ALL ABOARD FOR THE TRICENTENNIAL TRAIN CHARTER -- AN AMAZING EVENT!

YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS EVENT IF YOU LOVE TRAINS, IF YOUR KIDS LOVE TRAINS OR IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A GREAT WAY TO SPEND AN AFTERNOON WITH THE ONES YOU LOVE!  

LIVE MUSIC!  FOOD!  MUSEUM TOUR! EXCLUSIVE LECTURE! DESSERT! AND A TRAIN RIDE!!

On Saturday, September 13^th, the historic Black River and Western Railroad will take a ride back through Hunterdon’s rail history with a special Tricentennial chartered excursion.  Leaving Flemington from the Liberty Village Platform at 11:30 am, passengers will have a leisurely train ride to Ringoes where they will be greeted by the Red Oak Country Boys playing music from a century ago. 

The Red Oak Country Boys, a four piece country & western band based in Hunterdon County, will be featuring music nearly lost to time  -- mostly songs about railroad building and history.  Songs include The Wreck of the Old 97 and Wabash Cannonball (both from the late 1920s) which were among the first of the genre, and Casey Jones which was first written about 1900 right after the train wreck and was popularized in these 1920's.  The songs reflect the impact of the railroads on the lives of people at the times they were written during the 20th century.  Some railroad songs were interwoven with religious themes such as Glory Train and Life's Railway to Heaven.  Although most trains originated in the South or Midwest, a New Jersey railroad song, "The Jersey Central Special", is set to the tune of Wabash Cannonball and was popularized by Shorty and Smokey Warren, Max Sullivan and Hunterdon's own Burd Boys in the heyday of Country Western music in New Jersey in the 1950s and 60s.  Len Rambo, a resident of Califon, one of the  original Burd Boys and a frequently featured artist on WDVR's live "Heartland Hayride", is one of the Hunterdon-based Red Oak Country Boys.  The band members include Rambo on  bass guitar, Dave Loth on electric guitar, Jim Hebson on banjo and John McKay on acoustic guitar. 

A picnic lunch supplied by Shop Rite will be enjoyed while listening to the music.  Following lunch, time will be allowed to visit the special restored rail cars and the Black River and Western museum – also in a rail car.  Returning to the picnic area, guests will enjoy a special dessert and a lecture with Frank Curcio – Hunterdon County’s foremost expert on the history of rail.  The lecture, on the development and demise of railroads throughout Hunterdon, will be exclusively given as part of this excursion.  Following the lecture, passengers will board the train and head back to Flemington, arriving around 3:30 pm. 

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children between 5 and 17 years old, and free for children under 5.  They may be acquired from the Black River and Western website by credit card www.flemingtontrain.org, or through the Hunterdon Tricentennial by check or cash.  For more information please go to www.hunterdon300th.org or call the Tricentennial Committee at (908) 788-2030.