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.

Rumble Brings Railroad Price Cut for Rambler Riders

Well, not only is the Pottstown Volleyball Rumble a hoot, lots of gun and the largest grass volleyball tournament in the universe, it also prompted a price cut on the Colebrookdale Railroad.

Friday afternoon, the folks at the Colebrookdale announced that the price for an adult ride on the specially named "Pottstown Rambler" will be :

• cut for an adult from $27.50 to $20; 
• for a child age 2 to 12, from $18 to $10;
• For seniors, 65 and older, from $25 to $15
• and for Toddlers younger than 2,m from $5 to $4.

Even better, you don't have to head up to Boyertown to ride the train. 

For the first time, trains will be department from Pottstown, at a tent set up on King Street near the railroad crossing and right blinking next door to that fabulous Volleyball Rumble.

Refreshments available on board will feature cookies and other baked treats, bottled water and old-timey beverages like Pennsylvania Dutch root beer, red birth beer, sarsaparilla and vanilla cream.

Trains leave Pottstown today at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

They leave Boyertown today at 11:15 a.m., 1:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.

Sunday, the train leaves Pottstown at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

It leaves Boyertown at 1:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.

Tickets are available online or at either the ticket tent in Pottstown, or the Gatehouse in Boyertown on Philadelphia Avenue at the Railroad crossing.

Getting Regional About Recreation

Mercury Photo by John Strickler

A regional recreation coordinator can help maximize the

impact and expand large regional events like the Pottstown 

Volleyball Rumble.

The state has approved a grant to help fund a regional recreation coordinator for six of the eight municipalities which comprise the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning area.

Called a “circuit rider,” the position is designed to help coordinate regional recreation events and resources and to provide support for townships who may not have a large recreation department.
Among the activities and benefits envisioned for the new position are:

• Cheaper and more successful grant writing due to the nature of the intergovernmental cooperation involved;
• Help in coordinating the use of existing facilities and services and the prevention unnecessary duplication; 
• Developing trails and greenway connections, like linking the Schuylkill River Trail in Pottstown through Chester County to Phoenixville;
• Expanding promotion of existing parks and programs and coordination of the scheduling of major events among them;
• Identifying and facilitating sharing resources among youth sports groups;
• Coordinating public/private partnerships, contributions and volunteer efforts.

David Kraybill, the executive director of the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, brought the news to the regional planners during their Feb. 26 meeting.

He said the grant is for $67,500 per year for four years for the position.

A circuit rider can also help obtain grants to improve
and expand fields, like the refurbished field at Memorial Park
here in Pottstown.

The foundation is providing office space for whomever is hired and paying the health benefits.

The grant is a diminishing grant, with the participating townships shouldering a slowly increasing portion of the cost, with their annual contribution capped at $5,000.

The townships of East Coventry and New Hanover both opted out of participating.

Since 2010, the foundation has worked off the results of an area recreation study by Penn State which, among other things, reinforced the need for better regional recreation coordination, to get the most bang for the recreation buck, in pursuit of one of the foundation’s major goals — to promote an active lifestyle among area residents.

With the help of grant funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the foundation and regional planning committee have been working to outline a job description and set of responsibilities for the post.

Kraybill told the planners the state indicated that the level of cooperation among the participating townships in laying the groundwork and applying for the position “is the greatest level of cooperation they’ve seen in Pennsylvania.”

“The fact that you cooperate, stands out,” he said.