Years ago, a walk along some old railroad tracks with his grandfather led Kevin Husta to a passion that would ultimately result in his photography exhibit at the Ocean City Arts Center.
“It was weird. I didn’t think about that walk for years, but when I was 18, I began to wonder about those old tracks.”
That curiosity sparked a 15-year avocation of exploring, researching, photographing and recording information about the old railroads in Southern New Jersey.
“Anybody can find an old railroad bridge,” said Husta, a Hammonton resident who is now 33. “But to figure out what it was connected to and where it leads to can be a lot of work.”
That work resulted in a storehouse of information Husta compiled that paints a picture of the former primary mode of transportation from Philadelphia to the Jersey Shore and in Cape May County, from Ocean City to Cape May. Nearly two dozen of Husta’s best photographs are currently on display through the end of the month at the Arts Center, 1735 Simpson Avenue. The works are all for sale and are framed by hand by Husta using reclaimed scrap wood from the old railroads. More information is available by calling the Arts Center at 399-7628.
Jack Devine of the Arts Center heard about Kevin’s project and thought “That would make a great show. The word is nostalgia,” Devine said. “It really struck a chord. People came in off the street and began taking cell phone pictures of the railway maps Kevin displayed. Many of the people had taken those trains or their parents did.”
Devine himself remembers taking the train from Philly to Ocean City, which left from 30th St. Station. “There were two cars, and they separated in Tuckahoe. One went on to Ocean City, the other to Cape May. You had to make sure you were on the right car.”
Husta said some of the major junctions in the region were in Tuckahoe, Woodbine, Anglesea, Sea Isle City and Wildwod.
Husta, a design engineer for a telecommunications firm, graduated from Richard Stockton College (now University) with a degree in visual arts and graphic design. Ever since, he has researched the two original competing railroads of South Jersey: the West Jersey Seashore Line and the Atlantic City Railroad. “I had bits and pieces of of what had been connected. A lot of libraries, historical societies and individuals helped me along the way,” he said.
Driven by a desire to “simply get the information out there which has been largely forgotten,” Husta photographed ruins and remnants of the railroads, almost exclusively in black and white. Married to Erin and the father of Kendall, 5, and Everly, 3, Husta built a workshop in his garage where he worked on the railroad project whenever he had a spare moment. “Even if I could only squeeze in an hour or so, I would try to get something done.”
What emerged was a more complete track map and images of what had been the transportation lifeblood of the South Jersey Shore’s tourism industry.
“This is an important exhibit,” Devine said. “It depicts the connective travel mode from the major population center (to the seashore). In that sense it connects (seasonal visitors) to us and us to them.”
