Over the past few weeks, we have noticed that something has been going on with the tracks on the old Cape May Seashore Lines. (Video at the bottom)
What’s Happening With Cape May’s Rail Line?
For those who are unfamiliar, from the late 1800s until the 1970s, trains used to bring folks and cargo to our shore towns via thePennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines or PRSL for short.
Over time the rails were sold to Conrail who then sold the line to New Jersey Transit for their Cape May Branch.
Tony Macrie, who created the The Seashore Lines, took a lease out on the tracks in 1996 and have been operating them ever since.
For a time there was a train that you could take from Cold Spring Village into the heart of Cape May.
Over time a few unfortunate events caused the line to come to a stop. A storm damaged the electoral power to the draw bridge causing it to be out of use. Later during the big economy crash, some of the rails were badly vandalized causing service to be suspended.
Since then some time has passed causing much of the rails to be swallowed up by mother nature…until now.
Just recently we have been noticing that the old tracks are getting a deep clean.
Macrie’s crew have been clearing the tracks and figuring out what needs to be fixed or replaced.
Last year they introduced an amazing new thing to Cape May County called Rail Biking.
Along with Revolution Rail Company, they transformed the track from Cape May to the bridge into a 4 mile bike ride on the tracks using a specialized bike.
According to their site, “Riders check in behind the Welcome Center at 609 Lafayette Street and enjoy the expansive native wildflower meadows and flora, as well as world-class viewing opportunities for migrating songbirds, raptors, and pollinators like bumblebees and monarch butterflies, made possible by the wonderful folks at The Nature Conservancy and the Garrett Family Preserve.”
This 90 minute trip is something that everyone should experience. If you would like to find more information about the trip CLICK HERE.
We filmed a video talking about everything going on. Be sure to check it out below.
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