Phillipsburg Railroad Historians, Inc.
PO Box 5104, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865
www.prrh.org

AUGUST 2004 NEWSLETTER VOLUME XIV NUMBER 8

      The monthly membership meeting will be held on Wednesday night August 25 at 7:30pm at the Alpha United Presbyterian Church. Slide entertainment will follow the business portion of the meeting. Refreshments are made possible this month through the courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lonie and Tom Marzuoli.

      It is hard to believe that fall will soon be upon us. How could summer have slipped through our clutches so quickly? We have certainly had a busy season out at the museum grounds. Much has been accomplished this year since it was warm enough to bring out the shovels and dig in. We put a stone floor in the engine house, erected a retaining wall along the coal pockets, fenced it in for safety, and are now planning to backfill it from up top. We put two refurbished Centerville & Southwestern cars in service, and are at the brink of a movie documentary on the life of the C&S from Becker Farms to now. We have successfully accomplished three Open Houses, a banquet, and a highly successful Field Trip. We will shortly experience our third PRRH picnic to end the summer. This has already been a year of progressive movement for us, and plenty more has yet to come. PRRH Tuesday volunteers have put a temporary plywood roof on the L&HR flanger and continued the installation of full-size track eastward towards the engine house. We recently expanded the gift shop on a rainy day when we couldn't work outside. The selection of saleable products is better than it's ever been. This all represents a significant leap for progress by our members and a positive investment toward the future of this organization.

      PRRH can now be found in the tri-fold slick paper handout that is offered free at any retail establishment in the downtown Phillipsburg area. Also to our betterment, we have joined the Phillipsburg Downtown Association. We will participate in the soon to be erected Market Street billboard sign that will explain to visitors the locations of all the attractions offered in town. Phillipsburg's new website has an article on the Phillipsburg Railroad Historians with a description of our activities as well as the Centerville and Southwestern RR. Look under the tourist subheading and scroll down.

      Our Friday evening Olde Towne Festival operation ran as planned, but the threat of heavy downpours all day kept many people away from the park. We had a fair crowd riding the train and sufficient help to make everything run smooth. As we put the train away in the dark, a drenching downpour finally hit the area scattering members and visitors to shelter and their cars.

      New to the Phillipsburg railroad historians recently was the reception of two new hardcover books by MBI Publishing. In the mail was a fresh copy of "Conrail", one in the series of MBI railroad color history. This book, co-authored by Timothy Scott Doherty and Brian Solomon, provides the serious reader with a very complete and vividly illustrated account of events and participants to the great rail merger of the east, created to stave off the steady decline and fall of the once great railroad carriers that crisscrossed the heart of industrial America. The book sufficiently explains the events leading up to the USRA's financial takeover of the pre-merger roads, and some of the changes made to unify them as one operating carrier. Profusely illustrated in both black and white and in color, the student of this time period will find, all too familiar, the images of the crumbling rail network at Conrail's inception, and its rise from the ashes into a highly desirable carrier, eventually suitored by CSX and Norfolk Southern. The text is broken down into chapters that comprise each of the operating divisions, as well as chapters that frame each period in the financial history of the company as it emerged from the red into the black. Enough cannot be said of the extraordinary graphics, their razor-sharp photograph clarities, and the frequently stunning center spreads that leap out at you. I recommend you inspect this work, available for purchase at the museum gift shop.

      Also arriving in the mail was a copy of "Penn Central Railroad", another in the MBI railroad color history series. Now I know most of you recall the Penn Central as a road in three-d black, dirty, busted, and lackluster. Author Peter E. Lynch takes you somewhere you've never been, a railroad not only steeped in debt, but rich in history. One of the unique traits of PC was its variety of composite color schemes, made possible by the gobbling up of predecessor roads, only altered by the addition of a PC herald or two. Fortunately for Lynch, a black and white only book would not have done this masterpiece justice, as the proliferation of vintage PC color shots makes one want for the next page. Perhaps the real seller here is the book's ability to travel to the arms and ends of the system, a treat rarely possible for PC fans, as this giant covered some serious geography as it reached out its tentacles for traffic. Penn Central's variety of motive power in electric and diesel is crisply pictured in these pages. As a postscript to PC, I highly recommend this addition to your library.

Conrail, $34.95, MBI Publishing Company
Penn Central Railroad, $34.95, MBI Publishing Company
Available in our Museum gift shop, through Classic Motorbooks at (800 826-6600), or on www.motorbooks.com.

MAY PRRH Work hours Report by John Ward
      May work hours showed a strong increase in on-site hours to 241, plus 40 hours spent on administrative and paperwork, off-site, for a monthly total of 281. On-site work included preparation for the Open House, track work, fence and ivy, grounds maintenance, and museum work. Our yearly work hours total is now 846.

JUNE PRRH Work hours Report by John Ward
      The warm June weather saw another monthly increase in on-site work hours to 325, consisting of work on the June 20 Open House, weeding and grass cutting, the museum, the flanger roof, track work, coal pocket wall, painting, C&S equipment move and car painting, moving plywood sheets to firehouse, fixing back door railing and checking the firehouse. Additionally, 40 off-site administrative work yielded 365 total June work hours, and a yearly sum of 1211 hours.

•     Two events coming up that you won't want to miss are the PRRH picnic and Fall Open House.Sunday August 29 is the day set aside for members and their families to get together in the shade to relax and enjoy some good food, while reflecting on a year of activities that bring us together as 'a group.' It will be at the small pavilion of Hugh Moore Canal Park and will start around 11:00am. We will supply the hamburgers, hot dogs, and trimmings. You can bring beverages and any goodies you'd like to share.


•     Our Fall Open House will be held on Sunday September 12 from 10am to 4pm. Our museum and gift shop will be open as well as the engine house. The trolley and railbus will be on display. The Centerville & Southwestern will operate. We have a tentative visit by the Antique Truck Association for that day and may have yet some other tricks up our sleeve. Please come and support your group.


•     PRRH will again have a table at Lehigh Valley Chapter NRHS Dieruff High School Train Show on Sunday September 26 from 10 to 4. We made a lot of new friends last year at our first showing there.

I look forward to seeing all of you again soon

~ Paul Carpenito ~

PHILLIPSBURG RAILROAD HISTORIANS CALENDAR OF EVENTS.
Wednesday August 25................members meeting 7:30pm.
Sunday August 29........................Picnic at Hugh Moore Canal Park 11:00am
Sunday September 12................ Fall Open House 10 to 4.
Sunday September 26.................Lehigh Valley Chapter NRHS Dieruff Train Show.

PC/sdw