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| David Roland of BB&T, left, presents Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust Executive Director Nathaniel Guest with a $10,000 donation from National Penn Bank. |
Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Colebrookdale Railroad
Representatives from National Penn and BB&T, presented the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust with a $10,000 donation on May 5.
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| The donation will help pay for the restoration of the 100-year-old first-class parlor car. |
“We are pleased to offer this donation to the Colebrookdale Railroad as part of National Penn’s—and BB&T’s—commitment to supporting organizations that strengthen the region,” said Scott Fainor, BB&T Group Executive.
“National Penn has a long-established tradition of boosting programs and projects that revitalize the communities we serve, and the great work the Colebrookdale volunteers are doing fits squarely within that tradition.”
Founded in Boyertown as the National Bank of Boyertown, National Penn was recently acquired by BB&T. “BB&T is no stranger to Boyertown, and our commitment to this community and the railroad will continue the good example set by National Penn,” added Fainor.
“The Colebrookdale Railroad is exceedingly thankful for this boost, as the amazing work our volunteers are doing would not be possible without it,” said Nathaniel Guest, Executive Director of the non-profit Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust.
“The railroad has brought 30,000 visitors here from every state in the country and many foreign nations, resulting in $2 million back to Boyertown. Building an attraction that brings people in like that and keeps them coming back is a costly enterprise even with the amazing volunteer support we have. This boost from National Penn helps to make it possible.”
I wonder how all the employee's of BB&T that were laid off in Boyertown feel about this? First of all, what did they restore? This car was never a parlor car, is way over done and was never like this originally. This is Mr Guest's grand idea to be the best tourist railroad possible on the backs of volunteers and at the expense of getting people to donate to his cause. According to the railroads tax forms Mr Guest made a salary of $70,000 in 2014. I wonder if he donated back to the railroad any of that money. At $50 a head to ride from Boyertown to Pottstown and back people are not lining up to ride this car with only 8 people total riding it this past weekend over 3 trips. The seats are arranged like a subway car, so that all you see are the people across the aisle from you, not the scenery that they advertise. The seats don't look comfortable and are thinly padded. Mr Guest even wants you to pay for the seats with a donation of $1000 for a chair and $2000 for a love seat. This man wants luxury at the expense of others instead of what all other tourist railroads live off of, which are the fares for the train rides. If you really want to ride in a parlor car, go to Strasburg. There they have 2 beautiful parlor cars with comfortable seats and they are air-conditioned. They are laid out so you can see the scenery and you ride behind a steam loco, not a diesel, at half the price of this ride. Their cars were rebuilt right there and with no donation money.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing since you printed this in your article. What is the breakdown of where this $2 million dollars that went back into Boyertown? I'm sure there must be a record of this, since you printed this figure.
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DeleteAs a resident who lives a half of a block away from this wonderful tourist attraction, I too would love to know where the $2M went. While the train "may" be good for the business owners, it's not good for the residents who have to listen to the train and put up with the smell. The residents of Boyertown helped the local businesses get to where they are today. And they don't care about the residents because the tourists will make their businesses boom. After attending some of the town meetings and hearing the business owners treating the residents like idiots, I will no longer patronize some of the local businesses. Maybe they should invest in a better parking lot. I witnessed handicapped people trying to walk through that parking lot and almost fall. Just a liability claim waiting to happen.
DeleteWow there are people not drinking the Crookbrookdale Kool Aid! I really found it very arrogant that after people lost there jobs with this bank merger that they would accept this for lack of better terms bribe to make it all better. Oh well we know its all about a group of spoiled brats getting to play chooch chooch with this pie in the sky notion that this will benefit Boyertown. I think it will be quite entertaining when the reality starts coming to the surface and Boyertown realizes the scam they have been part of!
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