Many years ago......

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Robert Long.

Eastbound seashore train with Pennsy K4 east of Haddonfield station, probably headed for Atlantic City. (The caption says: K4 #1120, PRSL Train #1073 from New York city to Atlantic City via Trenton and Burlington [which means it came down the old Camden & Amboy, all in Jersey].)

......in fact, April 7, 1946 is the date on the picture (below), when I would have been a couple months over two; over 61 long years ago — my father plopped yours-truly in the front wooden basket of his heavy, balloon-tire Columbia bicycle to inadvertently begin an avocation that will probably last the rest of my entire life.
I can imagine my mother having something to do with this: “Thomas; will you take your son and do something?” —But maybe not......
We took a dead-end street east of Haddonfield’s railroad-station, adjacent to the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines mainline to Atlantic City.
(The actual location is pictured at top. Watching trains was also free.)
The location is also where the long-abandoned Philadelphia, Marlton & Medford Railway once branched off — the right-most track.
All that was left of the PMMR was a wye in the woods, and PRSL would use it to turn an accommodation that ran from Haddonfield-to-Camden, N.J.
The original railroad was the Camden & Atlantic, built about 1850, that ran from a ferry-slip in Camden to Atlantic City. (Atlantic City became the premier seashore resort it is because of that railroad.)
But Pennsy bought it, and also built the mighty Delair railroad-bridge over the Delaware River in north Philly in 1896. (It was the first bridging of the Delaware in Philly).
It made it possible for seashore-trains to go all-the-way to Philadelphia.
But there were still passengers for Camden — and there was probably a charter-requirement.
Trains to Philly branched off the old Camden & Atlantic west of Haddonfield; i.e. they didn’t go to Camden.
Which explains the Camden accommodation.
PRSL sent a small train of only two-or-three coaches out to Haddonfield, reversed it on the old PMMR wye east of the station, and then sent it back through Haddonfield to Camden after the Philly-train passed.
That way, the railroad could oblige its Camden passengers.
There was also a water-tower at the turnout, along with a standpipe (pictured).
The steam-engine of the Camden accommodation would top off its tender at that standpipe. Seashore trains on the mainline could also top off their tenders.
All kinds of goings-on were viewable.
Every once in a while a K4-powered train to-or-from the seashore would blast by. Eastbound, they were accelerating away from Haddonfield station, and westbound they were slowing to stop.
“See it, Bobby? Here it comes! Cover your ears, and wave.”
Seeing a little kid waving, the engine-crews always blew the whistle. (“You are required by law to whistle at all waving kids.”)
I was thrilled.
Here we had an occurrence similar to a thunderstorm, but I wasn’t scared. In fact, I could stand right next to a throbbing, snorting steam-engine without crying.
I suppose it was because my Old Man took the time to warn me about what to expect. With thunderstorms I was on my own. (“The Lord is rolling barrels,” my mother would scream.)

Probably my mother.

YrFthflSrvnt and my father, behind our house in Erlton.

How the Camden accommodation reversed was kept a mystery — in fact, I didn’t see the wye until many years later; when I also traced much of the old PMMR right-of-way.
Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines is an amalgamation of Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad lines to the seashore in south Jersey. It was a response to too many railroads in south Jersey. Railroads were being built willy-nilly; if Reading built a line to a seashore resort, Pennsy built a competing line, and therefore neither line made money.
The end result was far too much railroad capacity in south Jersey, so all were merged and rationalized in 1933 as Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines.
The old Reading Railroad to Atlantic City (actually Atlantic City Railroad) was torn up, but out of Camden the ACR (Reading) was kept-in-place — it goes through Haddon Heights, south of Haddonfield.
Halfway across the state, the two lines were close enough so that the Reading line could be switched into the Pennsy line (Camden & Atlantic) at Winslow Junction.
Winslow Junction is also where the Central of New Jersey line down the middle of the state crossed (and junctioned with) both railroads. That CNJ line (since abandoned) was partly how Baltimore & Ohio ran from New York City to Atlantic City; also including the Reading-line to Atlantic City.
PRSL also switched off to the old Reading Lines to Wildwood/Cape May and Ocean City at Winslow. Lines to other seashore points (like Sea Isle City) were abandoned.
Steam was still running on the PRSL when I first went there late ‘40s/early ‘50s. In fact, the last steamer I saw in revenue service was a Mikado (or Consol) from a Piper Tri-Pacer out of Echelon Airport in 1956.
Apparently I am also a possessor of what our family calls “the steam-gene;” an affinity for railroads. 44 has it too.
There’s no practical reason to like “those dirty old railroad-trains,” as my mother called them. (“Look, Mommy; there’s a train up at the railroad-station!” DROP EVERYTHING! My son wants to walk up to the railroad-station.)
(Here we are at Dr. Glover’s office in Haddonfield, which was about 100 yards from the grade-crossing. “Look, Mommy. The gates are coming down!”)
My avocation has taken me all over the country.
I’ve been to quite a few of the railfan pilgrimage-stops, including Cajon Pass, Tehachapi Loop, and Helmstetters Curve. Also mighty Tunkhannock viaduct.
Years ago we rode (“road”) Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited from Rochester to Boston, to visit my brother Jack, instead of driving. And about 20 years ago I rode behind Nickel Plate 765 up New River Gorge in West Virginny.
765, a steam-engine, was incredible; more powerful than anything I had ever seen on the PRSL. At one point we were doing over 70 mph!
And little kids were at trackside waving; and the engineer was whistling back — a rerun of me.
I also have been to the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Horseshoe Curve “hunderds” of times — first time in 1968 or 1969 when it was still four tracks; now it’s three. (All railfans should be required by law to visit the mighty Curve at least once; the greatest railfan spot I have ever been to.)
In late 1966, after finishing college, and moving to Rochester, my whole world was crashing mightily-in-flames, so I went and watched trains on the old New York Central mainline through town.
And after my stroke, realizing I was still in the real world came with seeing an Amtrak Metroliner crash through Claymont station at about 100 mph. Pantograph bouncing up-and-down, and giant arcs flashing between the pantograph and the catenary, was just like watching the mighty GG1s when I was a teenager.
We moved away from Haddonfield to northern Delaware in 1957, and I switched to watching electric locomotives on what’s now called “The Corridor.”
Sometimes I wonder about meshing being a railfan with 40 years of marriage. I’m told it beats chasing women.

“Pennsy “ is the Pennsylvania Railroad. Their premier passenger steam-engine was the “K4” Pacific — 4-6-2.

The “Camden & Amboy” was one of the first railroads ever built — between Camden, New Jersey and Amboy, New Jersey. Freight got ferried from Philadelphia to Camden (across the Delaware River), and then ferried to New York city from Amboy, which was across New York harbor from New York city. The Camden & Amboy was a lot quicker than shipping entirely by boat, or horse-and-wagon. Eventually the Camden & Amboy was superseded by better railroads, and canals. Camden & Amboy eventually was bought by Pennsy, and still exists (I think).

During my early childhood, we lived in “Erlton,” New Jersey; a sleepy suburb of Philadelphia (in Jersey) north of adjacent “Haddonfield,” an old colonial town. When I was 13, we moved to northern Delaware.

“Philadelphia, Marlton & Medford Railway” was a tiny farm-railroad that went defunct during the Depression.

“Reading” is pronounced “Red-ing,” not “Reed-ing.”

Central of New Jersey and Reading were both affiliated with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the nation’s first common-carrier railroad (1828). They were how B&O could access New York city and Atlantic City.

“Wildwood, Cape May, Ocean City and Sea Isle City” are other south Jersey seashore resorts.

“A Piper Tri-Pacer” is a small single-engine, high-winged private airplane Piper built at that time. “Tri-Pacer” because it had tricycle landing-gear (but not retractable).

“Echelon Airport” was a small private airport (a fixed-base operator) in south Jersey. It’s since been replaced by a large shopping-mall (Echelon Mall).

A “Mikado” is a 2-8-2 steam-engine. A Consolidation (“Consol”) is 2-8-0. Both are freight-engines. I said “Consol” because I have a hard time imagining PRSL using Mikados.

“44” is the nickname of my brother-in-Delaware’s onliest child: Agent-44.

“Dr. Glover” was my first medical-doctor.

“Cajon Pass and Tehachapi Loop” are both in Californy. “Helmstetters Curve” is a scenic horseshoe curve near Cumberland Maryland in the Western Maryland’s assault on Allegheny Ridge. (WM is abandoned, but Helmstetters Curve is still operated by a tourist railroad.) “Tunkhannock viaduct” is a huge reinforced-concrete viaduct built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad across the Tunkhannock Valley in Pennsylvania near Scranton. It’s still in use, but only as one track — it had two at first.

“Hunderds” is how my macho brother-in-Boston (“Jack”) noisily insists “hundreds” is spelled. He also likes to swap “rode” and “road.” “Road” is spelled “rode;” and “rode” is spelled “road.”

I had a stroke October 26, 1993.

“The pantograph” is the gizmo atop the electric-locomotive that contacts the overhead-wire, which is a part of the “catenary,” the whole overhead-wire distribution system.

The giant “GG1” electric-locomotive was the finest passenger railroad engine ever produced. It was produced by the Pennsylvania Railroad, and ran from New York city to Washington, D.C. for many years. Many were in use when I came to Delaware. The greatest thrill was to be passed by a GG1 at 100 mph.