http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news ... -3257.html

Bill Vigrass, PE, retired GM of PATCO, led the research on the revitalization of this area as well as the former Communipaw (CNJ) terminal.

Sloan

These folks have a great idea. The park is incredibly popular... and large. A heritage trolley is the perfect fit. Now if the line could be built to handle CNJ #113... ;-)

The state did a near perfect job of obliterating all aspects of railroading from the park, which is on a landfill built specifically for railroad yards. The magnificent CNJ terminal is well kept, and the race is still on between the state and mother nature for the trainshed.

Unfortunately, a slew of historic railroad buildings and potential interpretive landmarks were destroyed in the effort to return the land to its natural state.

Which would be fine, except that land is entirely man-made and had no natural state that wasn't covered in cinders!

Anyway, we have to be grateful what's left is left. Anything that underscores the transportation history of the site is welcome.

Don't worry, Rob. The site on which the Battle of Savannah is being interpreted, with a "replica of the original redoubt" no less, is on a filled-in part of the old C of G yards which is a bit higher, flatter and devoid of artifacts, especially as the railroad era groundscape was obliterated in an effort to remove a bit of lead from the topsoil, where it wasn't bothering anybody for a century and a half. We seem to like to remove history, then recreate something sort of like it but not really. We also seem to prefer not to enjoy the sights, sounds and especially smells common to it. What bugs me is not so much the compromise, but that the compromise doesn't result in better programming.

dave

The golden opportunity for this place came and went in 1995 when it should have been selected as the place for the then proposed NJ Transportation Heritage Center.

Very sadly the group ( now defunct) charged with that job selected far out of the tourism mainstream Phillipsburg and the whole thing died a slow painful death.

Really a tragedy as it could have been a grand slam homerun.

As the old saying goes...you can lead 'em to water.........

Sad but true!!

Ross Rowland

By using the term "heritage streetcars", I wonder what that really means to government bean-counters. Modern build with heritage outline? Or "as per original drawings" new build replica, or perhaps genuine heritage cars? And where would one find enough heritage cars capable of intensive service? I understand that Melbourne W class cars are no longer available- even though the government has several hundred!! stored in the railway workshops in Melbourne. There is a National Trust Covenant over them and they are not allowed to be sold , modified, donated to museums or any other worthwhile use so they just sit...............

Wes

I have to agree with Ross--what a loss of structures and railroad atmosphere! And how much would some some of us want to go back to Wooten-boilered Pacifics in blue, Camelbacks, (most of them stocky 4-6-0s, but also some high-stepping 4-4-2s, including one number 592), and of course the Reading and B&O power, too. . .

At the same time, I look at this new proposal, and I can't help but think of the Fairmount Park trolley down in Philadelphia. That was an operation similar in ways to what is proposed here, but it turned out not to be profitable enough in its lifetime to even get its breezer cars air brakes (to the end in 1946, the cars had hand brakes only).

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/fpt.htm

http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/fairm ... sport.html

Spend some time on the internet, and it is amazing what might turn up:

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/fpt023.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil150.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil151.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil152.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil155.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil156.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil157.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil158.htm

Amazing color shots, considering this is a line abandoned in 1946:

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil159.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil160.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil161.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil165.htm

Back to black and white:

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil162.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil163.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil164.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil168.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/phil169.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/fpt019.htm

http://www.davesrailpix.com/phila/htm/fpt021.htm

How do we give credit to the people with the passion to post this for us to see (in this case, Dave's Rail Pix)?

Fascinating! According to the link below, at least part of this property was the site of the big exposition in 1876. That included a narrow-gauge railroad powered by a pair of Baldwins--and doesn't one of them, or one like it, survive in the Smithsonian?

http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/fairm ... _park.html

http://www.scripophily.net/fairpartranc.html

http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/fairm ... berry.html

Looks like it was in an early movie, circa 1902:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364337/

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fairmount-Park-Tran ... 0604132783

http://www.librarything.com/work/2282474

I see in the link above that Randy Hees had an opinion or review or something on this book; can he tell us a bit about the Fairmount Park line, in particular if there might be similarities to this new one?

I was born in and live in the wrong time. The worst part about it is that it is confirmed by some of my friends. . .

For whatever it's worth, there are eight PCC cars just across the Jersey Turnpike from Liberty State Park, stored at the south end of NJT's Communipaw LRV shops. These are ex-Newark cars retired in 2001, intended for service at a planned waterfront development in Bayonne which has since been scrapped. I'm not sure exactly who owns them but AFAIK there aren't any other plans for them at the moment.