Phillipsburg Railroad Historians

Name: Phillipsburg Railroad Historians
Address: 10 Pine Alley, Phillipsburg, NJ, 08865, US
Telephone: +19088591146
Price range: Not Applicable

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Phillipsburg Railroad Historians

Local history museum and operator of the historical Centerville & Southwestern miniature railroad. Located at 10 Pine Alley, Phillipsburg, NJ. All aboard!

PRRH is a nonprofit, all-volunteer group of rail-interested folks whose mission is to preserve the rich railroad history of the Phillipsburg area. We maintain a collection of full-sized railroad artifacts significant to Phillipsburg and the local railroad industry. Recently we were recognized for the full restoration of Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad caboose #18, a historic WWII-era railroad caboo

se. (https://www.wfmz.com/news/piece-of-restored-wwii-history-chugs-into-phillipsburg/article_8f3887cf-7ca7-51fb-b0b0-3a2071dfe3f9.html). Our current restoration project is Lehigh & Hudson River #105, a wood-bodied flanger car built in the 1870's, and originally from the New York, Ontario & Western Railway. We also operate the historic Centerville & Southwestern miniature railroad, a 1/6 scale railroad originally created on Becker's Farm in Roseland, NJ in 1938. The trains are equipped for automatic air brake operation and are conducted with full hand signals and rules designed after prototype railroad practice. Although short, the C&S is Phillipsburg's authentic "mainline in miniature," and it's a ton of fun! Please visit us at our free open houses offered 6-9 times a year, or consider joining our forces as a volunteer! You can learn how to restore rolling stock, conduct the C&S, and more. Whatever your age, skill level, or experience, we need you!

08/20/2026

One of the many encounters we have with Norfolk Southern during our open houses. Make sure to come out to the final few we’re having this year! Check out our events for dates and times.

08/15/2026

Tomorrow is our Summer Open House!

Come on out for some fun in Phillipsburg as we operate for the public. We will be open from 10am - 4pm with the usual festivities. The C&S will be running, restored equipment will be on display, and the museum/shop will be open!

As always our events are free but donations are greatly appreciated.

08/10/2026

Last week we had a small work session to make necessary preparations for the next stage of the Centerville & Southwestern Car Shop.

In order to get electricity to the car shop, we opted to have an underground line put in from the nearest pole to the shop. In order to install this line, we had to removed a panel of track from the main line and clear up quite a bit of brush. Overall it’s really great to see how nicely the area cleans up once the large amount of ivy is cleared out!

We hope that this install will be a quick one so we can reinstall the piece of track we removed and bring operations back to the full line.

08/05/2026

In just a couple weeks we’ll be hosting our next open house! We’ll be open on the 16th from 10-4. The Centerville & Southwestern will be running, restored equipment will be on display, and the museum/store will be open. Stop by for some classic fun and history!

06/29/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out to the open house on Saturday. Even though it was rainy at first, it turned out to be a beautiful day for the second half!

Our next open house will be on Sunday, August 16th from 10am - 4pm

06/26/2026

Tomorrow is Conrail Day!

Come on out for some classic fun as we partner with Phillipsburg Union - PU Tower and The Conrail Historical Society to provide you all with Conrail Day! We’ll be open from 10am to 4pm; The Centerville & Southwestern will be running, restored equipment will be on display, and the museum/gift shop will be open.

PU Tower will also be hosting tours of their beautifully restored tower with former Conrail tower operators as your tour guides!

As always our events are free but donations are greatly appreciated!

06/20/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out to the open house last night! We were happy to have 150 people come out to enjoy a cool evening train ride and a nice cup of ice cream to kick off Olde Town Fest here in Phillipsburg!

Our next open house will be next Saturday the 27th from 10am-4pm. We will be open in conjunction with Phillipsburg Union - PU Tower to provide you fine folks with Conrail Day!

06/19/2026

As a reminder for everyone who will be traveling to our museum from the west. The Main St bridge (Black Bridge) is still closed for repairs so you will be required to take a detour. This can be accomplished by turning onto Hudson Street before crossing the bridge, then following it to Chambers Street where you should make a right turn. Afterwards you should then travel down to and make a right onto Stockton Street. After you pass under the railroad, make a right turn onto Main Street and follow it down to our usual entrance across the way from Joe’s Steak Shop.

We can’t wait to see you all tonight from 6-8!

06/18/2026

Well folks, are you ready?
Because our next open house is TOMORROW!!

Tomorrow from 6pm-8pm we will be open for our annual Ice Cream Train! Take a nice ride on the historic Centerville & Southwestern Miniature Railroad through a nice summer evening and when you get back, enjoy some FREE ice cream!

This event was highly popular last year as we nearly hosted 500 passengers in the matter of 2 hours! 😱
So you want to make sure to attend while the ice cream lasts! The event will be first come first served so don’t wait until the last minute.

As always our events are completely FREE however donations are always greatly appreciated and they keep us running to provide these events for you!

06/14/2026

Check out these photos one of our members grabbed yesterday of the old Chestnut Ridge!

Even though the line east of Ampal has been inactive for many decades, the track is still in place in most spots. One of the most notable spots is in Little Gap just next to the covered bridge. Here the bridge over Hunter Creek is left standing with the rails, ties, and everything in place.

The only thing rolling through here now are the memories of the Railbus, speaking of which…

If you’d like to see an important piece of Chestnut Ridge history, come on down to one of our open houses and catch the Railbus! Arguably the most famous piece of equipment from the railroad resides here!

Address

10 Pine Alley
Phillipsburg, NJ
08865

Telephone

+19088591146

Website

http://www.prrh.org/

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