There is lots of progress to report in the Colebrookdale Railroad’s efforts to move forward with its mission to strengthen its connections to the Pottstown.
Monday night, Aug. 10, Pottstown Borough Manager Mark Flanders said work with the railroad’s leadership is moving the effort to establish a station in Memorial Park forward.
“I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a platform going up soon in Memorial Park, and then they can move the vintage station over from Birdsboro,” Flanders said.
Similarly, Sheila Dugan, executive director of the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority, told council that the railroad will soon be offering its riders “railroad dollars,” along with their tickets, which will be good for discounts at downtown Pottstown restaurants.
But perhaps the most exciting development was the arrival Aug. 11 – by truck rather than by rail – of the railroad’s newest vintage passenger car, to be followed Wednesday, Aug. 12, by the arrival of a genuine steam engine.
Huge rubber-tired dollies took the 174,000-lb railroad car on a journey on Pennsylvania’s highways ending at the Colebrookdale’s railyard on Third Street in Boyertown.
The funds to move the car were donated by Robert Hart, Sr.
“We are thrilled to welcome the car into the fleet,” Nathaniel Guest, executive director of the railroad said in a press release.
Guest estimates the work needed to fit out the car will cost about $25,000.
“It’s not going to require as much work as the other cars, since it’s an open car, but all the same we’d welcome donations and sponsors so we can have it in service for our busy season at the end of the year,” he said.
The new car was originally a Pullman sleeping car built in 1924. Later in life it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad and was assigned as number 8663 the “Lake Girard”.
Like the current heavyweight, this antique car is heavy.
Records show standard Pullman sleeping cars weighing 174,000 pounds. With some minor restoration work, the new car will be ready for service.
A new old steam engine has made its return to its Pennsylvania birthplace.
Project 02, owners of the locomotive, will be restoring it to operation.
A 1942 Porter 0-6-0 tank engine built by the Porter Locomotive Works in Pittsburgh, the locomotive is privately owned but will reside on the Colebrookdale Railroad.
“We’re excited to bring it home,” said Preston McEvoy of Project 02, prior to the engine’s arrival. “It will not be operating for some time as most steam locomotive restorations take years,” McEvoy said.
The railroad has planned many seasonal and special events, including recent specials to enjoy the fireworks on July 4th and an old time baseball game played recently in Memorial Park.
Its development is a key part of a “tourism and recreation district” that the Pottstown Area Industrial Development wants to establish in the area to make the most of the close proximity of the railroad, Memorial Park, the splash park there, the Carousel at Pottstown, historic Pottsgrove Manor, the Manatawny Green mini-golf course, the art galleries at Montgomery County Community College’s West Campus, the Schuylkill River Trail and the Schuylkill Heritage Area’s River of Revolutions interpretive center.
