Phillipsburg Railroad Historians, Inc.
PO Box 5104, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865

NOVEMBER 2002 NEWSLETTER VOL. XII #11

Although we tend to wind down affairs at PRRH after the September Open House, it seems that we still ride a little tail wind as several events have conspired to make that assertion truth. On the weekend of October 26 & 27, volunteers were busy dealing with some surprising patronage. At the museum on Saturday, the Town of Phillipsburg's Pumpkin Fest and Hay Ride attracted many local folks to our grounds, giving the gift shop and train ride some quick attention. The Centerville & Southwestern took on 104 riders, not bad for a Town event not geared to railfans. The event was hosted by Glenn Terminelli, Earle Brotzman, John Ward, Jim Mack, and Steve Winter.

At the other end of the state, preparations were being finalized for the First Annual CNJ Railroad Festival. This major event was held on Sunday at Liberty State Park in the former Jersey Central Passenger Terminal at the Jersey City waterfront, and attracted over 5000 people, most surprising to the planners and participants who had hoped for some exposure. PRRH was represented by Meg and Paul Carpenito, who put together a table akin to a small version of our museum building. The concourse was swamped all day by railfans, tourists, and tour groups riding the ferries. Our tables were well received and many people remembered Becker's Dairy Farm, especially when they viewed our C&S posters and Glenn's representative track section. Strangely enough, visitors would actually touch and feel the track section and then tell us how they remembered riding the little train many years before. Our videos were shown and patches and CNJ timetables all sold well. Several patrons remarked to us that we had the only CNJ items that one could buy at the show. The many tables were set up in the old concourse with our backs to the track gates and destination signs. Those platform areas are fenced off, but you could walk through the magnificent station waiting room where entertainment was scheduled all day, from singing to jazz band and interviews by former CNJ employees. Ferry rides were available to Liberty and Ellis Island as they are at most other times, but a special boat ride took guests on a tour of the railroad waterfront. Back along the concourse, food was available and portable operating model train layouts were running. Outside the building, a hobo was setting up camp, cooking stew over an open wood fire. Speeder car rides were being given and a small miniature railroad was providing short rides. Antique cars and trucks, along with a visit by the Military Transport Association was providing good viewing entertainment outside. The final highlight of the day was a mutual horn salute from a New York City Fire Boat shooting water up and out answered by Ed Kaspriske of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who provided at least four authentic diesel horns blowing, the same types used on diesel locomotives that frequented the terminal. Tired and exhausted from a grueling day, we reflected on our good fortunes with good weather and much PRRH exposure. We gave out many brochures with invitations to visit us in the spring.

Our museum grounds were also visited by the Society of Industrial Archaeology on October 17 with almost 100 people touring our grounds. As this newsletter reaches your mailbox, we will also have hosted the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society on Sunday November 10. As you can see, we have had a wonderful year with repeat patronage and made many new friends. Our volunteer staff is second to nobody when it came to strutting our stuff. Modestly, we have made gains and learned new ways of making our exposure more meaningful. Our activity is not yet over for the year as we will have a Santa Train running, planned for December 15. Our work activities have slowed due to early darkness and cold, but we will attempt some winter tracklaying on Sundays if the weather gets mild. We have, however, managed to get the Centerville & Southwestern ticket office re-roofed by an outside source. The enginehouse electric project is active with information being provided to the power company prior to the start of construction.

Tuesday volunteers were successful in clearing out the back area of the museum building to a point where one can walk uninhibited to the back. A bit more needs to be finished in order to attain our goal. We did a test showing of our theatre big screen television and it works great. We will be setting up a small theatre for the spring.

I would like to take a moment to thank the CNJ caboose project people for their work during the year on the 91197. Project coordinator was John Boner, and assisted by Earle Brotzman, Bud Sauselein and Jack Quinn.

PRRH has been awarded a general operating support grant of $500.00, for fiscal year 2002-2003, made possible by the Warren County Cultural and Heritage Commission. Our next concern is getting a new roof on the museum as the present roof is loose and in general need of replacement. We do not have the funds to perform this repair, so we are looking into a partial repair for now.

Oral History begins at PRRH with the first installment, The Michael Brosky story, to be shown at the December meeting. This project was produced by members Pete Blaess and Rick Glosser and represents a great start on our organization's part to preserve history as related by the real people.

Meg Carpenito is in touch with a vendor that will sell us a ticket stamping machine compatible for use with our C&S dye. We will have the ability to stamp a train ticket with the proper dye to make the ride even more memorable.

We have picked up a new 19 inch VCR / color TV to be used to provide quality, educational video material at shows we participate in.

Steve Winter has produced an excellent and informative three page brochure outlining our organization and provides roster information and other pertinent information regarding our operations and activities. This will be our standard publication and we will have some at the meeting.

Speaking of publications, you might want to pick up a November Railpace Magazine. This issue features our September Open House, with four photos and a summary of the memorable day. We'll have them at the meeting too.

The nominations for election process will continue at the November Membership meeting and will be closed at that time. If you intend to nominate someone you need to be there.

Dues for 2003 can be paid at the meeting if you wish, or sent to PRRH with 25.00.

SEPTEMBER MANHOUR REPORT by John Ward> In the month of September, we had 44 volunteers donating 447 hours at the museum grounds. These were used for C&S work, Open House preparation and operation, grounds maintenance, caboose restoration, full-size trackwork, and recycling. Non-site work hours were 25. These were for newsletter, bills and other administrative functions. Total September hours = 472.

Please plan to attend the November meeting on Wednesday night November 20 at 7:30pm at the Alpha United Presbyterian Church. Food is being provided by Louie Badolato and Patrick Graham. Entertainment will be given by Railpace Magazine President and Chief Editor Tom Nemeth.

See you soon and Happy Thanksgiving.

~ Paul Carpenito ~

PC/sdw

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