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

DECEMBER 2001 NEWSLETTER VOL. XI #12

I'm looking out my window this morning to a thick frost that beautifies the ground as if a layer of powdered sugar were dropped from above. How amazing time flies as it seems to pass us by unnoticed, Only a few weeks ago, the trees were green and the summer birds sung their tune. As an organization, this same scenario plays back for us. In a quick blur of time, we have engineered three Open Houses, two mini-events, a banquet, a picnic, a fantrip, and now a Santa Claus Sunday. This particular event is significant. Without the usual planning for lack of time, we hastily arranged an agenda that included Santa, an elf, a profusion of gifts for the children, and our always winner, the Centerville & Southwestern Railroad. This quick idea, born from the thoughts of Glenn Terminelli, did not have the benefits of lead-in advertising. Yet, despite this fact and the cold temperatures, we managed to corral about one hundred people. Sunday December 9 proved that we have contact in the community. Many thanks are in order to Glenn Terminelli for his mastery of our train and time put in to keep it running and for setting up the music that played throughout the day. We thank Glenn and Ed Beers for decorations, Steve Winter for lighting, Chrissy Pensyl for a generous donation of gift Items, Cheri and Bill Pensyl for candy and for pretty Christmas cactus plants, and Tom Marzuoli for giving the club some nice outside ornaments. I also wish to extend my gratitude to Dave Beck for providing three beautiful custom-made wreaths for the train and building. The snack station was manned by Ed Meyers and Jack Quinn. The gift shop was under the eye of Steve Winter. Staffing was also provided by Matt Winter, Jim Mack, Jim Anderson, and Paul Carpenito. Prior preparations for the event were done by Pete Terp. Our BIG thanks go out to the best Railroad Santa I've seen yet, Bill Pensyl, and to our cheerful Elf, Meg Carpenito. We will repeat this event next year with some earlier planning.

Our December membership meeting will be held on Wednesday December 19, 2001 at 7:30prn at the Alpha United Presbyterian Church. Refreshments will be provided by PRRH as a holiday gift to you. After a brief business meeting, entertainment will be provided by Pete Terp with a slide show on CNJ motive power. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MEETING IS ONE WEEK SOONER due to the holidays.

I WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE some wonderful news to our members and friends concurrent with this holiday season. THIS ORGANIZATION HAS RECEIVED GOS SUPPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2001-2002 FROM THE WARREN COUNTY CULTURAL AND HERITAGE COMMISSION. Your president made application to the commission for General Operating Support, providing documentation relating to our fiscal news and expenses and we have been awarded a grant of $1386.00 to be paid in two installments between now and June 2002. Credit must also be given to Jack Quinn, who sat in at a WCCHC meeting and provided me with an information folder that led up to this great news. Also I must thank Julius Tarsi who advised me as to its preparation and delivered the application to their offices when the deadline for filing became tight. Also, the gathering of financial information was done singlehandedly by Meg Carpenito. These monies will help us immensely in providing our visitors with a better environment in the year to come. Work parties on Tuesdays have been suspended for winter, but members may be contacted regarding weekend work parties that may be held, weather permitting. We have MANY tasks at hand that need attention. Rail must be transferred from the north side to the Museum grounds, existing track must be ballasted and tamped, and a caboose and bulldozer must be tarped. I would love to see a few more of you at the site. The steady work is being performed by the same 12 or so poor souls; these men are truly the guts of this organization. C&S engineering and track work will resume when the birds come back. We have received a load of C&S switch tie sticks which will completely rehabillitate six switches. This work was performed by Bill Pensyl and Glenn Terminelli.

There is planned a special meeting for former employees, fans and friends of the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) on Sunday December 16 at our Alpha United Presbyterian Church meeting location, PRRH Is assisting in an effort to create a great public event sometime in May at the restored Jersey City Terminal. This event is planned as a celebration of the Railroad's contribution to history and a statement of its surviving legacy. Several ranking Liberty State Park officials will be in attendance and I strongly urge your attendance at this Sunday's meeting. There will be a one hour audio and slide presentation to cap this initiatory event

Members should have received and returned their ballots at this time in determining the winner in PRRH's first election to determine the directorship position to be filled. The election will be completed at the December meeting. You CAN bring your SEALED ballot at that time if you wish.

We would like to thank FRIENDS for contributing $183.68 toward fuel costs to heat the firehouse. PRRH would like to welcome new member, John Durnin, who operates a plumbing business in the area.

Regrettably, we inform you of the passing of Marie Zurkowski, my sister and now PRRH family member this year, wife of Gene Zurkowski. The Zurkowskiis' are from Clearwater, Florida and attended our June meeting when they were visiting,

We are accepting your $25.00 dues for year 2002 and we are asking Santa to give us enough to buy our now weed machine next spring, Will any of you elves help?

On behalf of the officers of the PHILLIPSBURG RAILROAD HISTORIANS, I wish you and your families a healthy spirit-filled Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with the magic and promise only you know best.

See you soon,

~ Paul Carpenito ~

PC/pc/sdw

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