A Ride on the Colebrookdale

Photos and video by Evan Brandt

The partially refurbished dining car is just one of the delights on the Colebrookdale Railroad's Secret Valley Line.

So I am pleased to report that a ride on the Colebrookdale Railroad, through the "Secret Valley" between Pottstown and Boyertown, was every bit as enjoyable as I have always hoped it would be.

We liked that the tickets were golden...

Although I have written quite a bit about the railroad and confess to being enthusiastic about its potential for the region, I had yet to ride it.

But, when the folks at the Colebrookdale Preservation Trust lowered the ticket price from $27.50 to $20 and offered rides starting in Pottstown instead of Boyertown -- all in honor of the mighty Pottstown Volleyball Rumble -- I could resist no longer.

Although the station that will ultimately erected in Memorial Park is not yet set-up, special arrangements were made to allow passengers to board in Pottstown, so riders could start and end in either location.

Other special rides are this coming weekend for the Independence Limited on Friday for the events in Memorial Park, and the special Star Spangled Express and Fireworks Express Saturday.

The Colebrookdale on its new siding in Pottstown.

Nathaniel Guest, the face and driving force behind bringing the Colebrookdale this far, said the rides that weekend were well-attended.

Its a shame that the Pottstown School Board does not have enough foresight and faith to support the effort by forgiving the taxes on the former Davis Brothers scrapyard the railroad has taken over and will use as its maintenance facility.

A non-profit organization, the group filed its paperwork too late with the Montgomery County Board of assessment to be automatically forgiven this year's tax bill and will not be tax-exempt until next year.

At least borough council had the vision to forgive those taxes, but the school board, which is constantly complaining that not enough is being done to increase the tax base and bring businesses to town, apparently does not recognize the value of an excursion railroad which will attract thousands once it is up and running.

All to save $30,000, which is just two year's worth of the contributions taxpayers will make to Business Manager Linda Adams's retirement account under the new three-year contract they unanimously approved Monday night.

Historic Glasgow Manor is among the sights along the way.

This despite the fact that the railroad is the linchpin in the new recreation and tourism district the borough is trying to create for the exact reason of satisfying the school district's stated desire for more economic development.

Anyway, let's not dwell on a vision-less school board.

Because as shown in the slide show below, created with great technical difficulty by our crackerjack technical staff here at The Digital Notebook, the visions that appear during a Colebrookdale Railroad ride are as superb and bucolic as they are surprising.

It is truly a well-kept secret -- until now.





Unfortunately, I am not so forward thinking myself that I was sure to charge my iPhone to its fullest before my wife Karen and I embarked on our journey.
So first, here is a small sample of video which drained my battery about the industrial history which occurred along the route of the "Secret Valley Line."




Once we got to Boyertown, the battery was very, very low, so I decided to focus the energy that remained on giving a sense of how things work at the Boyertown yard, and the ride back. Have a look.



Hopefully, this remarkable achievement will be preserved and developed to become the attraction it is capable of becoming and help promote both Pottstown and Boyertown as destination locations for everyone from volleyball players, to railroad enthusiasts, to carousel enthusiasts, to history-loving tourists to riders of the Schuylkill River Trail.

That's a future to which we can all look forward.

$20K for Colebrookdale Railroad

Photos by Evan Brandt

The Colebrookdale Railroad's "open car" is more popular in warmer months.

The Colebrookdale Railroad was the biggest beneficiary of this year’s round of grants from the Boyertown Area Charitable program.

Part of the Berks County Community Foundation, the charitable program distributed $44,250 it was announced Friday and $20,000 of it went to the railroad for operations.

Berks Community Foundation spokesman Jason Brudereck said railroad is free to use the money however it sees fit.

Another $15,000 was awarded to Building a Better Boyertown to make pedestrian improvements to

handle the anticipated 20,000 to 30,000 annual visitors who will come to the borough as a result of the train.

Plans for this money include new parking and directional signs, information kiosks, a walking tour app and a part-time employee to address weeding, sweeping and general gardening maintenance of sidewalks, according to a release from the foundation.

The railroad is owned and operated by the non-profit Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust and this fall began offering rides on its historic Secret Valley nine-mile excursion line between Boyertown and Pottstown.

Built during the Civil War, the rail line served the iron industry until it fell into disuse.

In 2001, Berks County acquired the line, but it was abandoned in 2008.

Two years later, it was reactivated by the Berks County Redevelopment authority by the Eastern Berks Gateway Railroad, which was in turn purchased by the Colebrookdale Preservation Trust earlier this year.

In June, the railroad received a $676,029 grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority toward the cost of moving an historic rail depot from Birdsboro to Memorial Park in Pottstown to serve as the station on the Pottstown end of the ride.

At the Boyertown end of the line, plans include the development of the Boyertown Railroad Yard, including construction of a platform, a station and landscaping.

The remaining grant money from the Boyertown Charitable Program was distributed as follows.

• $5,000 to the Foundation for Boyertown Education for a drug abuse prevention program in the Boyertown School District.

• $2,500 to Gilbertsville Fire and Rescue Company to buy fire and rescue equipment.

• $1,000 to the Save Our Boyertown Clock Foundation to repair and restore the town clock atop Church of the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ on Philadelphia Avenue.

• $500 to the Greater Berks Food Bank to support a weekender backpack program in Boyertown School District. The program gives backpacks full of food to students in need.

• $250 to the Clay on Main art community and resource center to operate an art activity tent at the annual Boyertown Fun Days.

Last month, the Boyertown Area Community Fund and the Boyer Foundation Fund, both of which are administered by the Berks County Community Foundation, celebrated the distribution of more than $1 million to 65 organizations since 1997.

The millionth dollar awarded was part of $5,094 that the Boyer Foundation Fund gave to the Boyertown Lions Community Ambulance Service.

Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that serves as a civic leader for the region by developing, managing and distributing charitable funds aimed at improving the quality of life in Berks County.