By Steve Barry
SMS Rail Lines, the switching operator at Pureland Industrial Park in Bridgeport, N.J., famous for its fleet of Baldwins diesels, announced that the lone steam locomotive on its roster, 0-6-0 9, is ready to enter service. The switcher will be used on SMS’s subsidiary tourist railroad, Woodstown Central, located in Salem County, N.J.
Built for the U.S. Army by Alco in 1942 and began its working career at Fort Dix in New Jersey. It then moved on to Fort Eustis in Virginia before being retired by the Army in 1958 and sold to Virginia Blue Ridge. There it hung on into the diesel era, being retired (again) in 1963.
Woodstown Central 0-6-0 9 is seen during a test run on October 24, at Pureland Industrial Park, Bridgeport, N.J. Photo by Steve Barry.
Number 9’s tourist career began in 1966 when the New Hope & Ivyland in Pennsylvania began operations. There it worked off and on into the early 1980s. Restoration work began on the switcher in 1992 but didn’t get very far. By 2009, it was at SMS undergoing restoration as time allowed. When Salem County awarded SMS the contract to operate the Salem Branch and SMS decided to get into tourist train service, work accelerated on the 9, with its first test-firing in 2021 and its first movement under its own power in 2023. The locomotive now wears Woodstown Central lettering on its tender.
At the moment, the 9 is still at SMS but will soon be moved to Woodstown Central. While WC tracks end just three miles from Pureland, there is no direct rail connection; movement will involve heading north from Pureland to Woodbury via Conrail Shared Assets and then south from Woodbury to Swedesboro via Southern Railroad of New Jersey. The locomotive is expected to make its public debut on November 30.
Woodstown Central operates over 16 miles of ex-Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines trackage owned by Salem County. It just finished construction of a new engine house for 9 at its South Woodstown property.
