Port Clinton Treasures
Port Clinton Transportation Museum
Penn and Clinton Streets
Port Clinton, Pennsylvania
Last September, when I left the the Hamburg-er Festival, I decided to meander around a bit before heading home. I’m glad that I did! Not only did I accidentally happen upon the Port Clinton Peanut Shop, I also found The Port Clinton Transportation Museum (operated by the Northern Berks-Southern Schuylkill Historical Association).
The museum wasn’t open when I stopped by; but I did get to see these tiny stations that were once part of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. The P&R was primarily constructed to transport coal from the mines in northeastern Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. (read more about the fascinating history of the P&R in the links at the end of this post).
“Bruiser the Cruiser” poses in front of the Molino Station.
According to Dan West’s Pennsylvania Stations Past & Present website, the stations were moved to the museum in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
I love the birdhouse on the roof of this station.
A peek through the window of the Port Clinton Station. Notice the super-artsy reflection of my camera, which was totally on purpose … or, ummm, something like that 🙂
Prior to the popularity of rail transport, interconnected man-made canals in and along the Schuylkill River proved a transportation route through the area. Port Clinton is now home to a section of the Historic Tow Path Trail along the Schuylkill River. The trail follows the riverbank and takes hikers past/through several canal locks. Just behind the museum’s station houses is a section of a canal “lock”. (click sign to enlarge and read text)
I’m not sure what this little guy below is. The emblem is Atlantic Refining Company – so it was for oil or gasoline I assume. Can anyone identify what it is exactly? * mystery solved … see comments below.
If you go …
I believe the museum’s hours vary. If you’d like to take a peek inside the museum call the Northern Berks-Southern Schuylkill Historical Association (610-562-9383) for dates/times.
WOW. Very interesting. I asked my husband what the red thing was and he thought it was some sort of heater or used to melt something down.
p.s. thank you for stopping by the blog and leaving the hint on how to keep those rabbits away! I appreciate it.
Heidi
Since these pictures were taken, the smaller of the two stations has been repainted, and the larger of the two has been scraped in preparation for repainting, and partially repainted. Both stations required substantial work before they could/can be painted, with replacement of rotted wood sections the most pressing. After the painting is completed, the lights inside the stations will be reconnected. On the board of the museum is a phone number for people with access to the museum and the stations, if we are home (six houses away)would be happy to show any interested people around.
Luke McLaughlin, Curator
The red thing with Atlantic on it is an old gasoline pump, in it’s heyday it would have had a glass globe on it, which would have measured the amount of gasoline pumped into a car, by an attendant (remember those?) and then he would have calculated the amount owed by measuring the gasoline dispensed and mentally multiplying the price by the gallons dispensed. Check Ebay for a picture of a complete gasoline dispenser. Thanks for reading! Luke
Thanks for stopping by, Luke.
I will definitely have to take another trip up to see the stations and their “makeovers” 🙂
Cool. I love finding stuff like this. I made several trips to Pennslvania last year, but they were business trips so unfortunately I didn’t get to explore much. Maybe one of these days I’ll get back for fun. Enjoyed the post and pics.
Thanks for stoppin-in Ken 🙂
That happens to me a lot too, Ken (biz trips during which I don’t have time to explore).