For the past four years, TOYX, Inc. has proudly called the former Erie Railroad engine facility in Port Jervis, New York our home. What was once an overgrown, abandoned, and largely forgotten 8.67-acre industrial property has become, through the work of our volunteers and the support of the community, one of the most meaningful railroad heritage sites in the Northeast.
However, the City of Port Jervis has notified TOYX that all leases, subleases, and agreements covering the Erie Turntable property will be terminated effective July 26, 2026 so the property can be sold for redevelopment. Any redevelopment will almost certainly destroy the core historic fabric of the site, including original trackage, the sanding towers, and the operational 1927 turntable.
As a result of the City’s decision, all 27 railcars at the site – and all Port Jervis-related artifacts they contain – must leave the property within the next eight months.
The planned redevelopment of Port Jervis's last major railroading landmark is a profound and preventable loss. TOYX encourages residents, visitors, and supporters to speak at City Council meetings and contact elected officials. Tell them why this matters to you, why Port Jervis deserves to keep its history, and why TOYX should retain a lease on the property.

The City’s decision will result in the departure of numerous Port Jervis artifacts and cultural assets. TOYX’s collection includes four historic Erie, Erie Lackawanna, and Conrail cabooses, one-of-a-kind Erie Lackawanna and Conrail boxcars, and the only operational surviving Erie Lackawanna dining car. Together, these railcars represent the most complete collection of original-to-Port Jervis railroad rolling stock ever assembled. Most of these railcars are regularly open to the public, with two rare Erie Railroad cabooses currently under restoration and originally slated to open in 2026.

The Tri-States Railway Preservation Society, founded locally in 1985 and now a subsidiary of TOYX, will also be forced to vacate the site. This includes relocating its entire boxcar museum, which is filled with an extensive collection of artifacts donated by Port Jervis residents and families over the past four decades. TOYX and Tri-States are working to relocate this important collection elsewhere in Orange County to keep Port Jervis’s heritage accessible to local residents. However, it may be at least a year before a new museum facility can reopen.

For a city whose identity is rooted in the railroad (and whose municipal logo still features a steam locomotive), this decision represents a significant cultural loss. TOYX encourages residents, visitors, and supporters to voice their concerns to the Port Jervis City Council, which meets at 6:30 PM on the second and fourth Monday of each month at City Hall 20 Hammond Street). Each meeting includes a public comment period. “If we can change their minds and stop this pending historical travesty, TOYX will continue to invest in both Port Jervis’s past and its future,” said Garbely.
If the City insists on its current course of action, relocating TOYX’s 27 railcars — including four small locomotives that require specialized over-the-road trucks — will be a major, expensive undertaking. TOYX, an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is seeking financial donations to defray the cost of the move. More information on donating may be found at http://www.toyx.org/donate.

Our work at the turntable site over the past four years was made possible through a still-active 2021 sublease under the Outdoor Club of Port Jervis in partnership with several other local nonprofit organizations. In 2023, individual misconduct at these partner organizations (and, in one case, insurance fraud) caused all of them to withdraw from the site, leaving TOYX as the only remaining active user of the property with the Outdoor Club as the leaseholder. Recovered emails between the partner groups revealed plans to try to evict TOYX while retaining some or all of the railroad equipment we had brought to the site. The Outdoor Club subsequently asked the City in 2024 to be removed as an intermediary leaseholder, freeing the City to negotiate a new lease agreement directly with TOYX.

Particularly eyebrow-raising is this excerpt from the TOX site: