Old PRSL sites in South Jersey

The station is still there in Cape May

If you stop at the Cold Spring Village parking lot on Rt. 9 you can see both the Rio Grande Station and the Woodbine Junction tower, both having been relocated from their original sites. I'm always more fascinated by the more subtle remains however. The Wildwood Junction station was still barely standing the last time I visited it about a half dozen years ago, but it's a little more off off the beaten path. If you get there via the Garden State Parkway, you can look to the East and see the fill from the abandoned grades crossing the saltmarsh on the former lines that went to Wildwood, Sea Isle City and Ocean City. A few poles are left on them as well. The best views are from the north-bound lanes. I've explored much of them by kayak. I hope to do it again soon, this time with a camera. 

There was an Engineer who used to send the Locomotive Engineers' Journal photos of PRSL Budd cars and Baldwin AS-16's taken around Millville, NJ.  Anything still in existence there?

My wife owns a summer home in Cape May and we go there during summer months. The tracks of the old Penn Reading Seashore lines still go into Cape May City. The line is still there and under lease from New Jersey Transiy to a small operation called the Cape May Seashore Lines. Several years ago vandals did track damage and while the RR company is still in business at the North End trains  have not run to Cape May for years. A significant historical structure, the Cape May swinging bridge is still there, the Cape May Station and as pointed out the station and tower at Cold Spring Village. The tracks extending to Wildwood, and Ocean City were removed years ago but some of the ROW is still there. The PRR line that came through Woodbine and terminated at Sea Isle City is now a rail trail. The tracks on the Cape May point branch are still there but have been out of service since the large Harbeson Walker Magnesite plant closed in 1982. The local trolley tracks that once ran from Sunset Beach to Sewells Point disappeared years ago as did the PRR "Fishermans" special tracks that ran to Schellengers Landing to the pier at the Lobster House Restaurant.

Lots of RR history there but no trains right now.

Thank you, Dennis.

Peter

Cape May was beautiful! A charming Victorian town. My wife and I had a blast....it was our 31 anniversary. 

I saw plenty of evidence of the ROW of the PRSL.....the lines into Wildwood and Cape May are easily spotted. The swing bridge over the Cape May canal looks fine. 

In Cape May, the old PRSL station was the Visitor Center. It hasn't seen a train in a while.

Here are a few pics.....we stayed at the Peter Shields Inn, a very nice B&B.

Here's our hotel and a view from the porch.

A great trip....talking to some of the townspeople, they would welcome resumption of light rail service to Cape May.

Peter

Leaving Cape May we passed through Bridgeton NJ on Rte 49......here is another PRSL station being used as a Visitor Center.

Pretty good pics, taken from the car.

Peter

I was there in the area in July, Wildwood, Cape May, we took the Ferry to Lewis DE. on the way home.

Peter,

   Thanks for posting your pictures. Looks like the stations are holding up well.

Tom

The Peter Shields Inn is a great place to stay. While our P/T summer residence is in Cape May we often dine at the Peter Shields Inn and are very familiar with it.  The chef is excellent, has been there a long time and the food is gourmet quality both in preparation, taste and presentation.  Glad that you saw Cape May in fall. During the summer months the city gets pretty crowded. Next time you might want to try the Cape May to Lewes ferry. It should save you a bit of travel time back to Richmond.

As for trains returning to Cape May city, one can only hope that they will be back one day. The Cape May Seashore lines owns the current lease on the line from New Jersey transit but they don't have the funds necessary to restore the tracks. All NJ shore towns once had passenger rail service but today the trains stop around Bay Head and a single line runs W to E to Atlantic City.