TOYX Tri-States Railway Preservation Society

05/12/2026

Recreating a historic paint scheme starts with extensive research…..

05/09/2026

We are out in Carbondale PA today for the Key, Lock and Lantern Convention stop by from 9-5 and say hi.

04/30/2026

The Tri-States Railway Preservation Society is now the Port Jervis Railroad Museum! Check us out and follow us on that page!

04/06/2026

While working on our "spring cleaning" this past weekend, we found this original photo in our archives! It shows Erie 2-8-4 "Berkshire" #3351 sitting on the south side of the Port Jervis roundhouse, near the present-day Walgreens. This photo was likely taken in the late 1930s, based on the 8/24/1937 maintenance dates stenciled on the locomotive.

We don't know the identities of any of the men pictured, although one of them (we don't know which one) is named James "Jim" Gleason, based on an inscription on the back of mounting. Records indicate that Gleason was locomotive maintainer (craft unknown) in the Erie's Port Jervis roundhouse at the time.

Does anyone know the identities of any of the men in this image? Maybe you recognize a grandfather or another relative? If so, let us know!

04/04/2026

Today is the 50th anniversary of the April 1, 1976 Conrail merger, when six bankrupt railroads were combined to create a successful freight carrier save the northeastern U.S. rail network. Conrail owned and operated the tracks through Port Jervis from 1976 to 1999 and, notably, made the preservation of our historic turntable property possible by selling it to the City of Port Jervis in 1988.

TOYX owns and operates several historically significant pieces of Conrail equipment. To celebrate 50 years of Conrail history, we are pleased to announce the planned restoration of our boxcar 368191, better known as Conrail's "Safety-On-Rails-Theater" or S.O.R.T. car. Built in 1965 to haul bottled beer, the car was rebuilt in 1992 with a theater and exhibit space and was exhibited at public events throughout the 1990s - including in Port Jervis - to promote public safety around trains and grade crossings. TOYX acquired the car in 2009.

After being stored off-site since Operation Toy Train in December, the 368191 was delivered back to Port Jervis last night with the generous assistance of THE NEW YORK, SUSQUEHANNA AND WESTERN RAILWAY CORP. It will be repainted by TOYX volunteers in the next few months to its 1992 Conrail appearance, and new interior exhibits will be installed covering the history of Conrail and some of the original artifacts from this boxcar's storied history. We hope to open the new exhibit in the late summer or early fall!

04/04/2026

Thank you to everyone that stopped by today. Even though we aren’t open for the season fully, we are taking some time to spruce up and perform maintenance on the museum. If you’d like to help with preserving our history, we generally schedule one to two work sessions on the weekends, just drop us a message and we will get back to you! Happy Easter 🐰

01/23/2026

We are pleased to announce that the City of Port Jervis, NY has initiated conversations with TOYX regarding a new, direct lease on the Erie Turntable property.

We are optimistic that a mutually beneficial agreement will be reached to continue and expand TOYX’s ongoing preservation and interpretation of this City-owned historic site, as well as provide a public space for residents and visitors to experience TOYX’s own railcars and artifacts that are so critical to the City’s heritage.

TOYX is grateful to the City of Port Jervis for this opportunity to renew our partnership. Further updates will be posted at the conclusion of lease negotiations.

01/17/2026

On the weekend of January 24-25, come and visit the TOYX booth at the Amherst Railway Society's massive Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield, MA to learn more about all of our projects and initiatives and buy some cool merch!

01/16/2026

In addition to the hundreds of hours our volunteers put in during 2025 to staff our museum for 24 weekends, our partners at the Erie Turntable have done a great job keeping the railyard buzzing with activity!

THE NUMBERS ARE IN! A total of 69 TOYX volunteers spent a grand total of 5,034 hours volunteering for our organization in 2025, with exactly half of those hours (2,517) spent working at the Erie Turntable site in Port Jervis! (NOTE: These calculations do NOT include volunteer hours for the Tri-States Railway Preservation Society, as those are maintained separately.) The remaining 2,517 hours were spent working on our other railcars stored in New Jersey, handling administrative or planning tasks, staffing TOYX tables or booths at off-site events, or volunteering on one of our toy collection trains across five states in November and December.

Using the nationwide $34.79 estimated value of a volunteer hour, our volunteers contributed $175,132.86 to our cause through their hard work and dedication. We thank all of our amazing personnel for everything they do for our non-profit organization and their tireless contribution to our mission of preserving and operating historic railroad equipment for public benefit. Here's to a bigger and better 2026!

01/06/2026

Thanks to all of our supporters, we now have more page followers than we had prior to the deletion of our old page yesterday! It's great to see the outpouring of love and support from Port Jervis residents and the surrounding community.