A MAJOR MILESTONE REACHED
After many decades of being stored in multiple locations, the last of our Centerville and Southwestern rolling stock can soon be moved to our new secure building next to the carshop!
Phillipsburg Railroad Historians Incorporated was founded in 1990 with the mission to preserve local railroad history. The founders immediately began seeking items for the collection. Initially, we did not have any facilities to store these items so they were spread across multiple locations throughout the area. The space problem worsened when we became the custodians of the Centerville and Southwestern miniature railroad and moved it from Monmouth county to Phillipsburg. We were eventually able to rent an old firehouse on Chambers Street and then obtained a lease for our current museum location.
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In the year 2000 we built a pole building (shown above) to use as our carshop. This allowed us to have an enclosed space for full-scale restorations. It also allowed us to move the Centerville and Southwestern rolling stock that was stored in the firehouse to our property.
Fast forward to 2025, we finally had the funding and town approval to construct another pole building to store the Centerville and Southwestern rolling stock (about half of the collection has been in trailers since the move from Monmouth County in 1992!) Chief Mechanical Officer Glenn Terminelli leveled the ground and placed markers where the poles would be set. On November 3rd, 2025, a crew came with equipment to dig the holes. The building materials were delivered and right after sunrise on November 6th the framing crew began work.
The construction crew was out of the Dutch Country of Lancaster County and worked like a well oiled machine. It was amazing to watch them work. Very few words were spokem. It seemed like they could read each others minds, often pairing up for heavier tasks.
By mid day on the 7th most of the work on the structure was complete. Cold weather delayed the pouring of the concrete floor until the 13th. On the 14th a different crew came to put on the gutters and downspouts. This shot was taken on Nov 19th looking to the east. This end of the building is wider to accommodate a shop area to work on C&S engines and rolling stock.
Another picture taken Nov 19th looking westward at the Becker pole building with the carshop in the background.
Up until this point things were moving right along. The only task remaining to secure the building was the installation of the roll-up overhead doors. Then Old Man Winter and Murphy's Law raised their ugly heads to derail the timely completion of the building. Snow, ice, mud, and a mismatched paint job on the door left the building open all winter.
Up until this point things were moving right along. The only task remaining to secure the building was the installation of the roll-up overhead doors. Then Old Man Winter and Murphy's Law raised their ugly heads to derail the timely completion of the building. Snow, ice, mud, and a mismatched paint job on the door left the building open all winter.
We're pleased to report that the 2 doors were finally installed on April 1st and the building is now secure. There's still much to do before we can move the remaining C&S rolling stock out of the trailers. Electricity has to be brought in, the building wired and lighting has to be installed. The shop area must be set up, tracks and switches laid down then connected with the existing C&S right-of-way. We"ll keep you informed about the progress in future updates.
