United Railroad Historical Association
Boonton Yard
The Blue & Red Tours
Saturday, October 3, 2026
Sunday, October 4, 2026
11am to 4pm
United Railroad Historical Society of NJ
Boonton Yard
For information on events, click on the website below:
https://www.urhs.org/
Boonton Yard is home to the collection of the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey (URHS), the largest and most comprehensive collection of railroad cars and locomotives in the state. The yard serves as URHS’s primary restoration and storage facility and is opened to the public only periodically. It houses a variety of locomotives, passenger cars, and cabooses that are operational, restored, or awaiting restoration. The 8,000-square-foot restoration shop at the center of the yard is used by URHS volunteers and staff to restore historic equipment and maintain the organization’s operational fleet. Highlights of the collection include one of the observation cars from the famed Blue Comet, New Jersey’s Merci Train boxcar, two Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 electric locomotives, the only surviving General Electric U34CH locomotive, and many other historic cars and locomotives that are opened for public tours. URHS also owns a fleet of operational passenger cars that travel off-site, including the observation car from the world-famous 20th Century Limited.
Boonton has been home to a railroad yard in various forms since 1870, when the Morris & Essex Railroad constructed the Boonton Branch. Although Boonton is now just a small stop on NJ Transit, it was once an important hub for passenger and freight service. In its early years, the yard was essential to serving the Boonton Iron Works, which closed in 1911. It also served as a stopping point for local freight and handled less-than-carload shipments for area customers, who collected their deliveries at the Lackawanna Freight House between the yard and Morris Avenue.
Today, most local freight service has disappeared, as have the large rail-served industries that once called Boonton home. The Lackawanna Freight House (not part of the URHS site), is privately owned by a software developer. The rail yard itself is owned by NJ Transit and leased to URHS in support of the organization’s historic-preservation mission.
