| Railway Preservation News https://www.rypn.org/forums/ |
|
| BR&W announces motorcar service from Phillipsburg https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6397 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Thu Jul 24, 2003 12:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | BR&W announces motorcar service from Phillipsburg |
A new page on the Black River & Western website (link below) announces a new acquisition and operation, with a Model 55 motorcar on order from Edwards in Florida (grafted from a former Phila. & Western "Stratford" car, we presume) to begin operations south on the Bel-Del from Phillipsburg to Carpentersville, NJ along the Delaware River. Although there's no mention of the museum in Phillipsburg, here's hoping that SOME degree of cooperation can be worked out between the NJ Museum of Transportation and the BR&W operation, much like the Strasburg/RR Museum of Pa. separate-but-complementary arrangement. BR&W website--Phillipsburg announcement lner4472@bcpl.net |
|
| Author: | Jim Robinson [ Thu Jul 24, 2003 1:12 pm ] |
| Post subject: | BR&W motorcar (callin' Howard Pincus) |
> Model 55 motorcar on order from Edwards in Florida > (grafted from a former Phila. & Western > "Stratford" car, we presume) Actually it's a genuine 1930-vintage Brill model 55 railcar (see below linked photo from the BR&W website) that the Edwards Company is reconditioning. I believe this railcar was the one stored at the Valley RR in CT some years back. Perhaps Howard can fill in its history. Regards, Jim Robinson BR&W motorcar |
|
| Author: | Evan [ Thu Jul 24, 2003 2:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: BR&W motorcar (callin' Howard Pincus) |
That being the case, this Model 55 was #121 at Remington Arms before Valley RR and a sister to our #120 (see link below). #120 was SRS #105 before it came to Remington. I don't know #121's history pre Remington. It may also have been an SRS car. Model 55 #120 at TMNY n2xjk@yahoo.com |
|
| Author: | Mike Larson [ Thu Jul 24, 2003 3:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: BR&W announces motorcar service from Phillipsb |
> Although there's no mention of the museum in > Phillipsburg, here's hoping that SOME degree > of cooperation can be worked out between the > NJ Museum of Transportation and the BR&W > operation, much like the Strasburg/RR Museum > of Pa. separate-but-complementary > arrangement. There is NO museum at Phillipsburg now and there won't be one next year either. You are looking at many years from now - if ever. However, this motorcar can do very well. The station is at the foot of the Phillipsburg, NJ - Easton, PA "Free" Bridge. This places it less than a five minute walk from the Crayola Factory and the National Canal Museum in Easton. Easton itself (unlike Phillipsburg) has been undergoing a rebirth over the last few years. Many buildings dating back to Colonial times are being restored. The State Theater presents a schedule of notable musical acts. The Motorcar service is a nice addition to these attractions. Linking this to the star-crossed "NJ RR Museum" would be a major marketing mistake. |
|
| Author: | Mike LaBouliere [ Thu Jul 24, 2003 3:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: BR&W motorcar (callin' Howard Pincus) |
This car was a Sperry car used on the New Haven Railroad. It originally was built with two large doors on each side, it had no side windows.The side windows were added by the Valley RR in hopes of using it in passenger service. The rebuild took place in 1979-80, new window sills were constructed inside the Valley RR's shop and added to the car. They also added lots of new T section steel, alot of new sheet steel was added and a brand new floor as well as a great amount of channel steel and other parts. Everything was done to the exact dimensions of Brill company prints. I can answer other questions about this car since my father and my cousin were involved with its rebuild at different times. |
|
| Author: | Howard P. [ Thu Jul 24, 2003 8:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: BR&W motorcar (callin' Howard Pincus) |
> This car was a Sperry car used on the New > Haven Railroad. It originally was built with > two large doors on each side, it had no side > windows.The side windows were added by the > Valley RR in hopes of using it in passenger > service. The rebuild took place in 1979-80, > new window sills were constructed inside the > Valley RR's shop and added to the car. They > also added lots of new T section steel, alot > of new sheet steel was added and a brand new > floor as well as a great amount of channel > steel and other parts. Everything was done > to the exact dimensions of Brill company > prints. I can answer other questions about > this car since my father and my cousin were > involved with its rebuild at different > times. OK, Jim, here I am..... Well, Mike, pretty close, but.... this car was indeed as Evan states, a Remington Arms (Bridgeport, CT) car. It was originally built by Brill in 1930 for Sperry Rail Service (carried SRS numbers 116 and 121 at different times), as one of the early purpose-built detector cars. Sold to Remington in the early 1950s, it was used for in-plant transfer of materials (ammo!), and had sliding baggage doors centered on each side. The doors may have been original to the car as built (I am pretty sure they were). The Empire State Railway Museum obtained the car about 1962 and it was shipped on own wheels to ESRM at Middletown, NY where it was occasionally used as a MOW tool car. Loaded on a flatcar in early 1971, it went to Essex, CT via the Poughkeepsie Bridge. It was used again for MOW tool storage, occasionally venturing out on the Valley Line uner power of an ancient and balky 6-cylinder gas engine (Buda? Sterling? something weird and unsupportable). In 1983, it was sold to VRR stockholder Herb Clark, who then financed a rebuilding of the car to a passenger-hauling configuration. The roof and most of each end, and the underframe were the only items kept-- the sides were hot-riveted works of art by the VRR shop gang, built from some photos and sketches in a book "Interurbans Without Wires" (which got quite dog-eared and dirty in the shop). That carbody work got lots of "oohs and ahhs" from the 1984 TRAIN convention attendees, as the car was in the Essex shop and was part of one of the seminars. Steps and trap parts came from an NH 8600 streamlined coach, a stunning Imron paint job was applied, the car was numbered "M-55" (for Brill Model 55), and a new diesel engine was to be installed "any week now". That was 1986. At some later point, Herb Clark sold (leased, donated?) M-55 to the VRR, and it was shipped to Edwards a few years ago, "to have an engine installed", I heard. The M-55 job was probably some of the best work the Essex shop ever did on passenger equipment, and it would have been a nice car for those "slow" and off-season days. hpincus@mindspring.com |
|
| Author: | Evan [ Fri Jul 25, 2003 10:01 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: BR&W motorcar (callin' Howard Pincus) |
> ... an ancient and balky 6-cylinder gas engine ... It was a Continental 6-572 in both #120 and #121. The engine in #120 gave out in 2000 and we still don't have it fixed. We might repower simiar to what was done with #121. Model 55 #120 at TMNY n2xjk@yahoo.com |
|
| Author: | J.R. May [ Fri Jul 25, 2003 8:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: BR&W announces motorcar service from Phillipsb |
I sat here and wondered if I should make this correction or not. While there is a plan to build a state funded museum in Philipsburg, the NJ Museum of Transportation is located down in Monmouth County, operates the Pine Creek Railroad and has been in business for 40 years as NJMT, 50 years as Pine Creek. I have often wondered what kind of confusion might come out of all this. We maintain a small collection of NJ railroading artifacts ranging from locomotives, rolling stock, maps, pictures, signals, you name it. Not to mention the archives from the Keansburg Steamship line including all their ships logs. Sorry to be so darn picky! J.R. May Chairman of the Board NJMT, Inc./Pine Creek RR > Although there's no mention of the museum in > Phillipsburg, here's hoping that SOME degree > of cooperation can be worked out between the > NJ Museum of Transportation and the BR&W > operation, much like the Strasburg/RR Museum > of Pa. separate-but-complementary > arrangement. http://www.njmt.org jrmay@njmt.org |
|
| Author: | Mike Larson [ Tue Jul 29, 2003 10:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: BR&W announces motorcar service from Phillipsb |
> I have often wondered what kind of confusion > might come out of all this. We maintain a > small collection of NJ railroading artifacts > ranging from locomotives, rolling stock, > maps, pictures, signals, you name it. Not to > mention the archives from the Keansburg > Steamship line including all their ships > logs. > Sorry to be so darn picky! > J.R. May > Chairman of the Board > NJMT, Inc./Pine Creek RR JR: Sorry to imply you fine organization is involved with the Phillipsburg boondoggle. -Mike |
|
| Author: | Rob Davis [ Tue Jul 29, 2003 1:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Phillipsburg's Potential and the Lehigh River Area |
There is tremendous potential for Phillipsburg, NJ to be the eastern end of a "Steel Strand" of industrial musuems extending from western NJ across 40-some miles of the Lehigh River through Bethlehem to Jim Thorpe, PA. Small projects, like the BR&W gas car, can contribute to the ultimate development. Care to explore? Come on... Phillipsburg was a canal town and there are several intact Morris Canal planes near by. The old PRR Bel-Del is now operted by the Black River & Western south of town and will host the Brill car next year. North of town, the PRR forms the start of Norfolk Southern's well-maintained Portland Secondary which is used to reach the Delaware-Lackawanna RR (host of Steamtown excursions). A small railroad museum operates in P'burg now and they are working on saving the CNJ/Lackawanna station and the CNJ tower. THe bigger state project may or may not happen. NS's Lehigh Line main follows parts of the LV and CNJ through the city. West of P'burg, the CNJ is mostly abandoned but provides a potential direct link to the Smithsonian at Bethlehem. Across the Delaware in Easton is the National Canal Museum, a horse-drawn canal ride, the Crayola display (no longer a factory tour, but still fun) and an elegant downtown on the verge of true revival. Following the Lehigh River west, there is a fully resotred lock and lock tenders house on the Lehigh Canal along with other smaller historic sites. Bethlehem hosts several excellent museums and eventually will have the Smithsonian indurstrial history museum at the old steel mill. Bethelehem also has a well-established Christmas tourism business. Allentown is the home of Mack Trucks, and while littel presence is felt right now (Mack moved the historical collection to NC), there are old Mack buidlings awaiting a future. A transportation museum is stalled right now. Cementon hosts the cement museum and there a litany of smaller historic industrial sites along the Lehigh above Allentown. Jim Thorpe, formerly Mauch Chunk, is well known as what was arguably America's first "railroad town" and is the site of one of the most complete late 1800's downtowns left in America. Now how is that for a concentration of potential tourist sites? rdavis@rypn.org |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|