by Bill McKelvey/photos as noted
Liberty Historic Railway, North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society, and Kinkisharyo International held a Dedication Ceremony to celebrate the restoration of Public Service Railway Trolley Car No. 2651 on November 30, 2023.
Car No. 2651 was built in 1917 at the Public Service Plank Road, Newark, shops. The car first served in Essex County and was retired and stored in 1940. In 1942 No. 2651 was returned to service to assist in shuttling hordes of workers to the Federal Shipyards and Western Electric in South Kearny. This required reactivation of two trolley lines from Exchange Place and Journal Square in Jersey City to South Kearny. After World War II, the car was retired and sold to a family in Long Valley, N.J., who lived in it until they completed building their permanent home on the lot.
In 1973 Tony Hall purchased the car and moved it to the property of the Black River & Western Railway at Ringoes for restoration. No. 2651 was moved from Ringoes to Phillipsburg in 2001, where restoration work was continued by volunteers. In 2018 No. 2651 was moved from Phillipsburg to Kinkisharyo International in Piscataway for further restoration by volunteers and professional painting by Kinkisharyo, which was funded by Liberty Historic Railway.
Interestingly, KS Railroad operates on the track within Kinkisharyo’s Piscataway facility, and interchanges with Conrail. They own former NJ Transit GP40FH-2 locomotive 4139 and use it to move cars around the facility. North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society (NJERHS), an IRS designated 501(C)(3) non-profit, was founded in 1985 and owns eight historic New Jersey trolley cars, five of which are stored at Kinkisharyo, awaiting funding for restoration. Liberty Historic Railway (LHRy), also an IRS designated 501(C)(3) non-profit,e stablished in 2012 is a funding source for restoration.
LHRy is working with NJERHS to establish a display building and track for operation in Phillipsburg. Enthusiastic local leaders there are advancing plans to acquire properties and to operate trolley cars on a one-mile corridor between Phillipsburg Union Station and Tower and Walters Park. There is enough rail in Phillipsburg salvaged from the Rahway Valley Railroad to build this line. LHRy has an additional two trolley cars, plus a 1927 bus and a fire truck available for the Phillipsburg initiatives. The groups have more than enough trolley cars to be able to share some with another New Jersey location and we would be pleased to learn of their interest.
The Kinkisharyo Piscataway plant offers transit vehicle repairs, upgrades, modifications and more. Kinkisharyo International has manufactured more than 10,000 railcars, including those in use on the Hudson-Bergen and Newark Light Rail systems, plus cars for Boston, Dallas, Seattle, and several cities in California. Kinkisharyo International U.S. headquarters is in El Segundo, Calif., and its manufacturing plant is located in Palmdale, Calif.