United Railroad Historical Society of NJ

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United Railroad Historical Society of NJ

The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey, Inc.

(URHS) is a non-profit educational organization directed at supporting the preservation of historical railroad equipment and artifacts for the proposed New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center or in its absence, another railroad museum in New Jersey.

04/09/2026

More seats added! Our New York Central No. 37 has been added to our previously sold-out Auburn Road Special. Book today before the train sells out again!

Purchase tickets now at https://www.urhs.org/auburnroadspecial

The Auburn Road Special will have two back to back departures on April 18 and 19. On each of these special excursions, you will enjoy:
➤ A 6-hour, round-trip, rare-mileage trip from Solvay, NY to Seneca Falls
➤ URHS's signature first-class seating and service
➤ Onboard dining with beer and wine for purchase
➤ Two photo run-bys
➤ Tour of the restored 1870 Martisco Depot
➤ Exclusive New York Central–themed take-homes

Tickets aboard the NYC 37 are available in groups of 2 or 4 at reserved tables. Fore more info, visit https://www.urhs.org/auburnroadspecial

04/01/2026

Back to the Finger Lakes Rail Experience! New York Central lounge No. 37 and Pennsylvania coach No. 1547 came home to Boonton Yard for repairs and restroom renovations over the winter. Now they’re headed back north for a second, bigger season in New York. You can ride these beauties starting in May. Tickets go on sale soon!

02/27/2026

Our Auburn Road Special excursion is sold out! Thank you to all who are riding with us and supporting our organization!

If you couldn't get a ticket this morning, be sure to sign up for our wait list to be notified if an opening appears. Head to our ticking page at https://www.urhs.org/auburnroadspecial, click on that date and car you want to ride, and fill out the form to be notified if space opens up. You will also be the first to be alerted to new opportunities!

We'll see you in the Finger Lakes!

02/26/2026

Tickets go on sale tomorrow for the Auburn Road Special! This is your rare chance to ride the Finger Lakes Railway, and you'll be riding in style aboard one of our three authentic New York Central lounge cars.

On each of these special excursions, you will enjoy:

➤ A 6-hour, round-trip, rare-mileage trip from Solvay, NY to Seneca Falls
➤ URHS's signature first-class seating and service
➤ Onboard dining with beer and wine for purchase
➤ Two photo run-bys
➤ Tour of the restored 1870 Martisco Depot
➤ Exclusive New York Central–themed take-homes

Special added perks are included with tickets aboard the Hickory Creek, including an onboard chef-prepared meal, beer and wine included, and a single-engine consist for unobstructed eastbound observation viewing.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10am on our website. Refresh the page at 10am to find the ticket link, and get your seat before they're gone. This is an exclusive event and only 78 seats are available per trip!

02/23/2026

📢 ANNOUNCING 📢 The Auburn Road Special! Join us April 18 & 19 for a one-weekend-only railfan event with two excursions covering the east end of the Finger Lakes Railway, the New York Central's former "Auburn Road" branch. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 27 at 10 a.m. There are fewer than 80 tickets per trip, and they will sell fast!

Aboard one of URHS’s three authentic New York Central lounge cars, you will enjoy:

➤ A 6-hour, rare mileage excursion from Solvay, NY to Seneca Falls
➤ URHS's signature first-class seating and service
➤ Onboard dining with beer and wine for purchase
➤ Two photo run-bys
➤ Tour of the restored 1870 Martisco Depot
➤ Exclusive New York Central–themed take-homes

Special added perks are included with tickets aboard the Hickory Creek, including an onboard chef-prepared meal, beer and wine included, and a single-engine consist for unobstructed eastbound observation viewing.

To make this trip even more special, funds raised from your ticket will be dedicated to planned improvements to the Hickory Creek this year! We thank our partners Finger Lakes Rail Experience, FMW Solutions, and the Finger Lakes Railway for making this special opportunity available. We'll see you on board!

12/31/2025

As 2025 comes to a close, we are reflecting on an extraordinary year for the United Railroad Historical Society of NJ. It was a year defined by preservation milestones, meaningful partnerships, unavoidable setbacks, and new opportunities. Here are some highlights from an unforgettable year:

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Our annual Railroad Museum [for a day] welcomed more attendees than ever before since our facility first opened to the public. In partnership with NJ TRANSIT, the special “Boonton Scoot” service and the display of the Conrail heritage locomotive helped draw our largest crowd yet. Conversely, URHS equipment displayed at NJT’s Meet Our Rail Fleet event brought hundreds more visitors closer to railroad history. Combined with our participation in Morris County’s Pathways of History, we can proudly say that 2025 marked the largest annual public outreach in URHS history.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
When unavoidable circumstances paused our Hudson River Rail Excursions, an unexpected opportunity emerged. We were proud to play a role in the launch of FMW Solutions’ Finger Lakes Rail Experience. By providing historic passenger cars, technical expertise, and operational support, URHS helped bring authentic heritage rail excursions to a new audience. In the process, we were able to return multiple URHS cars to active service. In just this first season alone, URHS’s fleet carried more than 10,000 passengers!

𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴
This year marked one of the most significant moments in our organization’s history: the return of New Jersey’s Merci Train boxcar. More than a rail artifact, the Merci Train is a powerful symbol of post-war gratitude and international friendship. We are deeply honored for that National WWI Museum and Memorial to have entrusted us with the car’s care, so it can once again be shared with the people of New Jersey.

𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗬𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗽 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀
Throughout the year, our volunteer crews logged countless hours restoring and maintaining historic equipment. Volunteers returned our 1947 Railway Express Agency truck to the road following significant repairs. Our shop hummed all summer with progress on the Tri-State Railway Historical Society’s Hoboken Shore No. 700, now nearing completion of its cosmetic restoration. Finally, just before winter set in, volunteers successfully returned Jersey Central 1523 to active service. Every project represents the dedication, craftsmanship, and passion of our team of volunteers.

None of this would be possible without you. Every volunteer hour, donation, partnership, and shared post helps keep New Jersey’s railroad history alive. Like the railroads themselves, we keep history in motion thanks to a great many caring people. As we look ahead to 2026, we’re excited to build on this momentum—forever building on our past success, and creating new opportunities for education, tourism, and public engagement.

Please consider an end-of-year donation to keep the wheels turning! You can donate easily online at URHS.org/donate, or by mail to 104 Morris Ave. Boonton, NJ 07005

11/01/2025

Welcome back CNJ 1523! URHS’s 1952 EMD GP7 is back in service after repairs by our staff and volunteers. No. 1523 has been stored serviceable, but has not operated since 2018!

No. 1523 has had a long and storied career, with very little downtime. It worked for the CNJ, Conrail, NJDOT, and finally NJ Transit before retirement into preservation. It spent several years on lease before returning to us here at Boonton Yard.

Over the past several weeks, our folks have undertaken some necessary repairs, prepping it for its first start. After more than 70 years in operable condition, she remains in great shape.

Our priority here at Boonton Yard is to share railroad history with the public. Along with that comes our obligation to keep our incredible collection in a state of good repair. Whether or not an artifact is in regular service, it is important to us to keep it operable whenever possible. As such, we’ll continue making improvements to No. 1523, and continue to explore new opportunities!

10/17/2025

It’s been an exciting and busy few weeks!
We were thrilled to take part in two great events with NJ TRANSIT — Meadows Maintenance Complex Family Day for NJT employees, and Meet Our Rail Fleet for the public.

At both events, we proudly displayed our Erie Lackawanna U34CH No 3372 alongside our sister organization Tri-State’s caboose No. 896. It was a pleasure to share a bit of New Jersey’s rich rail history with several thousand visitors over the course of these events.

A heartfelt thank-you to NJ TRANSIT for their continued partnership and support of historic preservation!

10/01/2025

THANK YOU for another record-setting Railroad Museum [for a day] 2025! We are thrilled that o have welcomed more than 1800 guests to our humble train yard here in Boonton, USA. We are grateful for the opportunity to share transportation history with you, and to have opened up more of the facility to the public than ever before.

Thank you to NJ TRANSIT for your continued support of historic preservation, and for running the “Boonton Scoot” to connect the event with public transportation. Thank you as well to Mayor James Lynch, Assemblyman Brian Bergen, Sheriff James Gannon, and all of the sponsors and supporters who took part in our historic rededication of New Jersey’s Merci Train Boxcar. It was certainly a milestone event in many ways.

If you missed this year’s event, don’t forget that we are open again this Sunday for a free open house as part of Morris County’s Pathways of History event! The yard will be open 12 to 5, with select exhibits open for tours.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to making this collection available to the public in an even greater way in 2026 and beyond!

09/25/2025

Conrail blue is coming to Railroad Museum [for a day] 2025! NJ TRANSIT is generously lending no. 4208 for display at our event and Saturday’s night photo shoot.

No. 4208 honors NJT’s rich history with Conrail, which operated passenger trains throughout New Jersey from 1976 to 1983 and was the immediate corporate predecessor to NJ TRANSIT Rail Operations. Many of the rail lines, stations, and rolling stock that formed the original NJ TRANSIT Rail came directly from Conrail, and most of NJT’s railroad operating employees at that time had previously served with them. Of course, that also means a large portion of the URHS collection, which was donated by NJ TRANSIT, was once owned by Conrail as well.

Please join us in thanking NJT for their contribution to our event, and come see it up close this Sunday!

09/24/2025

🇺🇸🇫🇷 MAJOR UPDATE! After many decades away from home, New Jersey’s “Merci Train” boxcar is headed back to the Garden State!

Over the past several weeks, URHS volunteers traveled to Kansas City to prepare this very fragile piece of history for the 1200-mile journey home. The car has been indoors since 1993, but much of the roof and floors had deteriorated during its previous time out in the elements. Volunteers sifted through the what was left and conserved every part that could either be reused or utilized for reference in the restoration. That was followed by the removal of decades of dust and removal of any loose components that might shake loose in transit. Finally, the car was placed back on wheels, which are identical to those installed on it in 1949.

We owe a tremendous thanks to Huddleston Machinery Moving, which not only stored the car indoors for more than 30 years, but also donated the transportation of this car back to New Jersey. Four generations of the Huddleston family took care of this car, and we are grateful for their role in its story.

As the car departs Kansas City, it bids farewell to the National WWI Museum and Memorial which saved it from destruction in 1993, protected it, and generously chose to donate it back to its home state once its identity was discovered. We are thrilled to be carrying on its legacy.

As of this post, the boxcar is en route to Boonton Yard, and it is set to return home in time for Railroad Museum [for a day] 2025. We look forward to revealing the car to the public for the first time this weekend, and we welcome you to a re-dedication of the car during our event this Sunday, in the restoration shop, at noon.

09/20/2025

Next Saturday—join us for night photos at Boonton Yard! Several of our historic locomotives and visiting machines will be dramatically lit for nighttime photography, with lighting and direction provided by our friends at Railfan & Railroad. Attendance is limited to only 30 guests. Tickets are on sale right now at https://www.urhs.org/nightphoto!

Included in the shoot will be our side-by-side CNJ GP7s, GG1 No. 4877, the newly-unveiled Hoboken Shore 700, and a surprise visitor to-be-announced!

Note: Photos below are samples and do not reflect the final set up of the shoot. Photo set ups are subject to change and more surprises may be added!

Address

104 Morris Avenue
Boonton, NJ
07005

Website

http://urhs.org/

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