Spurred to Action

Photo by Leonard F. Shaner Jr.

The Glasgow Iron Works railroad spur is open for the first time in 100 years. It will allow the Colebrookdale Railroad access to its maintenance shop on the grounds of the former Davis Brothers Scrap Yard.

The Colebrookdale Railroad will have a place in Pottstown to service and maintain their rail cars thanks to action by several players.

The non-profit Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust took possession of the former Davis Brothers Scrap Yard at the end of Old Glasgow Street last year.

The building, once the site of the Glasgow Iron Works, will maintain its industrial heritage by becoming the service shop for the non-profit railroad which will run tourist excursion rides between Pottstown and Boyertown, as well as freight into Berks County.

Recently, Pottstown Borough Council became the first agency to not only forgive future property taxes on the property, but also the partial taxes from the previous year.

Councilman Dan Weand was the only council member to vote against the request, saying he first wanted to know the vote of the school board, on which his wife Polly serves, because their share of the tax bill is much larger than the borough.

Colebrookdale volunteer Leonard F. Shaner Jr. wrote that the new Colebrookdale Railroad spur to the facility is being built with the help of a Pennsylvania State grant and Amtrak Railroad Contractors of Maryland, INC. 

The rail spur leads to the new railroad shop complex. 

The property was donated to the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust last year, by the Late John Davis who owned Davis Brother's Scrap Company.