By Capt. Bill McKelvey
This adventure began nearly a decade ago when Pete Jedlika of the American Industrial Mining Company (AIMC) museum acquired all three of the former NJ Zinc Company (NJZC) Atlas storage battery locomotives from Stirling Hill Mining Museum and moved them to their Ohio facility. Following several years of negotiation, Liberty Historic Railway (LHRy) finally signed an agreement where by AIMC would restore one of the 2.5 ton, two-foot gauge, locomotives and deliver it back to NJ in operating condition. They did an absolutely splendid job! Since we had no location for it to go, Gary Mahan of the Mahan Collection Foundation, Inc. in Basking Ridge agreed to accept it. Specially fabricated storage batteries and a charging system for the NJ Zinc battery locomotive were shipped from India in early August, but did not arrive in time for the September 9th open house.
In further discussions with Gary, Liberty Historic Railway (LHRy) offered to fund and construct the track on which to operate the NJZC locomotive at Mahan’s large museum. McKelvey laid out the proposed loop line with a tail track along the shore of Mahan Lake with the help of friend Andrea Murillo to get an idea of the material needs. Since it spanned a large field (used for parking during major events) between the lake and a stand of evergreen trees, we volunteers called the line the Mahan Lake & Mack Pines Railway.
With the assistance of railroad contractor, John Nolan of Diamond Crossing Enterprises, we ordered two tractor-trailer loads of used, but old, 30 pound rail, new steel ties, joint bars, track bolts and four prefabricated turnouts from Kovalchick Corp. near Johnstown, PA. We unloaded it quickly at Basking Ridge with the large, heavy duty, former U. S. Army fork lift (named Pvt. Snafu) which Gary had acquired from Capt. Phil Francis, at McKelvey’s suggestion.
Gary had his grounds contractor spread the ballast along the planned track route. We began track construction with a cadre of volunteers, and, with the wood jig made by Nolan, and the all-terrain fork lift supplied by Mahan, the straight panels were assembled quickly. There were four steel tabs riveted to each steel tie to hold the rail. These had to be rotated 45 degrees to the locking position. The force required to do this destroyed the electric impact wrenches and the sockets we acquired. We soon upgraded to air impact wrenches using Gary’s tools and portable air compressor. However, the torque force continued to destroy sockets and tools.
It did not take us long to discover that unlike standard railroad track, where the heavy wood timbers hold the rail in place when bending into curves, the steel ties were far too light to stay in place… We tried to bend the rails several different ways, none of which worked… McKelvey, anticipating the need to bend rails, had contacted Tom Bauer of the Bucksgahuda & Western RR at St. Marys, PA, in advance, and arranged to borrow two heavy steel manual rail bending jigs. We very quickly discovered that our volunteers (unlike old time railroaders) did not have the brute strength to power the benders… However, Gary, ingeniously rigged up a hydraulic ram to the big jig to do the work and it worked very well!
Unfortunately, with the summer heat and heavy manual work which our volunteers were not used to, we began to burn out and deplete our helpers. In the end, LHRy paid Gary’s son-in-law, Rob Piper, and hired laborers to complete the job. Gary went far beyond our initial plans in adding extras to the project, such as the following: 1. A carbarn to protect all rail equipment was constructed, utilizing, in part, heavy oak timbers we donated / salvaged from the NJ Transit Madison station rebuilding project – it is well decorated, both inside and out with vintage signs and artifacts, 2. Heavy creosoted timbers salvaged from the Free Bridge at P’burg, which we donated, were used to build two heavy duty grade crossings, 3. A fine replica, elevated, water tank was constructed, 4. We also donated a concrete telephone booth from Hudson Yard at Phillipsburg which is now fully restored and decorates the end of the tail track beside Mahan Lake, 5. Three former Newark City Subway signals which we donated, are now restored and mounted along the railway, 6. One of the standard gauge bumper blocks, which we donated decorates the end of a short siding west of the carbarn.
We would need a passenger car to carry passengers on the railway – LHRy bought a steel coach from Youngstown (OH) Steel Heritage – J & L Narrow Gauge RR and their founder / president, Rick Rowlands delivered it to Basking Ridge. It did not have trucks, but LHRy had two options: 1. A pair of two-axle car frames acquired from Stirling Mining Museum and 2. A pair of truck parts from the former Hyper-Humus Co. peat harvesting operation at Newton, NJ which the late John Hemmings had rescued, replicated the missing wood structural beams and reassembled into serviceable trucks. Gary chose the Hyper-Humus trucks and they are now working well under the coach. The car frames from Stirling Mining Museum were donated by LHRy and used as the bases for two replica-appearing coal jimmies.
Gary wanted a second locomotive. He found former Leslie Salt Corp. (from the San Francisco Bay area which produced 1,000,000 tons of salt per year in 1959 from evaporation ponds), No. 4 for sale in Maine. It was a 7.5-ton, hydrostatic drive, Cummins powered, diesel locomotive which was built by Rogers of Albion, PA. Rogers, a builder of over the road heavy haul trailers for the construction, mining and other industries was established in 1905 and continues in business. Between 1957 and 1961 Rogers built up to 28 narrow gauge locomotives. Gary’s skilled shop workers added a stack, sand and steam domes, headlights, a bell, a face, buffers, blue paint, a sound system, and voila, a THOMAS locomotive! This locomotive and the previously described steel coach carried passengers for the grand opening on Sept. 9th.
Over the years LHRy and Friends of the NJ Transportation Heritage Center have made many other donations to the Mahan Collection, such as the 1923 former Apgar Trucking Bulldog Mack tractor; the 1947 Mack Model EF scissors lift coal delivery truck; a 1960’s US Army Mack M123A1-C 10-ton tractor; and we donated toward the costs of moving the battleship NJ 16” barrel from Camden to Basking Ridge. We have also loaned the Mahan Collection a very heavy NJ Zinc Company, Stirling Mine ore car and the 75-ton lifting hook from the former Central Railroad of New Jersey Elizabethport locomotive shop. McKelvey was elated when Gary presented him with a commemorative brick reading “Presented to Bill McKelvey in recognition for his service at The Mahan Collection Foundation, Inc. @ 53 Cross Road, Basking Ridge”. I would personally like to thank all the volunteers who helped us!
The Mahan Collection Foundation, Inc. is an Antique Trucking Museum formed in 2001 as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit with one of the largest collections in the world. The nearly 200 trucks on the 40-acre site are displayed throughout 6 buildings, plus scores of other trucks, construction equipment, military vehicles, artifacts, signs, etc. on display outside. A crew of 4 full time restoration enthusiasts keep the museum going with new acquisitions and restorations in the works each year. Between three and four hundred attended the open house, including two bus loads from an American Truck Historical Society chapter from Connecticut. Members of the Metro Jersey Chapter ATHS worked as volunteer parking attendants, guides and helpers for the day. A fleet of golf carts were provided for the elderly and disabled. Coffee, donuts, soda, juices and water were available, and two food trucks provided lunches, with an ice cream truck arriving in the afternoon. It was an excellent show! We were blessed with the weather as lightning, thunder and rain held off until after the closing hour…
Volunteers who helped build the Mahan Lake and Mack Pines Railway included: John Nolan, Alan Bird, Rusty King, Alan Ballester, Robert Cottino, Jeff Jargosch, McKelvey, and we paid Nolan’s helper Rocco. All photos by Alan Bird.
