For those not familiar with the story, a simple search of RyPN will turn up the sad details. Granted several items do have new owners and have been moved or are to be moved in the near future, but a couple of items did not make out so well. The tank car and gondola were both cut up removed. The attached photo shows what used to be a 100 ton GE center cab. The 45 tonner watches nervously near by.

There are all kinds of lessons to be learned here. Own your land. Make nice with the local politicians. Keep the place looking neat. Things do go bad on occasion as we have seen here. This is the ultimate in evidence.

And please don't blame the scrapper. He did try to find homes for the locomotives.

A sad day for NJ preservation.

J.R.

Again, not to beat a dead horse, but thought we could bring this to closure. In riding past Pemberton today for the first time in about a month, the last of the equipment has been removed from the property.

If memory serves me correctly the score card is something like seven pieces went to new homes, five pieces were cut up. Add to that bleak picture, the station appears empty, the platform looks like an aircraft carrier deck built for kids to use skate boards on, and the artifacts from the station are reportedly in storage.

Plenty of lessons learned, but if you want the full story, search the RyPN archives. No need to rehash it here.

I'm sorry JR, but the full story does not appear on RYPN.

On the one hand, the PTHT did a poor job of communicating. This includes their own membership. That was a critical failure.

And on the other hand you have a poster on RYPN who is located 150 miles away from Pemberton declare what the Trust was thinking, without speaking to any member of the Trust. You also have another poster on RYPN accepting that post as truth. Members of RYPN assumed that those who posted comments on the linked newspaper articles were actual members of the Trust, and speaking for it. I can't be sure, but as a member, and knowing many of the members, they were not the same people. Those are just a couple of the reasons why much of what appeared on RYPN is not useful for getting the whole story.

Artifacts are not just "reportedly" in storage, they actually are in storage. I'm helping to pay for that, so I know. I guess you will have to take my word for that, or not.

It's too bad that station platform won't last. It was supposed to be built with stainless steel hardware and prime grade lumber. It wasn't. The hardware started visibly rusting literally in the first week. I saw it. The township engineer approved the substandard installation after the fact. I personally pointed out the rusting hardware to the the engineer, and she still approved it. And, I am told, that was illegal under the applicable federal law. No one is present to maintain the platform. It's also supposed to have modern reproductions of historic lamps. I'd like to know where the rest of the money for the lamps, landscaping and track went.

There are still a few things to be removed from the site. There's the storage container, a large drill press in the section house and the two small structures.

After the dust fully settles I may choose to share more details about what happened in Pemberton. I don't know if that would actually be useful. This has been a painful experience.

I can say that the leadership of the Trust has taken it to heart that they must own the land under the museum and that they cannot rely on the lasting good will of any level of government. That is something that every group should have firmly in mind.

However, in my opinion, given Mayor Patriarcha's treatment of the volunteer fire departments and rescue squad in the township who have been forced to shutdown, the Trust probably would have been forced out even if they owned all the land. (It is now faster to get an ambulance from neighboring Eastampton to the Pemberton High School than from the remaining Pemberton Rescue squad. But he is saving money.)

-Mark

Mark:
I used that word “reportedly” only because I really had no idea where the small stuff was. Only that it was safe and that there were fees. Probably a poor choice of words on my part there. It was to be a positive, not a negative. The real point was that the station is empty and that is a a waste.

As to finding the story on RyPN, I just didn’t want to rehash the whole deal. If a new comer saw the topic, they can get the gist of the situation via RyPN postings, especially the older postings. What a reader will see is that when you don’t own your own land, you are at the mercy of the land lord whether that be a private individual, a corporation, or a mayor. That’s the story here and it is made pretty clear via the various postings.

I guess what baffles me now is the continued secrecy. Even the recent fund raisers seem to be held in secret. Its almost comical.

Anyway, it was good to see some of the members come forward and save a few items. You and Carl went well beyond what many volunteers would do.

J.R.

With regard to yesterday's elections, I suppose I had some sort of high hopes with regard to Pemberton Township, that perhaps a political turn around more supportive of the Trust might have occurred yesterday, but that was not the case. Mayor David Patriarca easily fended off a pair of challengers to keep his job as mayor.

Although, his treatment of the Trust and other volunteer based groups in the township was heavily criticized by his challengers, the vote would appear to support his position.

I'm just looking for lessons learned really. While political support of the Trust was lost, it appeared the voting public really didn't care either, or at least not enough of the voting public. Just something to keep in mind for most any organization.

Let's not forget the boneheaded things the Trust did to lose their political support.......

I also would not assume anything about this particular issue even appeared as a blip on the radar of the general public when comparing candidates.

dave

Dave,

I believe you have no idea what the PTHT actually did to lose political support. That's because they did a poor job of communicating to the public. You only know what the Mayor said happened, because he did a good job communicating to the press.

I had hopes that a grand jury or some other criminal legal mechanism would remedy parts of what happened. Note that I am not accusing any particular person or group of doing anything wrong.

The bottom line is never, ever rely on political support. Use if you've got it, but don't rely on it. Politically, things will change someday, and not for the better. If your group relies on political support for their existence, they are a dead group walking and just don't know it yet.

-Mark

outreach directly to the public, not towards the government. Government heads may be busy elsewhere, but some areas rich in railroad background may have better support for efforts like this. But like above own your piece.