Cruise down to South Jersey for a tour of the mechanical shops of a working shortline railroad. SMS Rail Service, Inc. (https://www.smsrail.com), headquartered at the Pureland Industrial Park in Logan Township, NJ, is a class 3 common carrier railroad servicing freight customers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. One of its “claims to fame” is the daily use of antique Baldwin locomotives originally built in Eddystone, PA throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. SMS is also the operator of the newest passenger railroad in New Jersey, the Woodstown Central. Come tour the shop and see several pieces of antique equipment in various states of repair and overhaul, such as the rare AS616 locomotive #554, and Woodstown Central’s 1945 ALCO steam locomotive #9, which are undergoing full restoration in the shop. Tour the 1906 B&O business car #912, which is also getting a complete overhaul. Check out the car shop, where additional passenger equipment is being rehabilitated. Chances are good that you will see one of their antique locomotives out doing some work in the industrial park.
Following the shop tour at SMS, we will head over to Farmers & Bankers Brewing (https://farmersandbankersbrewing.com) in the quaint borough of Woodstown for some socialization, pizza and beer (pizza sponsored by SMS). Farmers & Bankers Brewing is Salem County’s first brewery, located in the historic First National Bank building erected in 1892.
Please register so we know how many folks to expect!
The tour will start at 10:30 a.m. at SMS’s locomotive shop located at 513 Sharptown Road, Logan Township, NJ 08085. For those wanting to take a bit of a cruise from the north, a group will assemble at 8:30 a.m. at the WAWA near the Quakertown Interchange of the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike – 1960 John Fries Highway, Quakertown, PA 18951 – for the 55-mile trip. The convoy will leave promptly at 9:00 a.m.