Phillipsburg Railroad Historians, Inc.
292 Chambers Street, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865

May 2000 NEWSLETTER VOL. X #5

GREETINGS to all PRRH members and their families. Spring has sprung and thoughts turn to the outdoor world after a bout with cabin fever. Enjoy an evening with your fellow members topped off by a cup of coffee, and some quality entertainment. The May meeting of PRRH will be conducted at the ALPHA UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH on Wednesday May 24 at 7:30pm. Refreshments are served and entertainment is to be done by noted rail photographer Dave Augsburger.

By the time you are reading this newsletter, our members will have enjoyed a fine spring outing to Baltimore and we will report on this fantrip event in next month's bulletin. The enginehouse building was delivered on May 11 and construction is scheduled to begin the week of May 15. We are also closer to getting the X29 boxcar moved to our museum site. Details of this will be forthcoming. Our annual banquet at Ryan's is now history. This event was a resounding success as 36 people attended and had a wonderful time. The food was excellent, and Tom Nemeth's Canadian entertainment was a fine presentation. The night was topped off with a visit to the upstairs O scale model railroad. Our local officials were in attendance and a fine evening was had by all. Why, even a westbound NS train greeted us as we departed for home. Our thanks go out to Holly and Jeff Reamer for their fine food and service and the hospitality their staff showed us. Also happening this past month, on April 17, a public meeting was held to further introduce the State Museum concept to any interested parties. I was proud to see that of the 30 some odd people attending, a third of these were PRRH members. This is a good show for us considering the officials of the consulting firm and various other important officials were there to see our interest in the project.

We are continuing to monitor the progress of the State Museum Plan and the officers have established a statement regarding our involvement in its future. PRRH's main objective is the obligation to operate, maintain, and house the CENTERVILLE & SOUTHWESTERN RAILROAD. This is our top attraction and our main concern. We have a commitment to operate during our open season. It is our intent to complement, not compete with the State Museum. PRRH will work with other groups toward the betterment and development of the state site. PRRH will request representation in the directorship of the state site. PRRH will also request, at a later time, space allotment at the future museum for display purposes. The meeting was generally informative with a series of sketches utilized to give the attendees a better perspective of what the initial shape of the complex will contain. The initial phase leans heavily on establishing the heavy rail infrastructure and the extension of Stocton Street towards the Delaware River. Turntable, roundhouse, theatre, freight house, and Bel-Del train station are among the offerings. Also, the west end of the former Tippett & Wood building will contain some of the full scale interpretive displays. The firm of Wallace, Roberts, and Todd have been doing much research into making this first phase something you won't want to miss.

I have been somewhat lax at welcoming some of our new members on paper. I will attempt to get up to date by the next newsletter. I also wish to thank the members whose generosity have provided us with snacks at our member meetings. While I am on thank you's, I wish to acknowledge Jim Anderson for contributing 280.00 worth of copper and aluminum to the club treasury. Also to Herb Fischer for his 250.00 donation, and to all of you that have added a little something extra with their dues money. Your continued support of this organization has greatly enhanced our ability to make progress toward all our projects.

Speaking of projects, Raffle tickets will begin to circulate soon in our continuing efforts to help the budget. Please make a conscious effort to sell as many as you can. Don't be shy to ask for more if you have the knack for selling. We need, though, to keep an accountability on all the tickets we distribute. DO NOT THROW AWAY OR MISPLACE them as we need to keep tabs on the total count when the raffle is over. The lovely first PRRH ball ornament is available now and can be had at the meeting. These fine historical depictions go for 19.95 each and will make a fine addition to your holiday tree and on somebody else's. Check them out and help out your club.

Work parties are held the first and third Saturday of each month at the museum site starting around 9:00am. The C&S work parties are held each Tuesday afternoon starting around 4:30pm. Substantial progress is being made on trackwork and grading. We have had assistance from the men of the North Jersey Electric Railroaders. We still are a long way off from where we should be as participation has been disappointing and poor. Dates to remember: June 10th Milford festival, and September 10th PRRH picnic at Hugh Moore Canal Park.

Hope to talk to you at the meeting,
Paul Carpenito

PC/ab/sdw

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