A work crew from Ontelaunee Builders in Perry Township has been putting in a water tower at the Reading Outer Station, a railroad siding off the Reading & Northern Railroad line in Muhlenberg Township.
Atop a tall platform made of railroad ties, a 10,000-gallon tank will eventually provide water for Old No. 225, a former Canadian Pacific Railroad steam locomotive on display at the corner of Route 61 and Bellevue Avenue.
The wooden barrel-like tank had been in the Reading & Northern Railroad yards in Hamburg since 1986, according to Andrew M. Muller Jr., 69, the rail line’s owner.
“I bought it from the WK&S Railroad in Kempton about 30 years ago,” Muller said. “I’ve been told it was an old Yuengling brewery brewing vat.”
Ivan Zimmerman, 36, Ontelaunee Builders’ owner, said the construction crew used a high lift to hoist the approximately 6,000-pound tank to its perch.
The inside of the tank is reinforced with steel rods that support its roof.
“We had never done anything like it,” Zimmerman said. “But I have an interest in history and it seemed like a fun project.”
The elevated tank is reminiscent of similar structures that supplied water to Reading Railroad steam locomotives pulling gondola cars in the era when coal was king.
It is part of a complex Muller is building to accommodate weekly excursions from Muhlenberg Township to Jim Thorpe in Carbon County, expected to begin on Memorial Day weekend.
Advance tickets will go on sale March 15, said Muller, who’s charging $29 for the round trip. Initially, tickets will be available only by mail or phone at the Reading & Northern headquarters in Port Clinton.
Investing $2 million in the project, Muller purchased a strip mall and the landmark former O’Grady’s restaurant for the complex named after the Reading Railroad’s historic Outer Station in Reading.
In January, a crew from W.E. Yoder Inc. in Kutztown constructed a rail siding off the main line, and Muller brought in the historic locomotive on the site once occupied by the strip mall.
A diesel locomotive will be used for the weekly excursions, scheduled for Saturdays, Muller said. The steam locomotive will be used only for special excursions in fall.
The train will depart the Reading Outer Station at 9 a.m. for the 21/2 -hour trek to Jim Thorpe, a Victorian enclave on southern edge of the Poconos. The return trip is at 3:30 p.m.
When the water tower is complete, Muller will begin construction of passenger station and loading platform.
