New Jersey Museum of Transportation

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.

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
Established1952 (1952)
LocationWall Township, New Jersey
located within Allaire State Park
Coordinates40.160130°N 74.129861°W / 40.160130; -74.129861
TypeRailroad museum
CollectionsSee "Collections" for list
FounderJames Wright
Jay L. Wulfson
Pierre "Pete" Rasmussen
Nearest parkingOn-site
Websitewww.njmt.org

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 Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California.

Initially a 2.5-acre (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 OwnerNumberWheel ArrangementBuilderAcquiredSoldStatusMore
Raritan River Sand Co.100-4-0TBaldwin Locomotive Works19501959[3]
Hope Natural Gas Company30-4-0TH. K. Porter, Inc19561960[4]
Raritan Copper Works90-4-0TH. K. Porter, Inc1956In storage[5]
Ely-Thomas Lumber Co.6Two-Truck ShayLima Locomotive Works1955Under restoration[6]
Chiriqui Land Co.462-6-0H. K. Porter, Inc1969Under restoration[7]
Cavan and Leitrim Railway34-4-0TRobert Stephenson & Co.1959In storage
Lehigh Valley Coal Company1170-4-0TVulcan Iron Works2005On display[8]
Jackson Model 4000 Track Tamper2005Under restoration[9]

Additional equipment

According to recorded commentary heard in June 2018, the train being run consisted of: a small narrow-gauge diesel engine built in 1942 for the United States and originally operated in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, a passenger coach built in 1902 for the narrow-gauge Newfoundland Railway and marked for its last owner Canadian National Railway, an open car converted by the museum from a narrow-gauge flatcar built for the United States in the 1940s and also originally operated in Hawaii, and a caboose built for the standard-gauge Central Railroad of New Jersey and now riding on narrow-gauge trucks. Staff on site also identified the station building as the Allenhurst station moved to the museum site, and ten stone sleepers on the ground as artifacts rescued by a donor from the Camden and Amboy Railroad right of way.[10]

Sunken engines

In 1985, two 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.[11] Further identification of these engines occurred in 2004 when a team of diving and railroad enthusiasts working along with the History Channel production team investigated the engines. After viewing several digital images it was discovered, through the evidence of several artifacts on the engines, that they were Civil War-era Planet Class 2-2-2[lower-alpha 1] locomotives from between 1850 and 1855.[12][13]

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.[13]

Notes
  1. Planet Class were actually 2-2-0, 2-2-2 was the enlarged successor Patentee class.

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. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. 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. Recorded commentary during train ride, heard June 2, 2018, and statements by staff on the same date.
  11. Shiffman, John (19 September 2004). "Old trains discovered off N.J. coast are called 'real archeological find'". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  12. LuBrant, James (4 July 2007). "The Holy Grail of Railroading - A Most Unusual Find" (PDF). Retrieved 25 March 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. Boyd, Ellsworth (July 2005). "Train Wrecked". Sport Diver. 13 (6): 12. ISSN 1077-985X. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
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