Bass River OKs miniature Tuckerton Railroad at park

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Jul 18, 2003
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http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/ocean/story/7414083p-7309196c.html

Bass River OKs miniature Tuckerton Railroad at park
By ROB SPAHR
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2007

BASS RIVER TOWNSHIP — After more than 100 years of waiting, Bass
River Township will finally be connected to the Tuckerton Railroad —
well, sort of.

On Monday night, the township approved an ordinance that will allow
the Jersey Shore Live Steam Organization, a nonprofit group, to
install railroad tracks in Bass River Township Municipal Park in
order to run model steam engine trains.

The trains will be scaled-down versions of steam engines trains that
once carried passengers between Tuckerton and Whiting during the 19th
century.

While the trains will only be scale models — with tracks only 20,000
feet long and about eight inches wide and locomotives weighing from
800 to 1,200 pounds — they will actually run on steam and can carry
as many as 36 passengers at once.

Cadets from West Point will begin the initial work on the railroad
this weekend and the trains could be running regularly, in as little
as two weeks. Passenger trains could be running by the end of the
summer. The cadets are civil engineering students who will work for
college credit.

The trains will run in a loop with 16 stops that will represent
actual stops on the original Tuckerton Railroad.

“The average speed will be a walking speed and it could take an hour
for the train to reach every stop," said Tim Lovingham, president of
Jersey Shore Live Steam Organization. “That would be a perfect
situation because that was about how long it took the original
Tuckerton Railroad to travel from start to finish."

Every stop will have historical information on the original stop as
well as environmental notes supplied from George Young, a science
teacher at Pinelands Regional Junior High School.

“I think it's a really good fit here," Mayor Richard Bethea said on
Tuesday. “Environmental issues will always be in the forefront with
us, but to be able to tie them in with the history of our area is a
nice thing."

The Pinelands Commission approved the park as long as construction
was kept within existing trails and as long as the base for the
tracks was made of crushed stone or clamshells.

Eventually Lovingham hopes to add small buildings, including
renditions of the original stations and a museum, and plans to have
Boy Scouts help out at the park to earn merit badges.

Organizers hope the park will become a tourist destination.

“It is the intention of our organization to produce a first-class
destination resort with benefits for the township, the people of the
town and the merchants of the town," said Robert W. Hoebee, the
public relations director of the organization. “We would like to
coordinate with Atlantic City to give them an additional, family
friendly destination to send tourists to."

There will be no fee to enter the park, which will have an entrance
off of Oak Avenue, but people wishing to ride the trains will have
pay to become members of the Jersey Shore Live Steam Organization.
The cost for membership ranges from $45 for a year-long membership to
$1,000 for a lifetime membership.

“It's the right kind of attraction that is going to attract the right
kind of people," Bethea said. “It's a welcome addition. Something we
can be proud of."

The new Tuckerton Railroad has been about four years in the making,
according to Lovingham, after two previously planned locations in
Tuckerton and Stafford fell through.

“The funny thing is the original Tuckerton Railroad also took about
four years to complete," Lovingham said, "and this park will enable
us to use about 60 acres, which really worked out for the best in the
end."

But Bass River Township has been waiting much longer for the
railroad's completion.

“Originally the grading was done for the Tuckerton Railroad to run
through Bass River to Egg Harbor City and out to Hammonton. But
eventually they decided to extend the railway north instead of
south," Lovingham said. “So there is a historical significance of
having the train run here."

Organizers hope the final product will be worth the wait.

“I don't think people realize how impressive it's going to be,"
Hoebee said. “When they hear that whistle blowing or see the smoke,
it's really going to be something else."

To e-mail Robert Spahr at The Press:

RSpahr@pressofac. com
 

njvike

Explorer
Jul 18, 2003
353
1
Sparta, NJ
home.earthlink.net
If anyone is interested

in joining a tour on where the Tuckerton RR ran, we will be meeting on 4/28 at 9:30 am in Whitings at the tracks near the Shoprite. Please contact me if you're interested in attending.
 
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