2-2-2 locomotives from between 1850 and 1855.[11][12]

On September 25, 2004, the New Jersey Museum of Transportation was granted custody of the two engines by US District Judge Joseph Irenas. The museum hopes one day to raise the relics for display and interpretation at the museum.[12]

References

  1. ↑ New Jersey Museum of Transportation web site, retrieved December 19, 2011
  2. ↑ "Projects". New Jersey Museum of Transportation. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Raritan River Sand Company No. 10". Projects. New Jersey Museum of Transportation, Inc. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Hope Natural Gas Co. No. 3". Projects. New Jersey Museum of Transportation, Inc. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Raritan Copper Works No. 9". Projects. New Jersey Museum of Transportation, Inc. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Ely-Thomas Lumber Co. No. 6". Projects. New Jersey Museum of Transportation, Inc. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Chiriqui Land Co. No. 46". Projects. New Jersey Museum of Transportation, Inc. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Lehigh Valley Coal Company No. 117". Projects. New Jersey Museum of Transportation, Inc. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Jackson Model 4000 Track Tamper". Projects. New Jersey Museum of Transportation, Inc. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  10. ↑ Shiffman, John (19 September 2004). "Old trains discovered off N.J. coast are called 'real archeological find'". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  11. ↑ LuBrant, James (4 July 2007). "The Holy Grail of Railroading - A Most Unusual Find" (PDF). Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  12. 1 2 Boyd, Ellsworth (July 2005). "Train Wrecked". Sport Diver. 13 (6): 12. ISSN 1077-985X. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
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