Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic writes:
No William! Not all the way to NYC! From Philly I have taken the train when I attended Drexel University in Philadelphia and took this route for years. You have to take three trains. The SEPTA - R6 from 30th street station to Trenton, then switch trains to the NJ Transit - Northeast Corridor line to Rahway. Then take the NJ Transit - North Jersey Coast Line to Belmar. The whole trip is about 3 to 3 and 1/2 hours. Maybe more depending on schedule. The problem is that there isn't good east to west trains as seen by this map: https://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainSchedulesMapT....
From PHL, best bet is to hire a car. Then take I-95 north and pick up I-195 east to Rt-18. There NO TOLL on any of that route. It's, essentially, how I go to and from Philly and PHL, and Jackson. Why spent countless hours riding a train to nowhere and standing on sidings awaiting another? Trains are fine in the UK and .EU -- I have ridden them often when on the eastern side of the Atlantic swamp -- but there's just no comparable equivalent when here in the states. I-95 to I-195 is about as direct as one can get and it'll keep folks from getting lost on the roadways. The added benefit, no forced donation to Uncle Sam via tolls!