The Friends of the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Museum, Inc. is a growing, volunteer organization, with over 500 members, founded and incorporated in 1989. We are totally dedicated to supporting the creation, development, and operation of a Transportation Heritage Center in the Garden State. We provide assistance to the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Museum Commission and the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey. New Jersey has a proud and distinguished transportation tradition. We have preserved and restored a 1937 vintage bus type of which hundreds were once operated in New Jersey by Public Service. Several other buses and trucks in our growing collection are in need of restoration. We purchased a Lisbon, Portugal trolley car which was built in Elizabeth in 1906 and have returned it to its home state. We are preserving archival materials, artifacts, tools, parts, hardware, supplies, equipment for the future Heritage Center. We lease two buildings from the County of Warren including the 1913 former Phillipsburg Water Company pumping plant with its intact Allis Chalmers triple-expansion steam engine. Only an operating Heritage Center will preserve and showcase our irreplaceable railroad, bus, truck, canal, trolley, and ferry transport heritage.

The Friends of the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Museum is a vital participant in the preservation effort for both equipment and archival material. The creation of the Heritage Center requires the enthusiasm, commitment, unity and support of many "Friends" as well as the most necessary ingredient - funding. Please help us achieve our goal of establishing a first-class operating Heritage Center that proudly exhibits the colorful, exciting and fascinating New Jersey transport history. Members receive our 12 page bulletin, New Jersey Transport Heritage, five times per year. Each year we conduct a day-long symposium focusing on all modes of transport heritage of our state. Our dues are only fifteen dollars annually. We are an IRS designated 501 (c)(3) non-profit educational organization. Please write to: "Friends," P. O. Box 8301, Trenton, NJ 08650-8301

Over the past twelve months we have made outstanding progress toward our Heritage Center goals. We are very pleased with the progress at Phillipsburg. Those of you who are members have read the detailed accounts of our achievements in New Jersey Transport Heritage, our five-times-per-year bulletin. As good as our progress has been, there are many more projects on our list of things to be done. One thing is certain: the closer we get to the reality of our Heritage Center, the more donations we receive. Our next and critical step is to gain the official site designation from the New Jersey Legislature and... money... For this we will need the help of each one of you and all of your friends.

On Oct. 16th the Assembly Transportation Committee passed the A-2750 bill (sponsored by Assemblyman Alex DeCroce) which provides for the principal location of the NJ Transportation Heritage Center in Phillipsburg with a satellite location in Netcong. On Monday, December 11th A-2750 is expected to be on the General Assembly voting agenda. It is planned to have a press conference to focus attention for the Heritage Center at 1 PM in State House Room 109. Before that day we ask each of our members to make contact with your Assemblyman/woman by mail, by fax, by E-mail, by phone or by personal visit. Below is our "Guidance for communicating Heritage Center support" - please use it.

Hon. Assemblyman/woman - (Verify name, address, phone, fax, E-mail from your local library reference dept.)
RE: New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center at Phillipsburg and satellite at Netcong: A-2750

Dear Assemblyman/woman (their last name)

(1st para. - state issue - select from following sentences)

• Legislation is pending (or has been introduced) to establish a NJ Transportation Heritage Center at Phillipsburg with a Netcong satellite.
• Assemblyman Alex DeCroce has introduced legislation to establish a NJ Transportation Heritage Center at Phillipsburg with a Netcong satellite (2nd para. - state position or opinion - select from following sentences)
• I support creating (or we urge you to vote for) a Transportation Heritage Center at Phillipsburg with a satellite location at Netcong
• New Jersey needs a Transportation Heritage Center at Phillipsburg with a Netcong satellite because it will help the state economy and tourist
• My organization (name) with (number of) members supports the NJ Transportation Heritage Center at Phillipsburg with a Netcong satellite
• Please support the establishment of a NJ Transportation Heritage Center at Phillipsburg with a satellite location at Netcong

Thank You, Sincerely,

Your name

• Be very brief and concise - limit your letter to one page!
• Mention the heritage center will help all of New Jersey
• Use "Transportation Heritage Center" - not "railroad"
• Be original, but focus only on the Heritage Center..

Great volumes of transport artifacts, archives, supplies and equipment have been moved to Phillipsburg in anticipation of the Heritage Center. We are most happy to have the use of two storage buildings which Friends leases from the County of Warren.

Some of our recent achievements are as follows:

• A member has acquired former NJ Transit 1980 Grumman/Flxible bus #1596, donated it to Friends and paid to have it moved to Lakewood.
• Many truckloads of obsolete and scrap track materials, tools, equipment, and artifacts have been salvaged from the former Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Co. rail shop building in Hoboken and brought to Phillipsburg.
• We held an Open House, Orientation and Tour day at Phillipsburg which drew over 150 people.
• In preparation for our open house we removed over 20 cubic yards of debris from the pump house to have it open to the public for the first time in 17 years.
• We drove Bill Clelland's 1946 Ford Transit bus in the Phillipsburg-Easton Halloween Parade.
• A couple of truckloads of salvaged parts and materials have been obtained from the former DL&W RR MU shop at Hoboken.
• The Volunteer Railroaders Association members have been working very hard to secure track materials for the Heritage Center.
• Some very historic ca. 1870's rail has been saved from the Plainfield westbound station which has been demolished.
• A 45 ton temporary trolley bridge and ties for it from the Newark City Subway have been secured and moved to Phillipsburg.
• Our former PSCT buses #Z-546 and #G-572 have been moved to Lakewood with the balance of the Heritage Center bus/truck fleet. Now, all of our vehicles are protected and secured, in buildings.
• We have established a new web site www.NJTHC.org and will post the text & illustrations of the Master Plan Executive Summary on it.
• We have secured and moved to Phillipsburg many truckloads of cobblestones, Belgian block, and historic pavers from several No. Jersey locations.
• We have saved most of the letters of the JERSEY CITY, HOBOKEN, AND RUTHERFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY from their Secaucus carbarn which has been demolished.
• Friends have acquired several private collections for our growing archives.
• The local Phillipsburg Railroad Historians group has granted space to Friends in an old firehouse (leased from the town) to store library and archive collections in high and dry conditions.
• We have secured and moved to Phillipsburg a CNJ upright switch machine and a LV RR car bumper.
• We are storing former Somerset Bus Co. Ford Transit bus #9082 in our building and hope to conclude an agreement of donation.
• The Town of Phillipsburg has completed an engine house for the Railroad Historians, the Centerville & Southwestern RR and to house Public Service trolley #2651 belonging to the No. Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society.
• Friends worked with Frank Reilly and Sussex County to save the Greendell Signal Bridge which spanned the Lackawanna Cut-off and it has been moved to Phillipsburg.
• We have a beautiful new membership piece and it has brought us a steady stream of new members.
• The Phillipsburg Youth Corps have installed screening and restored doors to the Pump House, which we lease from the County of Warren, and we have cleaned-up the property.
• We have purchased (inexpensively) a used truck trailer for storage.
• We have acquired a PRR manhole cover, Public Service cast concrete logos and two benches from the Newark City Subway Orange Street Station.
• Our inventory of spikes and other track parts is growing. We need more old, small tie plates and joint bars. Pick 'em up on your hikes on old abandoned rail lines and bring 'em to us.
• We have acquired a goodly quantity of archival materials from the Rahway Valley RR along with some Lehigh Valley RR coach seats.

NJ Transit has a significant volume of additional archive materials destined for our Heritage Center.
We are trying to secure a collection of Hoboken Shore Line RR materials for our archives.
We are looking for historic streetscape fixtures such as:
gas & electric street lamp/poles
street & highway signage
transport related manhole covers
slate sidewalk sections
granite curbing
more cobblestones & brick paving materials
etc.
More of the old Newark City Subway overhead hardware is expected to become available to us, as well as more of the line poles. We own a 50' x 120' prefabricated steel building, but don't have the money to construct the concrete foundation upon which to erect it.
We are going to try to secure the trolley loop trackage at Franklin Avenue when it is removed.
We are trying to acquire a vintage Jitney; and an old taxi of the type Public Service would have operated, but we don't have enough money to purchase them. If we did (or someone would donate to us) we could fit them into our former water company storage building.
A private collection of historic buses and trackless trolleys in South Jersey contains several items we would like to preserve, but we don't have the money to move them nor the space to store them.
We are looking for a Press Release/Public Relations person.
A boom truck (with crane) would really be of tremendous help to us.
We sure could use someone to pursue grants, donations from foundations and general fund raising.
And, we always need people & vehicles who can help us move the materials we acquire.

All of these snippets and much more will be reported to you in greater detail in future 12 page issues of the five times per year NJ Transport Heritage. Our annual dues are only $15. We now have over 500 members! Our 11th Annual Symposium will be held Mar. 24, 2001 at Drew U.

UNITED RR HISTORICAL SOCIETY (URHS)

The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey, Inc. (URHS) is an IRS designated 501 (c)(3) non-profit educational organization directed at supporting the preservation of historic railroad equipment and artifacts for the proposed New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Heritage Center. The URHS collection presently totals nearly 90 pieces of rolling stock, including 23 locomotives, and new items are added periodically. The URHS was formed in 1987 by representatives from all of New Jersey's major railroad-interest organizations, in order to coordinate resources and avoid duplicate or conflicting historic preservation efforts. While its role is rapidly broadening, the URHS is currently assisting the State's Railroad and Transportation Museum Commission in planning and in working toward rescuing potential exhibits from scrapping or serious deterioration. Once a heritage center site has been established, URHS expects to play a major role in its design, content and operation. The URHS board of directors is comprised of representatives of each of its constituent organizations. This assures that participation in its decision-making and activities will be broad-based and truly representative of the wishes of the railroad history community. Concerned individuals may join any of the following organizations or Friends of the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Museum to participate in URHS efforts. URHS sponsors their annual EastRAIL multi-media audio-visual event in February each year.

URHS member organizations;

Anthracite Railroads Historical Society
5 Cushetank Rd.
Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889
http://arhs.railfan.net

Bergen-Rockland Chapter NRHS
P.O. Box 313
Westwood, NJ 07675
http://www.nrhs.com/chapters/bergen_rockland.htm

Conrail Technical Society
165 Woodland Avenue
Summit, NJ 07901-2002
http://www.crts.org/

Erie Lackawanna Historical Society
134 Tenth Street
Wood Ridge, NJ 07075

Jersey Central Railway Historical Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 700,
Clark, NJ 07066
http://www.jcrhs.org

Lackawanna Chapter, Railway & Locomotive Historical Society
P.O. Box 396
Washington, NJ 07882

NYS&W Technical & Historical Society
P.O. Box 121
Rochelle Park, NJ 07662-0121
http://www.nyswths.org/

North Jersey Chapter, NRHS
715 Ainsworth Street
Linden, NJ 07036-4043

North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society
P.O. Box 1770,
Rahway, NJ 07065
http://.www.njerhs.org

O&W Railway Historical Society
P.O. Box 713
Middletown, NY 10940
http://www.nyow.org

Phillipsburg Railroad Historians
292 Chambers Street
Phillipsburg, NJ 08865
http://www.angelfire.com/nj/prrh

Tri-State Railway Historical Society
P.O. Box 1217
Morristown, NJ 07962-1217
http://www.tri-state-rail-history.org/

Volunteer Railroaders Association
397 Spring Valley Road,
Paramus, NJ 07652
http://www.community.nj.com/railroaders

West Jersey Chapter, NRHS
P.O. Box 647
Palmyra, NJ 08065
http://www.nelliebly.com/westjersey/

Whippany Railway Museum, Inc.
P.O. Box 16
Whippany, NJ 07981- 0016
http://www.WhippanyRailwayMuseum.org