The October membership meeting will be held at Phillipsburg Town Hall on MONDAY OCTOBER 25, 1999 at 7:30 PM. on the SECOND FLOOR in COUNCIL CHAMBERS. Recent new policy at the local government offices necessitate a change from our traditional schedule for the near future until we can effect an arrangement that can bring us something more stable. Entertainment will include past events held on our grounds and human interest along with recent site events in picture form.

I would like to begin by acknowledging over 175 volunteer hours this past month as things start to positively shape up thanks to a dedicated group of volunteer members at work molding the future of PRRH. Acknowledgements go out many times over to Bill Pensyl, Ed Beers, Jim Mack, Pete Terp, Bob Bennington, Steve and Matt Winter, Tony Chando, Jim and Dale Anderson, Paul Carpenito, Glenn Terminelli, Rick Glosser, Bob and Rob Hooper, Brian O'Neill, Jim Tomczyk, Earl Brotzman, Bob Marinelli, Mark Donahue, and fork lift operator Joe Maddock. Thanks also to Bob Mantone and the Phillipsburg Town Employees for their cooperation and to the Youth Corp for property cleanup and tree and brush removal. Some areas of our site are seeing daylight for the first time in twenty-five years. Yes, things are starting to happen in a big way. Since we last saw you at September's meeting, we moved three sea boxes to their permanent locations during a marathon mega-work session attended by no less than ten PRRH members. Grading and waste fill removal is complete on the engine house site and debris removal is being steadily accomplished by the Youth Corp. P-burg has been hauling dirt to the site in dump trucks from across the tracks. Track spiking is completed on track #1 and our new acquisitions can arrive to find a track ready for them. This work has been performed by a dedicated group of PRRH and NJER men and a visit to the museum can confirm this fact. The contractor for the building is scheduled to be awarded on October 13, so hopefully work can commence on the engine house. We need to locate more ties to complete track #2.

I would like to take a moment to thank John Lilly for donating a lantern to us. Also PRRH welcomes new member Doug Foote. Welcome aboard. Stan Price from the Black Diamond Society of Model Engineers has donated to us a whopper of a collection of magazines and books and for this, again thanks. I also want to give some credit to Jim Stetler for the folding and mailing of your newsletter and for correcting most of my printing errors. Also to Bob Kirkpatrick for handling and ordering items we use in our own work projects.

I would like to conclude this month's newsletter with a request for some careful thought from all the membership of PRRH. I have said many times to you how lucky we are as a museum to have a mainline railroad next door. This is a VERY sensitive issue at hand especially considering that Norfolk Southern operates a heavy and sometimes busy mainline railroad thru route here. There has been a lot of recent negative publicity aimed at the growing number of rail enthusiasts growing up along the tracks like weeds and their irresponsible behavior in plain sight of passing train crews. We at PRRH have prided ourselves at the excellent reputation we have earned over the years with Conrail. Yet I have recently observed some of our own members forgetting around railroad property that we don't EVER belong on it without official permission. I am not about to see our safety and respect record ruined by someone who thinks the welcome mat is out for the taking. Train crews observe us every time they pass and WILL report any irregularity they find. All I ask of you is to be a monitor when you are at trackside, whether it is at our site or anywhere else. Railroads are not here for our entertainment and in this society of ours today, lots of folks are sue crazy. Please keep people at a safe distance from railroad property at all times.

JPT/JS/sdw

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