Following article is from the Star-Ledger of New Jersey.
A mission to preserve rail history
Published: Friday, September 24, 2010
Tomas Dinges/For the Star-Ledger
Frank Reilly is trying to pull off what no one in New Jersey has been able to do for more than 20 years.
An historical society has tapped the 68-year-old Stirling resident to gather a vast, but scattered, collection of New Jersey’s nearly 200-year rail history into a statewide museum.
That goal — the cherished mission of the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey, which Reilly now leads — has eluded the work of his predecessors, who were done in by political wrangling, land disputes and financial concerns.
"Every time we (find a site), somebody else grabs it for some commercial purpose," said Walter Grosselfinger, the society’s founder. "It gets me too upset … It’s my baby, but I was ruining my health."
Reilly, former head of Morris County’s transit system, thinks a new strategy will finally bring the New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center to fruition sooner than later. Casting aside decades of reliance on the state for finance and guidance, Reilly is embarking on a private effort to raise nearly $3 million in three years to assure the center’s place in history.
"We can’t pin our hopes on anything," he said. "Whatever we are going to do, we are going to do ourselves."
A collection of 80 antique locomotives, vintage lounge cars and cabooses lies scattered around the state, left uncovered in rail yards.
Together, the relics evoke a proud era in New Jersey’s history, before NJ Transit, Amtrak and Conrail. That was when other passenger and freight lines ran through the state.
The Lackawanna Cutoff, built in the early 1900s, connected Morris County with Pennsylvania, and was considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the time.
In 1929, the best — and most exclusive — way to travel from Jersey City to Atlantic City was the Blue Comet, a one-of-a-kind luxury train offering steak dinners and plush seats.
Neighboring states like Pennsylvania showcase their railroad past; New Jersey does not.
A small museum and rail yard in Whippany holds 20 pieces, but it pales in comparison to Pennsylvania’s state museum in Lancaster, which opened in the 1960s and continues to expand.
Plans for a Jersey railroad museum seemed promising in the 1980s, when the state allotted some funds and established the Railroad and Transportation Museum Study Commission.
But two requisites — a site for the antiques and money to build a facility — could not be met.
The society came closest to achieving its goal in 2005, when it found a 35-acre site in Phillipsburg. But the town scuttled the proposal in favor of a $70 million-plus riverfront development.
A smaller yard in Morristown held some pieces but was repeatedly vandalized and town eventually asked the society to take them away.
Reilly has settled on a new approach.
Nearly 50 antique pieces sit in a Boonton railyard in Boonton, where restoration work is under way. Another part of the collection is in Tuckahoe, Cape May County.
So instead of seeking another site and running into cost and transportation issues, Reilly plans formally establish the museum in both Boonton and Tuckahoe to cater to North and South Jersey.
A campaign for personal and corporate donations will begin soon.
"I can’t think of anybody better at this point to take on this responsibility," said Rich Roberts, chief planner for NJ Transit, who has known Reilly for nearly 20 years.
For Reilly, who retired in 2004, the work is personal. As a young boy growing up in Dunellen, Middlesex County, he rode steam engines with his grandfather. Later, as an soldier in Germany, he traded packs of Lucky Strikes with engineers so he could run the troop-transport locomotives.
To naysayers, Reilly points to the decades-long effort to build a passenger rail line between Hoboken and Pennsylvania. The project only recently received federal approval.
"You never say die," he said. "You always stick to what you believe and get it accomplished."
For pictures that accompanied this article and reader comments, please visit the following web site.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/stirling_resident_to_gather_nj.html