Tri-State hosted more than 800 passengers at "Celebrate Rockaway Borough" on September 17. In conjunction with the borough of Rockaway, Tri-State was again invited to provide free caboose rides to visitors of this well-attended annual street fair. Over eight-hundred passengers were carried over the course of fourteen trips.
Following the free trips for visitors, Tri-State hosted a longer excursion for its members, which traversed several miles of the line. The train stopped for photographs at one of the seldom seen bridges over the Rockaway River, near the Route 46 overpass, and at the Rockway River crossing in downtown Rockaway at dusk.
Tri-State's all volunteer crew. Rear L-R: Mike Del Vecchio, Jeff Jargosch, Kevin Phalon, Richie King, Michael Kaplonski, and Jim Hager. Front L-R: Erik Stenzel, Andy Dick, Duncan Mara, John Nolan, Lou Capawana, and Barry Levitt. Absent: Matt Herman.
This was a significant day for Tri-State in many respects. Thanks to the Dover & Rockaway River Railroad, this was Morristown & Erie 19's first time hauling passengers under Tri-State ownership. M&E 19, along with Tri-State's Raritan River 10, Lehigh & New England 580, and Lacakwanna 896, made for a train of exclusively organization-owned equipment. This is a claim that only two organizations in New Jersey, including our own, can make.
