New Jersey Railroad Museums (2026): A Complete Guide

Last revised: October 8, 2026

New Jersey packed a half-dozen trunk lines into a short run to New York Harbor, and a surprising number of their buildings and engines are still visitable. The Whippany Railway Museum has kept a Morristown & Erie freight house since 1965, with Jersey Central caboose No. 91529 on the grounds. Maywood’s Susquehanna station of 1872 has Alco S-2 No. 206 beside the platform. The New Jersey Museum of Transportation runs the three-foot Pine Creek Railroad inside Allaire State Park. Mahwah keeps the Erie depot of 1871. Phillipsburg and Boonton open their collections on announced days.

Which days Whippany, Pine Creek, Black River & Western, and the other excursion lines sell a ticket is on the New Jersey scenic-train guide. Confirm the museum doors on each site before you drive.

Jersey Central caboose No. 91529 at the Whippany Railway Museum on January 25, 2003. The car was built in May 1942. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: At a glance · New Jersey railroads · Whippany · Maywood · Pine Creek · Mahwah · Phillipsburg · Boonton · Related reading

At a glance

Place	Town	What it is known for	Site
Whippany Railway Museum	Whippany	Founded 1965 in the Morristown & Erie freight house. Jersey Central caboose 91529, built May 1942	whippanyrailwaymuseum.net · rides
Maywood Station Museum	Maywood	Susquehanna station of 1872. Alco S-2 No. 206, built 1942	269 Maywood Avenue
Pine Creek Railroad	Wall Township	New Jersey Museum of Transportation, founded 1952. Three-foot gauge in Allaire State Park	njmt.org · rides
Old Station Museum	Mahwah	Erie depot of 1871, at 1871 Old Station Lane, and an Erie caboose of 1929	mahwahmuseum.org
Phillipsburg Railroad Historians	Phillipsburg	Incorporated April 1, 1990. Centerville & Southwestern miniature railroad	10 Pine Alley
United Railroad Historical Society	Boonton	Yard and shop, open on announced days. Jersey Central GP7s 1523 and 1524	urhs.org

New Jersey railroads

The Camden & Amboy, chartered in 1830, was the state’s first through railroad and later part of the Pennsylvania. The Jersey Central opened to Phillipsburg on July 2, 1852. The Reading, the Erie, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, and the New York, Susquehanna & Western all reached the Hudson or the Delaware with their own stations, ferries, and yards. Hoboken Terminal, the Lackawanna’s waterfront station of 1907, is still a railroad station. The Jersey Central’s Communipaw Terminal of 1889 still stands in Liberty State Park, Jersey City. NJ Transit and Amtrak run the passenger mains. Freight through the old shared terminals is Conrail Shared Assets, with CSX and Norfolk Southern beyond them. A fuller map is on the New Jersey railroads page.

Whippany Railway Museum

The Whippany Railway Museum dates from 1965, when employees and volunteers of the Morris County Central, the steam excursion railroad then running in Whippany, opened a small museum in half of the Morristown & Erie freight house. In 1967 the excursion railroad paid to move that freight house across the tracks to the site it still occupies, opposite the stone passenger station. After the Morris County Central’s era, the group reorganized under the Whippany name. The rebuilt museum held its grand opening on October 26, 1985.

Jersey Central caboose No. 91529, in the photograph, was built in May 1942. It is the car the museum is known for on the platform. The collection is New Jersey railroad equipment and paper, interpreted in the freight house. Excursion days, including the seasonal specials, are on the scenic guide. The museum posts its own open hours.

Maywood Station

Maywood Station, at 269 Maywood Avenue, was built in 1872 for the New Jersey Midland Railway, the road that became the New York, Susquehanna & Western. Passenger service ended in the 1960s, and the building sat empty until the Maywood Station Historical Committee, part of the Susquehanna’s technical and historical society, began the restoration in July 2002. The museum opened in September 2004. The National Register listing is 2003. The waiting room and the ticket office are furnished as a small-town Susquehanna station, and the society’s drawings, timetables, and photographs are the archive in the building.

Alco S-2 No. 206 was built at Schenectady in 1942 for the Susquehanna, a 1,000-horsepower switcher. The railroad retired it in 1986. The museum acquired it in 2008 from the United Railroad Historical Society, and it was placed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on September 10, 2009. Caboose No. 24542 was built in 1971 by the International Car Company at Kenton, Ohio, for the Penn Central, and Conrail retired it in 2005. In 2026 the committee repainted the locomotive in its 1960s and 1970s colors and repainted the caboose with it. Visitors can board the caboose. The committee posts the open days.

Pine Creek Railroad

The New Jersey Museum of Transportation began in 1952, when James Wright, Jay L. Wulfson, and Pierre Rasmussen bought a Baldwin 0-4-0T from the Raritan River Sand Company and named it Pine Creek No. 1. They laid a short narrow-gauge railroad on about two and a half acres along Route 9 in Marlboro, using rail pulled from abandoned sand pits. That first engine was later sold and rebuilt as the Disneyland Railroad’s Ernest S. Marsh. A charter in December 1962 made the Pine Creek Railroad a division of the nonprofit museum, and the operation moved to Allaire State Park in Wall Township. The railroad is three-foot gauge. It is a separate organization from Allaire Village, on the same park.

The Shay the collection is known for is Ely-Thomas Lumber Company No. 6, which was already hauling the loop by 1967. Coaches from the Newfoundland Railway are in the train set, and a caboose that began as a New Jersey Southern boxcar is in the collection. The ride is a loop inside the park. Which days it runs is on the scenic guide. The volunteers post the rest.

Mahwah

The Old Station Museum stands at 1871 Old Station Lane, and the street number is the building’s year. In 1848 the Paterson & Ramapo came through Mahwah on the way from Paterson to a connection with the Erie at Suffern. In 1871 local people got the Erie to stop here, and this station is that building. It remained in service until 1904, when the Erie widened the railroad to four tracks and raised the grade. The station NJ Transit uses is the later building on the raised line. The 1871 depot was saved first by the Winters family and then by the Mahwah Historical Society, which established the museum in 1967.

An Erie cupola caboose of 1929 sits with the station. Inside are railroad photographs, a model of the Erie, and the objects donors have given the society. The society posts the season. The depot is the exhibit.

Phillipsburg

The Phillipsburg Railroad Historians incorporated on April 1, 1990, to keep the railroad history of a town the Jersey Central, the Pennsylvania’s Belvidere-Delaware, the Lehigh Valley, and the Lackawanna all entered. The yard the group shows the public is at 10 Pine Alley. The operating exhibit is the Centerville & Southwestern, a miniature railroad. The grounds open on announced days. The Delaware River Railroad’s excursion trains, a separate operation in the same town, are on the scenic guide.

United Railroad Historical Society

The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey keeps a large collection in its Boonton yard and shop. This is a working storage and restoration site, open to the public on announced days, including the society’s Museum for a Day. At the September 27, 2026, open house the equipment on view included New York Central E8 No. 4083, still wearing the experimental Century Green of 1960–61, and Jersey Central GP7s No. 1523 and No. 1524, built by Electro-Motive in 1952. Lehigh & New England caboose No. 580, built at the Reading Company shops in 1937, was open. New Jersey’s car from the 1949 French Merci Train was there as well, with restoration ahead of it. The society posts the next open day. Boonton is the collection’s home between those days.

Black River & Western 2-8-0 No. 60 is the steam locomotive most visitors meet on a New Jersey excursion. Its trips, and the calendars for Woodstown Central and Cape May Seashore Lines, are on the scenic guide.

Sources

Whippany Railway Museum, whippanyrailwaymuseum.net: founded 1965 in the Morristown & Erie freight house; freight house moved in 1967; grand opening October 26, 1985. Jersey Central caboose 91529, photographed January 25, 2003, built May 1942, from the American-Rails.com collection caption. Excursion days follow the New Jersey scenic-train guide.
Maywood Station Museum: 269 Maywood Avenue, station built 1872, restoration begun July 2002, museum opened September 2004, National Register 2003, reference 03000487. Alco S-2 No. 206, Schenectady, 1942, retired 1986, acquired 2008, New Jersey Register September 10, 2009. Caboose 24542, International Car Company, 1971, retired by Conrail in 2005. The 2026 repaint follows Progressive Railroading, September 3, 2026.
New Jersey Museum of Transportation, njmt.org: founded 1952 by James Wright, Jay L. Wulfson, and Pierre Rasmussen; Pine Creek No. 1, a Baldwin 0-4-0T from the Raritan River Sand Company, later Disneyland’s Ernest S. Marsh; nonprofit charter December 1962; Allaire State Park, Wall Township; three-foot gauge. Ely-Thomas Lumber Company Shay No. 6. Mahwah Historical Society: 1871 Erie station at 1871 Old Station Lane, museum established 1967, in service until the 1904 grade separation, Erie caboose of 1929. Paterson & Ramapo, 1848.
Phillipsburg Railroad Historians: incorporated April 1, 1990; 10 Pine Alley; Centerville & Southwestern miniature. Jersey Central opening to Phillipsburg, July 2, 1852. United Railroad Historical Society, Boonton: Museum for a Day, September 27, 2026, reported by Trains on September 28, 2026. New York Central E8 No. 4083. Jersey Central GP7s 1523 and 1524, Electro-Motive, 1952. Lehigh & New England caboose 580, Reading Company shops, 1937. New Jersey Merci Train car, 1949. Camden & Amboy chartered in 1830. Hoboken Terminal, Lackawanna, 1907. Communipaw Terminal, Jersey Central, 1889, Liberty State Park.

Confirm hours and which locomotive is on the property before you travel. Tickets are sold by the museums and the railroads.

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