RICHLAND VILLAGE, N.J. — Cape May Seashore Lines is going “back to the future” with its recently acquired GP38 No. 2000. The unit once belonged to predecessor railroad Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines. It joins two other ex-PRSL GP38s the railroad is leasing: GMTX 2661 (former PRSL Nos. 2011) and LLPX 2014 (PRSL 2012).
Pennsylvania – Reading Seashore Lines Number 2000 was built by General Motors – Electro Motive Division for PRSL in December 1967. It was the first of 15 GP38s built for the PRSL. It was later acquired by Conrail, and renumbered 7660. In December 2023, No. 2000 will enter its 56th year of service. To celebrate its return to New Jersey, CMSL operated two passenger excursions with the locomotive Sept. 16.
Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines was created in 1933 as a joint consolidation in southern New Jersey between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Co. Conrail took over the PRSL on April 1, 1976. Conrail ended freight service on Oct. 10, 1983 and sold the line to New Jersey Transit as their Cape May Branch.
Cape May Seashore Lines operates the Cape May Branch and beginning in 2022, Conrail’s Beesley’s Point Secondary. Tony Macrie formed the railroad in 1984.
