There is a new development in the Pemberton situation, and it is mostly not good. According to this article, while some equipment is to be preserved by new owners, most of it is headed for scrap:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/pemberton/bids-are-in-for-pemberton-township-trains/article_5e971b2b-4c98-5e8c-b533-db034b5ea057.html

The Rock Island boxcar, LV hopper car, and PRR N6 caboose are the only items listed for preservation. The two locomotives, tank car, gondola, and flat car are listed as to be scrapped on site. Some other equipment is not listed including the CNJ caboose, PRR N5c caboose, PRR X23 boxcar/caboose and the Railbus.

no talent politicians causing this demise.

Looks like some equipment find new homes, whats the real condition of the engines, just side metal paneling of bad frames etc?

I'm pretty sure that there's more than enough blame to go around to the organization as well. In many ways, they engineered their own demise and even helped speed it along.

Lack of talent knows no political affiliations or trade.

Per more recent legal documentation, the CNJ caboose has a new owner as well, assuming this is all approved by the courts.

Here's the latest update on the disposition of the Pemberton equipment:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/burlington_county_times_news/auction-likely-for-remainder-of-pemberton-township-train-gear/article_480bcf1d-1e42-5db5-875c-6d9061eea89a.html

The article says the CNJ caboose has now also found a home, but that there are three scrap dealers bidding for the remaining equipment. Based on previous posts, the equipment dispo appears to be divided as follows:

Headed for preservation elsewhere:

CNJ Center Cupola Caboose
1914 N6B PRR Center Cupola Caboose
1938 L.V. 50 ton Hopper Car from Roebling
Rock Island RR Box Car


Headed for scrap:

1938 45 ton G.E. side rod engine from Roebling,
1960 G.E. Center Cab 100 ton Diesel Electric from Roebling
1904 flat car with arch bar trucks from Roebling
1918 gondola from Roebling,
1923 10,000 gallon tank car
1942 N5C Pennsylvania RR Caboose
1943 X23 PRR Caboose converted during WW-2 from a 1914 box car
1938 Rail bus used by Provost Marshalls at Fort Dix


It seems particularly unfortunate to lose the freight cars to the scrappers as there aren't a lot of older freight cars preserved even though they are easier and less expensive to preserve compared to locomotives.

The article is really a bit premature. Would have been better to save the article for yesterday, the day after the judge was to hear motions (by the receiver) and cross motions (by the Trust). This was to occur Friday. I have not heard any direct news on the outcome.

This last posting did make it abundantly obvious as to how much of the collection is going to scrap which is so damn disappointing. A group of us tried, but heck, no one even bid on the N5C which is in decent shape and on roller bearings. Was anything posted on ebay? Railswap? Ozark? No. Was there a real bidding process here? No.

Again, we have no idea what the judge decided on Friday. Wait and see I guess. Something should be ariving in the mail I would guess on Monday or Tuesday.

"Was there a real bidding process here? No".

That statement is factually wrong. There was a public notice, which was reported and posted on this forum, that an inspection of the equipment was being held on April 1st. The trustee notified everyone at that time that they were free to submit proposals to him, which he in turn would submit to the court.

All of that took place as advertised. Where the rub seems to be is that a majority of the proposals were offers to remove items from the premises gratis. Some proposals were accompanied with cash stipends. My hunch is that all items that the proverbial "money-where-the-mouth-is" criteria was met were awarded those items and the items that were not are being left to lot bids by the scrappers involved in the process.

The sole purpose was to relieve Pemberton Township of the eye sore that was the result of the negligence of the Historic Trust. That seems to be the direction this has taken.

In my experience, demonstrating the credibility of being able to move in and remove the eyesore counts far more than a small token payment. Otherwise, the receiver is afraid he'll have to do the whole thing all over again if the bidder fails to perform. What they want is their problem solved quickly by people who can demonstrate the ability to carry out their intentions.

If we need to compete with scrappers we need to be demonstrably at least as credible about follow through as they can show themselves to be.

dave

Having been a part of the process, I would say my statement was true. I tend to view an auction as a process where multiple offers are heard and the item awarded to the highest bidder. While multiple offers were apparently received on an item or two that are to be scrapped, there was no opportunity for an additional higher offer to be made by a preservation group or individual. Key is to counter the offers made by the scrap dealers.

I would say now that once the award is made, and we do not know the outcome of Friday's court hearing, that if anyone had an interest in an item awarded to a scrap dealer, then make quick contact with that dealer.

One complaint seen in the Trust's cross motion was that the pricing was low. Some better pricing, or at least an offer, may have come in if railswap or Ozark had been used say, for the N5C.

For the life of me, how is it that the N5C will be cut up? Its in half way decent shape, the lower rust issues have been repaired and its on good roller trucks. If any one item highlights a problem with the process, this is it.

In short, the lack of interest in most of the equipment confirmed what the mayor was thinking. A majority of the stuff had no historic value. I worked like Hell to convince the town that the stuff did have value. The auction, and lack of interest in it, pretty much supported the mayor's position and showed my work to be a complete waste of time.
J.R.

No, I would qualify that. The relative lack of preserved freight equipment is something of historic value, or should be.

As to the lack of interest not being there, that wasn't true, as you yourself demonstrated. What hurt was a lack of interest by people with money.

It's a variation of my (too often posted) complaint that we "don't get no respect, no respect at all!"

> As to the lack of interest not being there, that wasn't true, as you yourself demonstrated. What hurt was a lack of interest by people with money.

My assumption is that a preservation group with the ability to move an item quickly would have been accepted and in truth preservation of the equipment was a key issue to the receiver. Our bid on the caboose clearly stated that we should be the choice of last resort, preferring that it go to a museum of some sort. The price submitted was based on scrap value minus the estimated cost of demolition of the wood body, disposal of the wood, then the cost of cutting up the steel.

> It's a variation of my (too often posted) complaint that we "don't get no respect, no respect at all!"

This is so true. And the situation in Pemberton was of no help. The Trust and I both played up the historic nature of the 45 tonner as an example. Yet, no one but a scrap dealer submitted a bid for it. Really made us all look like fools.

The Trust did pull together a decent collection of equipment, but in the end, no one cared.

Here is a set of photos documenting movement of the 45 ton side-rod loco from Roebling Steel to the museum site in 2011. Near the bottom of that page, there are also a few shots showing the loco as-found at Roebling. It looks like these photos were shot by the trucker who did the move.
http://forums.dhsdiecast.com/default.as ... &m=1141103

See the postings on the RyPN topic covering the Pemberton Friday Court Proceedings for details. Not sure I how I missed that.

Just a short update to say that without a miracle the “CNJ Center Cupola Caboose” will be going to scrap. The plan had been to take it to Ringoes but that will not now work so I threw in the towel. The Eagle Scout who headed up the siding project on this car a few years ago has taken up the battle, but so far we have both struck out on alternate sites to store the car while truck and brake work are done. I have been told that its still not too late to come up with a plan to get it out of there, but to where is the problem. If anyone has ideas or an interest in taking the car, let me know.

I just received an email from the receiver about two pieces of equipment we had bid on.

Our bid of $700 was accepted for the flatcar, but our bid for the Ft Dix Railbus was refused and awarded to another group closer to the area (but at the moment, I don't know who). In any event, we are pleased that neither of these pieces will go to scrap.

Matt Bumgarner
Alexander Chapter-NRHS

PS- JR, I will send you some info tonight.