Cape May Seashore Lines

The Cape May rail line is built in 1863 by the Tuckahoe & Cape May Railroad and later becomes part of the Pennsylvania‑Reading Seashore Lines, with passenger service ending in 1981 and freight service ending on October 10 1983 before the line is sold to New Jersey Transit. Tony Macrie establishes Cape May Seashore Lines in January 1984; regular tourist service begins between Cape May Court House and Cold Spring Village in 1996, extends to Cape May City in 1999 after the swing bridge over the Cape May Canal is repaired, and is again halted by mechanical problems with that bridge in 2005, repaired in 2006, then damaged by an April 2007 storm that strands equipment in Tuckahoe. Passenger service between Rio Grande and Cape May City resumes on October 12 2009, and in 2020 the railroad partners with Revolution Rail to offer rail‑biking excursions on a two‑mile segment near Cape May station. After a March 1 2012 theft of roughly 6,800 ft of track material is discovered and arrests follow on March 5 2012, the line suspends summer excursions, while a 2024 rehabilitation project installs more than 5,000 new crossties between Winslow and Richland and rebuilds the Milmay Passing Siding; freight service on the Beesley’s Point Secondary begins in February 2022 following a Surface Transportation Board filing in November 2021. Filming for a Steven Spielberg project occurs in March 2025 in Milmay and Tuckahoe, and the railroad celebrates its sixth annual Fireworks Express on July 3 2026 as part of the AMERICA 250 festivities.