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The New York Central’s 20th Century Limited was billed, for years, as “The Most Famous Train in the World.” The railroad’s most esteemed train sped along the 958-mile “Water Level Route” between New York, averaging 60 MPH, for sixty-five years – making the trip in just sixteen hours. The train was exclusive and sophisticated; boarding passengers walked along a crimson red carpet. In 1948, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ceremoniously inaugurated a new set of cars for the New York Central’s most famous train. Among them was the Hickory Creek, an observation sleeper lounge. The car was acquired by URHS in 1991. The car has been meticulously restored to its historic appearance. The car is Amtrak-certified and is available through charter through URHS.

The New York Central was among the major rail lines in the New York – New Jersey Metropolitan area during the last century. The company vied with the Pennsylvania Railroad for dominance throughout the Northeast and Midwest. The NYC employed several tavern lounge cars over its long distance passenger runs. The 43, built in 1947 by the Budd Company, was frequently used on runs between New York and Washington, DC. The 43 was donated to URHS in 1991 by NJ Transit. The car has been meticulously restored to its historic appearance. The car is Amtrak-certified and is available for charter through URHS.

The New York Central was among the major rail lines in the New York – New Jersey Metropolitan area during the last century. The company vied with the Pennsylvania Railroad for dominance throughout the Northeast and Midwest. The NYC employed several tavern lounge cars over its long distance passenger runs. The 37, built in 1947 by the Budd Company, was frequently used on the Commodore Vanderbilt between New York and Chicago, and on the Southwestern Limited between New York and St. Louis. The 37 was donated to URHS in 1991 by NJ Transit. The car is currently housed by Cape May Seashore Lines.

Of all the passenger trains that crisscrossed New Jersey, none, perhaps, are as famous, or as closely associated with the state, as the Blue Comet. The seashore train was inaugured in 1929, by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, to whisk passengers between Jersey City and Atlantic City in three hours. The train was painted Packard Blue for the sky, Jersey Cream for the sand, and Royal Blue for the sea. Each car in the consist was named for a comet. Three of these cars, the Westphal, the D’Arrest, and the DeVico have been donated to URHS by NJ Transit for preservation. All three cars have been stabilized and are stored in URHS’s Boonton Yard.

During the waning days of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, NJDOT acquired numerous passenger cars, from across the country, to replace the bankrupt railroad’s aged fleet. Among those cars were coaches from western railroads like Union Pacific, and Great Northern, and they were overhauled with commuter seats to double their capacity. These cars were notable to the commuters who rode them, because most went into service without being repainted. This meant that trains looked like veritable rainbows with bright blue, green, and orange paint schemes together with the CNJ’s red and dark blue locomotives.

Among these coaches were many that ran on Great Norther’s famed “Empire Builder,” a long-haul train that ran from Chicago to Seattle. Many still wore their distinctive paint and lettering – earning this fleet the moniker of the “Jersey Builder” cars. Eight of these cars were retired by NJ Transit and donated for preservation to the United Railroad Historical Society of NJ. URHS secured grant funding to renovate them for historic train rides for the public.

USAX #89491 was built as a hospital sleeper for the U.S. Army just at the end of World War II. In 1961, it was taken out of surplus storage in Ogden, UT for use on the Strategic Air Command’s “RBS Express.” RBS stood for “Radar Bomb Scoring,” which was a drill that the SAC used to score the accuracy of their bomber crews. Rather than practice in one location, the SAC put radar equipment on train cars to run drills in areas all over the country, and even once in Canada. The train was stationed for 45 days at a time and was entirely self-sufficient, requiring it to have sleeping quarters, a cafeteria, offices, and lounges. This car was used as a “recreation car” for men to use in their downtime. It had lounge seats, reading material, and a commissary for men to buy items they needed right on the train. The RBS Express was disbanded in 1971, and the cars found new uses in the armed forces. This car was used at the Naval Weapons Station Earle in Earle, NJ.

In April 1954, this RDC was sold to the Central RR of NJ. Later (date?) it was sold to the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad. It was rebuilt by General Electric in December 1974. In April 1987, it was leased to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. In August 1988, it was returned to NJ Transit who donated it to the museum collection in 1991. The RDC has been operationally and cosmetically restored by New York, Susquehanna & Western Technical and Historical Society who uses it for excursion service.

The Central Railroad of New Jersey, the precursor to some of NJ Transit’s system, operated passenger trains at a financial loss for thousands of commuters that patronized its system. The Budd Company developed the Rail Diesel Car (RDC), a self-propelled passenger car, which could be operated more economically than an entire train. The 556 was built in 1956 and was among several such cars owned by the CNJ. Later owned by NJ DOT, 556 had the distinction of being part of the last run of the “Bayonne Scoot” in 1978 – a shuttle between Cranford and Bayonne inaugurated when the CNJ rerouted its trains out of Jersey City and into Newark Penn Station. The car was donated to URHS by NJ Transit in 1991 and is currently stabilized and stored in URHS’s Boonton Yard.

48085 is a 50′ 6″ all-steel, plug door, cushion underframe boxcar, built in 1964. It is one of 160 (numbered 48000-48159) built in lot 931-B by New York Central’s Despatch Shops in East Rochester, NY.

It is currently in good condition and used as storage space in Boonton Yard. Plans are to paint this car to its as-built “Century Green” paint job with surplus paint from the NYC 4083 project.

This mechanical refrigerator car represents one of the final and most important stages in the evolution of the refrigerated boxcar. In 1878, Gustavus Swift, founder of the Chicago meatpacking company called Swift & Company, commissioned the designing of a new kind of freight car to carry butchered meat. The boxcar used large blocks of ice which, when deposited through roof hatches, would chill meat products on the floor below. While these were unpopular with railroads, who had invested significantly in stock cars to transport live animals, the “reefer” quickly caught on nationwide. By the 1920s, the Swift Refrigerator Line had over 7,000 reefer cars on rails across North America. In the 1930s, SRL was purchased by General American Transportation Co. who continued the “Swift’s Premium” Brand.

The URHS’s Swift reefer was built in 1954 in an order of about 50 cars. These cars differed from their predecessors because they were chilled by a diesel generator-driven refrigeration system, eliminating the process of loading cars with blocks of ice before every run. Inside, the car is intact as-built. The floor is covered by raised panels, which could be lifted to clean out condensation and droppings from the transported meat. The car also has wooden bars running the length of the ceiling which were used to hang dressed meats and carcasses. To keep the cold in, the reefer closes with ten-foot wide “plug door” which locks into place with a complicated system of rollers, hinges, and latches. It is not easy to open and close, but nonetheless, URHS volunteers currently use this car as a workshop for tools and storage. The car will soon be restored to its original appearance: metallic silver with the large red “Swift’s Premium” logo next to the door.

This car is class F41 built between December 1955 and May 1956. 500 were built and numbered #469500-469999. Another 200 #469300-469499 were built between November and December 1956. They had a capacity of 70 tons and were general service cars, 53′ 6″ long over the end sills. The F41 was constructed on General Steel Castings’ integral cast steel underframes, and featured four cross-bearers, compared to two previously used on the F30A and F30D. These cars were equipped with 16 stake pockets and 15 lading strap anchors on each side sill as well as four stake pocket and two lading strap anchors on each end sill and had a wooden floor with a deck height of 3″ 5 1/8″ above the rail. Many received racks for hauling auto frames or auto parts. At least one car #469585 was also modified with Invert- A-Bin racks for hauling sand. Although confused with Commonwealth cast steel flats ordered by dozens of other railroads the F41 was a unique design. Differing from the Commonwealth casting, the F41 featured a different bolster and end deck configuration, two exposed steel stringers that ran part way along the length of the deck inboard of the bolsters, and shallower end and side sill profile outboard of the bolsters. The F41 rode on ASF Ride Control A-3 trucks.

This Delaware, Lackawanna & Western RR car was used in the Hoboken “MU” shed until 1998 when NJ Transit replaced it with a second-hand roller-bearing equipped covered hopper car. The pictured ex-Delaware, Lackawanna & Western RR car was used for sand storage at the Hoboken locomotive servicing facilities. It was donated to the collection by NJ Transit.

Conrail assumed control of the Reading Company Railroad and the caboose became Conrail property as Number 18752.

Conrail subsequently donated it to the New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center collection in 1989 through the efforts of Robert Bahrs.

This caboose was last shopped by Kaiser Valley on 6-1932 by its original owner the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and sometime thereafter was sold to the Morristown & Erie Railroad.

After service on the M&E, No. 4 was moved to the Black River & Western Railroad. In 1993 the BR&W donated it to the URHS who moved it to the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad for temporary storage.

In 1998 it was relocated to the Whippany Railway Museum and restored to M&E No. 1 by Steve Hepler and Charlie Berkemeyer.

The following about 03125 is taken from “ERIE and D.L.&W. Wreck Trains” by Ronald R. Dukarm, c. 2009 Erie Lackawanna Historical Society, Inc.

Built in 1926 by Bucyrus Company, builder #4593. 160-ton capacity. Originally steam converted to diesel (date unknown, but several others were likewise converted between 1956 and 1958). To Erie Lackawanna in 1960. At some point, during EL years a pantograph was added to the boom to allow it to work in the electrified territory. To Conrail 45006 in 1976, then conveyed to NJDOT. Donated to URHS in 1995.

Original owned by the Lackawanna Railroad which later became the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Pictured above with crane 03125. This was a Lackawanna TOFC flatcar which was constructed at Keyser Valley during the 1950’s. It was originally built, most likely in the 1920’s, as either an open hopper or a boxcar, as the DL&W used both when converting older surplus equipment to flatcars for piggyback service.

I have not yet been able to document either the Lackawanna number when it was in revenue service nor the EL number when converted to Maintenance of Way service. Although I can’t yet prove it, I believe 45519 is a Conrail or NJ Transit number as EL practice was to number MoW equipment with six digits, not five. Info submitted by Mike Dodge – ELHS member.

New York, Susquehanna, & Western No. 402 what built by Pullman Standard in 1952. The car was equipped for use on NYS&W’s passenger trains as a Railway Express car. Complete with marker light brackets and steam lines so that it could used mid-train, the car served in both passenger and freight service on the NYS&W. When the railroad was reorganized as a new company, and adopted a new yellow and black paint scheme, this car was the only box car to receive the new look. It was later renumbered 526.