What are we up to?
The New Jersey Museum of Transportation, Inc. is home to many rare vintage pieces of railway equipment, as well as structures.
This part of the website showcases a sampling of our roster and restoration projects. Please come back again to see our progress.
Roster
The following is a partial listing of equipment that has been or is currently at the Museum. Click on the name of the item for more information.
Raritan River Sand Co. No. 10
Acquired: c. 1950
(sold 1959)
Steam Locomotive
Condition: operational
In April 1925, the Baldwin Locomotive Works built 0-4-0T s/n 58367, which was purchased by the Raritan River Sand Company in Nixon, New Jersey, to become their No. 10. A quarter century later, James Wright and Jay L. Wulfson formed Wright & Wulfson, Inc. to save the saddle tanker from being scrapped. Thus in 1950 Raritan River Sand Company's No. 10 became Pine Creek Railroad's No. 1 (below) for $400. By then, the original wood cab, destroyed in an engine house fire, had been replaced with a steel cab.
In 1953, owing to a rotted-out saddle tank, Pine Creek No. 1 was converted from an 0-4-0T (above) to an 0-4-0 (below) by removing the tank and adding a tender, which was constructed from a Raritan River Sand Company dump car. The tender contained a coal bin and a 250 gallon home heating oil tank for water. Under the auspices of the Cranberry Creek Railroad Company, she was shipped to the Copper Creek Railroad in 1956, but failed her annual state boiler exam, so a Porter 0-4-0T was purchased to replace her.
Around 1959, she was sold to Walt Disney's Roger Broggie, who purchased her as a cost-saving method of acquiring more steam power for their Anaheim, California amusement park, versus building locomotives from scratch, as they had up to that point. For $2,000, plus another $90,000 or so in restoration costs, she became 2-4-0 Santa Fe & Disneyland No. 4, the Ernest S. Marsh (below), which by 1967 had clocked over 50,000 miles at the park, according to railroad historian Gerald M. Best, and still operates today. By the time Disney was done restoring her, all that was left of the original Baldwin were the frame, cylinders, drive wheels, side rods, valve gear and bell. Her new all-welded boiler was made in 1959 by Dixon Boiler Works of Los Angeles.
Evidently Disney once claimed their No. 4 was originally built for a New England lumber mill, perhaps as a more romantic-sounding alternative to a New Jersey sand pit. Some accounts indicate that Pine Creek had sold her to a scrap metal dealer, who then sold it to Disney through a railfan magazine advertisement; however, this has turned out to be apocryphal. Another very tall tale tells of her tender water tank being used to supply steam to the locomotive because she'd failed her boiler test. My, how some information gets mangled over the years! But then there's the true story of No. 1 having gone missing after Disney bought her: for protection, she was shipped to California in a boxcar, and this resulted in her being accidentally routed to Chicago instead.
Specifications
- Weight: 24,000 pounds
- Gauge: 36 inches
- Drivers: 28 inches
- Water capacity: 300 gallons
- Tractive effort: 5,160 pounds
All images are used by permission of Steve DeGaetano.
Hope Natural Gas Co. No. 3
Acquired: 1956
(sold 1960)
Steam Locomotive
Condition: display
Built in 1924 by the H.K. Porter Company of Pittsburgh, this 0-4-0T (s/n 6932) originally belonged to the Hope Natural Gas Company in Clarksburg, West Virginia, as their No. 3, and was sold soon thereafter to the Raritan River Sand Company. Wright & Wulfson bought her in 1956, and added a homemade tender (which only held coal), and a fancy smokestack and cowcatcher; with her functional saddle tank intact, she was rather goofy-looking.
Built in 1924 by the H.K. Porter Company of Pittsburgh, this 0-4-0T (s/n 6932) originally belonged to the Hope Natural Gas Company in Clarksburg, West Virginia, as their No. 3, and was sold soon thereafter to the Raritan River Sand Company. Wright & Wulfson bought her in 1956, and added a homemade tender (which only held coal), and a fancy smokestack and cowcatcher; with her functional saddle tank intact, she was rather goofy-looking.
When Cowboy City was closed down in 1959, the Copper Creek Railroad assets were at risk of being seized, until it was proven that Cowboy City didn't own them-the locomotives, rolling stock and even the track belonged to Cranberry Creek Railroad, Inc.
Ultimately, everything was returned to the Pine Creek Railroad Museum. In October of that same year, No. 3 and the two homemade Copper Creek coaches were sold to the Busch Woodland Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which opened in 1962, to run on their Leatherstocking Line (below).
The Woodland Museum folded in 1974, by which time the Porter had become the property of Storytown USA in Lake George, New York (renamed the Great Escape Fun Park in 1983). Although information about her tenure at Storytown is scarce, it would seem that she was only a static display-still accompanied by the two Copper Creek coaches (seen above in 1982). Given that her boiler was replaced, it's likely that she was supposed to run, but either the owners changed their plans, or had technical difficulties.
By 1991 No. 3 had become part of an attraction at the Orlando International Toy Train Museum (above and right), which was installed by Trainland Railroad Services Corporation in Florida. Understandably, after possibly sitting idle for nearly two decades, she was first overhauled at the shops of the Tweetsie Railroad in Boone, North Carolina.
When the Toy Train Museum property was bought for a designer shopping mall in 1995, No. 3 was sold to Agrirama, an agricultural museum in Tifton, Georgia, where she may be seen today (above and left), although she's since been removed from service.
The second image is from the collection of Thurlow C. Haunton, Jr., courtesy of Benjamin L. Bernhart. The fifth image ("Storytown") was captured by John F. Twardowski. The seventh is courtesy of Trainland Railroad Services Corp. The last two images were provided by Donald Nute. Photographer and date of the remaining images are unknown.
Specifications
- Gauge: 36 inches
- Drivers: 18 inches
- Cylinders: 9 x 14 inches
- Wheelbase: 3 feet 10 inches
- Frame: 17 feet 9 inches
Below is an interactive map tracing the travels of No. 3. Hover over each point on the map for details on the dates and location.
Raritan Copper Works No. 9
Acquired: 1956
Steam Locomotive
Condition: storage
In June of 1924, the H.K. Porter Company of Pittsburgh built 30-inch gauge
0-4-0T s/n 6916 for the Raritan Copper Works in Perth Amboy, New Jersey (above), as their No. 9. Her twin sister, No. 8, is seen below in the copper refinery enginehouse on 23 September 1955.
Raritan Copper Works was merged into the International Smelting & Refining Company (a.k.a. Anaconda Copper) in 1934, and closed in 1976.
Specifications
- Weight: 28,000 pounds
- Gauge: 30 inches
- Drivers: 29 inches
- Cylinders: 9 x 14 inches
- Tractive effort: 5,300 pounds
Second and third images are from the collection of Thurlow C. Haunton, Jr., courtesy of Benjamin L. Bernhart.
Ely-Thomas Lumber Co. No. 6
Acquired: 1955
Steam Locomotive
Condition: storage
Pine Creek's 32-ton, two-truck Shay was completed 30 September 1927 by the Lima Locomotive Works (s/n 3314, right) for the Phoenix Utility Company in Waterville, North Carolina, as their No. 9. On 18 December 1929 she was purchased by the Fontana Mining Company in Swain County, North Carolina. After being sold to the North Carolina Exploration Company on 24 March 1931, she became the property of the Champion Fibre & Paper Company of Fire Creek, North Carolina, on 5 April 1944 (and joined her twin sister, No. 11). The Ely-Thomas Lumber Company in Jetsville, West Virginia, then bought her on 6 August 1947 to become their No. 6 (below).
In 1955, Edgar T. Mead Jr., a noted narrow-gauge historian, bought the Shay for $2,500 and leased her to the Pine Creek Railroad Museum. She arrived on July 30, 1955. She ran at the Allaire State Park site (below) until 2002, when she was taken offline for repairs (bottom).
Incidentally, the headlight she currently wears is from the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad #6, a long-gone two-foot-gauge Forney. However, there are some curious stories circulating about her whistle. One suggests that it came from the Mayfair Dress Company in South River, New Jersey, managed at the time by the late Jay Wulfson, co-founder of the Pine Creek Railroad Museum. Another is that No. 6 provided the whistle sound effect heard at the beginning of The Flintstones. Both of these tales are pure fiction.
- Weight: 55,300 pounds
- Gauge: 36 inches
- Drivers: 29 inches
- Cylinders: 8 x 12 inches (x 3)
- Boiler: 37.25 inches
- Gear ratio: 3.017
- Fuel capacity: 1.75 tons (coal)
- Water capacity: 1000 gallons
Chiriqui Land Co. No. 46
Acquired: 1969
Steam Locomotive
Condition: storage
Built March 1914 by the H.K. Porter Company of Pittsburgh, 2-6-0 s/n 5514 was sold to the Chiriqui Land Company, a US-owned banana operation and subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International in Panama, as their No. 46. She was sold in 1961 to W.H. Morrison of Freehold, New Jersey, and in 1969 she was donated to the New Jersey Museum of Transportation.
Specifications
- Weight: 46,000 pounds
- Gauge: 36 inches
- Drivers: 38 inches
- Cylinders: 10 x 16 inches
- Tractive effort: 6,800 pounds
Lehigh Valley Coal Co. No. 117
Acquired: c. 2005
Steam Locomotive
Condition: display
Vulcan Iron Works, based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, sold 0-4-0T s/n 3512 to Lehigh Valley Coal Company of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in February of 1925, as their No. 117. Lehigh Valley was later acquired by the Jeddo-Highland Coal Company, and she then worked at Jeddo, Pennsylvania. No. 117 was unusual in that she was a relatively rare four-foot gauge locomotive; likely her original appearance was similar to that of the standard-gauge 0-4-0T Vulcan shown above right (which is currently running on the New Hope Valley Railway in Bonsal, North Carolina).
In February 1958, Carroll Stahl-a state trooper turned toy manufacturer-purchased No. 117, and rebuilt her as an 0-4-0 with tender. Bearing the name Durango (left), she operated on his Carroll Park & Western Railroad, a tourist line in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. During her tenure there, No. 117 appeared in the 1970 film The Molly Maguires, playing the part of Carbon and Schuylkill Railroad No. 88 (below). The two CP&W coaches, which Stahl had built on old extended caboose frames, were painted up for the film as well. Filming of the railroad scenes took place on the CP&W property, which doubled as Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. It's said to be the last time No. 117 ever ran.
The Carroll Park & Western closed in 1972 following Mr. Stahl's death. A year later, Way Stations, Inc. of Eagle, Pennsylvania, bought the property for $350,000, although their ambitious plans for year-round railroad operations never materialized. Instead, the property was used for a flea market until it was purchased in 1997 as the site for a retail computer business. Today, nothing remains of the CP&W or Pioneer Village, a block of town structures built as a set for The Molly Maguires.
Meanwhile, No. 117 had passed through the hands of several private owners. Her travels during this time make for tales as colorful as her CP&W paint scheme, so some of the following information may be faulty. For a while she was on display-along with the two CP&W coaches-at a restaurant (possibly The Depot Restaurant, established in 1975 and now defunct) in Warrenton, Virginia. In the late 1980s she was moved to a parking lot in Berkeley, Virginia, where plans for a roadside train ride fell through. She was reportedly found there sitting under a tarp with coal still in the tender from the last time she ran, during filming, some two decades earlier; the coal was turning to sulfuric acid and eating through the tender floor (above right, as seen today). Evidently some potentially dangerous repairs had been made to her as well: the mud ring had been cut off the boiler and replaced with flat steel.
She was then shipped off to the parking lot of a leveled strip mall alongside Route 9 in Bayville, New Jersey (next to Blackbeard's Cave, a tourist attraction), but plans to run her never materialized, possibly due to her inoperable condition, or possibly due to the owner having too many irons in the fire. So, together with the CP&W coaches and a pile of light-duty rail, she sat there for over a decade, neglected and decaying (she's seen above left in 1999). Evidently area residents complained about having what they thought was an abandoned wreck sitting around, and pressured the owner to get rid of it. One tale tells of her bell having been stolen while she was there, which subsequently showed up on eBay; the buyer arrived at the seller's house accompanied by the State Police.
Finally, along with the two CP&W coaches, she was donated to the New Jersey Museum of Transportation around 2000. She has since undergone a modicum of cosmetic restoration (to her "as found" as opposed to her "as built" configuration), and is currently on display at Allaire State Park. She's seen at right in 2009 being moved from her prior location in front of the shop to her new permanent home at the Pine Creek Railroad entrance (below).
Specifications
- Weight: 49,000 pounds
- Gauge: 48 inches
- Drivers: 34 inches
- Cylinders: 12 x 16 inches
- Tractive Effort: 9,750 pounds
Jackson Model 4000 Track Tamper
Jackson Model 4000 Track Tamper
Acquired: c. 2005
The Jackson Model 4000 On-Off Track Tamper is one of only a relatively few units built between 1968 and 1972. These start with serial number 117855 and end at 117860, so there were not very many of them produced. This particular unit was factory converted to operate on 36" gauge track, making it even more obscure.
The scope of our project is to return this unit to operating status. To do so, we are currently rebuilding the 2-53 Detroit diesel power plant, the three phase electric generator that powers the vibratory work head motors, the brake system, the hydraulic system and more.
As of September 2012, the unit has been completely re-wired, and all of the brake cylinders have been replaced, among other things. Jackson was taken over by, and is now part of, Harsco Track Technologies. We've been working with their parts department, who have been very helpful with information and even some parts from inventory.
This is how the unit looked when restoration began in April 2011:
June 2011. Degreasing was done the slow, hard way-by hand:
September 2012. Engine and generator have been removed for rebuilding:
Please return to this page often to watch our progress!