March 2001 Newsletter

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

MARCH 2001 NEWSLETTER VOL. XI #3

Entertainment this month features:
To be announced.

THE MARCH MEMBERSHIP meeting of PRRH will be held on Wednesday March 28, 2001 at the Alpha United Presbyterian Church at 7:30pm. Refreshments are served and entertainment will be provided. Judging by the looks of this difficult winter, our meetings seem to have done a good job of dancing around the snowflakes. We have been caught up in an unusually snowy and cold winter season, but Spring will be in place as we meet again to discuss our happenings. Perhaps we could pass out daffodils at the door on the way in to cheer us all up a bit.

We want to remind you of our annual banquet to be held on Saturday night March 31 at Ryan's restaurant. Tickets are 22.00 and should be purchased as soon as possible since the days creep up on us quickly. The cutoff date for reservations is March 25. You may mail in your reservations to 292 Chambers Street Phillipsburg NJ 08865 or call Pete Terp at 908-213-1722 to make a reservation. A great meal is standard there and we are planning some nostalgia entertainment that will tug at your memory.

We are also selling seats for our second annual fantrip by deluxe coach to Strasburg Pa.,the home of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, and the famous Strasburg Railroad which we will ride in our own reserved car.. This trip will take place on Sunday May 20 leaving from Phillipsburg and will also feature a ride on Amtrak's Keystone service from Lancaster to Philadelphia where our chartered coach will take us to dinner and home. Our own Jim Danner will be the tour guide, and you owe it to yourself to enjoy a repeat of the great time we had last year at Baltimore. Details will be available at the meeting. Set aside this date and join your fellow members.

We are drawing up preliminary plans for a Phillipsburg museum open house on May 6 featuring the Centerville and Southwestern and some other attractions brought in for the occasion. And if that is not enough, September 9 has been set aside for our second annual picnic at Hugh Moore Canal Park in Glendon.

John Boner tells us that next year will be the 100th anniversary of our CNJ caboose 91197. The car began its long life in 1874 as a boxcar and is significant in many ways both as a representative of its class and of its fame as the subject of one of the Jim Beam series of decorative bottles. John and volunteers hope to restore this car this year as to display its ancestry proudly for its anniversary next year. Please consider joining John's afternoon work parties this spring as we bring this beauty proudly back to life. While we are on the subject of cabooses, an offer was made by Amtrak to us of an N5 caboose formerly in work train service and now ready for scrapping. A team of your officers travelled to inspect the ex-PRR cabin car and took some notes and measurements. The acquisition was voted down by the membership at the February meeting as concerns over the cost to move it were the deciding factor in the club's decision. We may yet be able to retrieve some parts from it along with several sets of trucks if reasonable cost transportation can be located.

The North Jersey Electric Railroaders moved their Public Service trolley 2651 to Phillipsburg Enginehouse on Saturday March 3. The move was documented with picture and story on the cover of Sunday's Express Times. Good luck to the boys in their restoration efforts and congratulations for a good move.

We are fast approaching spring and activities will once again begin in our quest to make Phillipsburg a location for railfans to visit and admire. Our volunteerism reached an all time high last year and we have something good to show for it. New projects will enhance the look and feel of our museum location. We need the volunteer effort to continue on the right track. Please give a little time to make Phillipsburg the finest museum in the state.

I would like to thank Ed Beers and John Boner for representing us at EastRail and also would like to thank Steve and Matt Winter and Ed Beers for participating at Mother Seton. We generated a great deal of interest at Mother Seton and Ed graciously donated a portion of his profit from video sales to enhance the cash flow of PRRH.

Hope to see you at the meeting, and the banquet.

~ Paul Carpenito ~

PC/ab/sdw