In 2002, the town of Phillipsburg partnered with the BDRV to launch an excursion operation between Phillipsburg and Carpentersville, after the town of
Trenton, New Jersey, declined to support the proposed New Jersey Transportation Museum. In March 2003, the BDRV acquired an Ex-
New Haven Brill motorcar, M-55, from the
Valley Railroad in
Essex, Connecticut, and they contracted with the Edward Railway Motor Car Company in
Mount Dora, Florida, to have it restored to operating condition. Ex-NYS&W No. 142 is a
China Railways SY class 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive built by the
Tangshan locomotive works in 1989 for export to the
Valley Railroad in Essex, as No. 1647. In late 1991, it was sold to the NYSW, where it was renumbered No. 142, and operated mainline excursions on NYS&W and, on occasion,
NJ Transit. which has included rail speeder rides on the line. In May 2023, passenger excursions reached Riegelsville, where passengers disembark at a replica Pennsylvania Railroad station that formerly stood on the same site (still under construction). As part of the track improvements to reach Riegelsville a siding that had previously been taken out by Conrail was put back in place; albeit slightly shorter than the original. ==Freight operations==