CAPE MAY — A 90-minute tour with Revolution Rail is more than a relaxing trip on old, unused train tracks.
The scenic tours, which originate at the Cape May Welcome Center, take riders on an ecological adventure through the hidden side of the island, away from the beaches and businesses.
“You see a good variety of habitat — salt marsh, some woods — and end up at Cape May Canal,” said Jake Cuomo, general manager of the Cape May Station.
There, at the halfway point, tour guides — led by naturalist Jesse Amesbury, who worked for the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and Cape May Bird Observatory — discuss the flora and fauna of the area before turning the bikes around and heading back.
“Along the way, enjoy sweeping meadows of native wildflowers and world-class viewing of migrating songbirds, raptors and pollinators like bumblebees and monarch butterflies,” Cuomo said.
On the way to Cape May, riders stop to pose for photos with the giant monarch butterfly wings and on a bridge spanning the salt marsh. Revolution Rail encourage guests to bring drinks and snacks to enjoy at the nearby picnic tables during both stops.
“I am pretty passionate about what we do,” said Cuomo, who previously worked for Curtis Bashaw at Cape Resorts. “Coming from a hospitality background, I enjoy showing people a good time and really showing a different side of Cape May, a part of Cape May you wouldn’t see anywhere else.”
Since welcoming its first riders in 2017 in North Creek, N.Y., Rev Rail has introduced more than 400,000 guests to rail biking in New York, New Jersey, Maine and Colorado.
The Cape May Station began offering rail rides Dec. 4, 2020, that take riders on a 4-mile round trip along the Nature Conservancy’s Garrett Family Preserve.
“We’re a very eco-friendly company, all pedal-power, green activity,” said Cuomo, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran who spent half his 24-year career stationed on the island.
Cuomo, who grew up in Cedar Brook, Camden County, spent summers with his grandparents on Shore Drive in North Cape May, later attending boot camp just a clam shell’s toss away on the other side of Cape May.
He served as a recruit company commander, served elsewhere but then returned for his last six years as a pay and personnel officer. After retirement, he went to work for Cape Resorts in 2020 and then “found myself with Revolution Rail” in 2022.
In addition to its relationship with the Nature Conservancy, Cuomo said Rev Rail has partnered with the Cape May Bird Observatory for spring and fall birding trips, noting 187 species have been documented along the route — binoculars highly recommended.
Cuomo said that while the company’s tours in New York and Colorado have some variety of terrain, the course in Cape May is as flat as the bay at slack tide. That makes it accessible to most.
He said the clientele is “literally a cross-section of society.”
“We get a lot of young families with young children, retirees, a really diverse demographic. Lots of bachelorette parties. Physically, it’s not extremely challenging.”
Cuomo said last summer a woman took a trip to celebrate her 100th birthday, together with her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter.
Standard tours depart every two hours — 8 a.m., 10 a.m.., noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. — and can be reserved at revrail.com. The cost is $90 for a two-seater and $160 for a four-seater. The maximum number is 44 people per trip.
Cuomo said reservations are highly recommended as they do sell out.
“Last August, we sold out almost every tour for the whole month,” he said.
Options include twilight and full moon tours (both 8 p.m.), as well as special events. Metered parking at Welcome Center. Visit revrail.com for more information.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Cape May Star and Wave
