Proto-Future and the Beginner's Guide to Model Railroading
Sep 18, 2026 · 34 min · 11 segments
Audio from the YouTube video series describing my journey to visit, ride, and bicycle every DMU system in the US. Video found at: https://www.youtube.com/@\G\IV…
So, New Jersey has one of the largest regional rail systems in the country and the only statewide transit system, to my knowledge.
Obviously, it is slightly more famous for all of the commuter trains that it has in Northern New Jersey running out of New York Penn Station and Hoboken, but we're going to talk about something that is not that today.
No, not that one.
The one that I'm talking about is actually what connects the northern and southern legs.
Specifically, it runs between Trenton, New Jersey, which is the southern end of the northeast corridor branch of NJT and also the northern end of the Trenton branch of SEPTA, and the Atlantic City line, which is the sole commuter regional rail line in southern New Jersey that runs from Philadelphia 30th Street Station all the way to, obviously, Atlantic City.
And interestingly, this does run parallel to the northeast corridor on the other side of the Delaware River.
In fact, I do believe this is actually on the same trackage as the Camden and Amboy, which was in the 1830s I think the first railroad in the United States to have regularly published passenger service.
Anyway, the River Line itself was opened in March 2004 as the first DMU in the United States and the second in North America.
and it's operated by New Jersey Transit between Trenton, obviously, and Camden, New Jersey, which is right across the Delaware River from downtown Philadelphia, or excuse me, Center City.
It is 55 kilometers long and has 21 stations, and it has a whopping 3 million riders a year, or approximately 9,000 a day.
Having ridden it, I can in fact confirm that it does get rather high ridership.
For those interested, this works out to be approximately 164 daily riders per kilometer, or 430 per station that it operates.
It was inspired by the O-Train Trillium line in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which is now Line 2 of its light rail system, which started operation in, I believe, 2001 using literally second-hand vehicles from Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway operator.
You can see some of those in the lower left.
Very recently, I believe only about three or four years ago, it was actually extended, and it was updated to use Stadler Flirts, which you can see in the bottom right.
I unfortunately did not have a chance to explore and ride this, because as a genderqueer person it was too dangerous to cross a border and come back, lest I get my passport seized by ICE or Border Patrol, but that's another story.
So unfortunately I don't have anything to report to you on this, but to my understanding from going through the maps, while it is a DMU, I do think it was primarily a transit system first.
But to my understanding, the River Line was the first DMU transit system to heavily involve freight rail, as you can obviously see here.
On the southern end, the River Line connects to Philadelphia by way of a transfer with PATCO, which I believe was the first fully automated metro in the United States.
And this gives it a connection into, of course, downtown Philadelphia, making it more convenient than just ending short of downtown.
On the other end, the DMU actually connects with the Northeast Corridor itself, Amtrak trains.
In fact, you can see in the very far top right, on the very edge, a bit of the tracks used by the River Line.
But otherwise, it's literally just a transfer right across the street, and you can walk right from an Amtrak train to a DMU.
So, New Jersey has one of the largest regional rail systems in the country and the only statewide transit system, to my knowledge.
Obviously, it is slightly more famous for all of the commuter trains that it has in Northern New Jersey running out of New York Penn Station and Hoboken, but we're going to talk about something that is not that today.
No, not that one.
The one that I'm talking about is actually what connects the northern and southern legs.
Specifically, it runs between Trenton, New Jersey, which is the southern end of the northeast corridor branch of NJT and also the northern end of the Trenton branch of SEPTA, and the Atlantic City line, which is the sole commuter regional rail line in southern New Jersey that runs from Philadelphia 30th Street Station all the way to, obviously, Atlantic City.
And interestingly, this does run parallel to the northeast corridor on the other side of the Delaware River.
In fact, I do believe this is actually on the same trackage as the Camden and Amboy, which was in the 1830s I think the first railroad in the United States to have regularly published passenger service.
Anyway, the River Line itself was opened in March 2004 as the first DMU in the United States and the second in North America.
and it's operated by New Jersey Transit between Trenton, obviously, and Camden, New Jersey, which is right across the Delaware River from downtown Philadelphia, or excuse me, Center City.
It is 55 kilometers long and has 21 stations, and it has a whopping 3 million riders a year, or approximately 9,000 a day.
Having ridden it, I can in fact confirm that it does get rather high ridership.
For those interested, this works out to be approximately 164 daily riders per kilometer, or 430 per station that it operates.
It was inspired by the O-Train Trillium line in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which is now Line 2 of its light rail system, which started operation in, I believe, 2001 using literally second-hand vehicles from Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway operator.
You can see some of those in the lower left.
Very recently, I believe only about three or four years ago, it was actually extended, and it was updated to use Stadler Flirts, which you can see in the bottom right.
I unfortunately did not have a chance to explore and ride this, because as a genderqueer person it was too dangerous to cross a border and come back, lest I get my passport seized by ICE or Border Patrol, but that's another story.
So unfortunately I don't have anything to report to you on this, but to my understanding from going through the maps, while it is a DMU, I do think it was primarily a transit system first.
But to my understanding, the River Line was the first DMU transit system to heavily involve freight rail, as you can obviously see here.
On the southern end, the River Line connects to Philadelphia by way of a transfer with PATCO, which I believe was the first fully automated metro in the United States.
And this gives it a connection into, of course, downtown Philadelphia, making it more convenient than just ending short of downtown.
On the other end, the DMU actually connects with the Northeast Corridor itself, Amtrak trains.
In fact, you can see in the very far top right, on the very edge, a bit of the tracks used by the River Line.
But otherwise, it's literally just a transfer right across the street, and you can walk right from an Amtrak train to a DMU.
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