CNJ #113 was one of five B-7 type switchers built for the Central Railroad of New Jersey, numbers 111-115. These locomotives were designed to operate on the Anthracite Roads of Pennsylvania, so instead of having regular fireboxes, they had wootten fireboxes which allowed them to burn anthracite coal. Since these locomotives were designed with a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement, their only effective use was to be operated as switchers since they did not ride smoothly and rarely got past 15 miles per hour. 113 along with her sisters operated in the CNJ's freight yards for almost three decades. In 1945, the railroad had changed their class to 6S46. By 1951, she along with her sister counterparts were placed out of service in favor of the new diesel locomotives.
Change in Ownership
Around 1953, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company had bought No. 113 and used her at a colliery in Locust Summit, outside of Ashland, PA until she was last used in 1960. She became the last CNJ steam engine to be steamed up. No. 113 had also run a few fan trips with CNJ #774 in 1954, but 774 was soon scrapped. 113 was then stored outside at Locust Summit for many years and as a result, suffered a massive amount deterioration and even had some trees growing around her. The Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company eventually decided to donate her to the Historic Red Clay Valley Inc. located in Wilmington, Delaware in 1980. In 1986, the locomotive was purchased by Robert E. Kimmel Sr. and she was later moved to Minersville where she operates out of today.
Restoration
Work to restore the locomotive to operating condition began in 1999 and it took more than twenty years for it to fully be operational again. The total cost to restore the engine was more than $600,000 and had countless hours of volunteer labor. 113 was also restored with minimal protection from the elements and no heavy machinery. Many of the parts on the locomotive had long been missing before the restoration had even started. As a result, many of the parts had to be made from scratch since there had not been any commercial builders that produced parts for steam locomotives in decades. One example of this is how the volunteers had to make a wooden cast of the original three-chime whistle by measuring an original CNJ whistle which was available to them. The engine was finally fired up after more than five decades of inactivity in late fall of 2012. The Railway Restoration Project 113 Organization conducted a test-run on the same day with the engine also doing some more test-runs in 2013 and 2014.
Present
After the test-runs for the engine in late 2012 and two/thirds of 2013, the locomotive began operating on some passenger excursions in late 2013 with Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad 425. CNJ 113 continued to run more excursions by itself and with RBM&N 425 during the 2014 season. Every year since then the 113 has been hauling excursions across the RBM&NR's lines in cooperation with the railroad. For the excursions, the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad provides passenger cars and occasionally some helper locomotives to Railway Restoration Project 113 in order for the excursions to occur. She happens to be the only surviving CNJ steam locomotive that is still operational. There is only one other CNJ locomotive and that is CNJ No. 592, however she is not operational and currently resides at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum. Currently, No. 113 operates out of Minersville, PA at the Minersville Train Depot hauling multiple excursions each year.
