Central Pennsylvania History: Renovo Coaling Tower (Clinton County)

The coaling tower

Located in the quiet mountain town of Renovo, the remnants of a once powerful industrial giant, the Pennsylvania Railroad, lies silent. A towering concrete structure remains a silent sentinel to the community's railroad history.

Without the railroad, Renovo may never have existed at all. In 1862, the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad (P&E) erected a repair facility and laid out a community to house its workers. The location was, as it continues to be to this day, the middle of nowhere. So why was such a remote location chosen? It just so happened to be about half-way between the railroad's namesake terminals.

In 1866, Renovo was officially incorporated as a borough. The name Renovo is a Latin word meaning “to revive or renew,” which was fitting given the repairing and building of railroad cars and engines in the new shops. Eventually, the P&E was folded into the ever expanding Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), who continued to use Renovo as a station, yard, paint shop, locomotive repair facility, and car shop.

Renovo yard in 2019
Photo Retrieved From: Google Maps

Renovo yard in 1957. The coaling tower can be seen at the lower left
Photo Retrieved From: Penn Pilot

Steam locomotives required both coal and water to operate. Facilities were placed along the tracks to replenish these supplies to keep the trains moving along the route. Oftentimes these stops were the origins for small towns that sprung up around them.

Renovo Shops and Yard prior to the building of the coaling tower.
The ramp for the old coaling tower can be seen towards the bottom left.

With America’s entry into WWII, railroads across the country were preparing to meet the increased demand for rail traffic. As part of their modernization program, the PRR decided to build a coaling tower at Renovo replace an older ramp and chute system. Construction of the tower commenced in 1941. Built from poured concrete and re-bar, this incredibly robust and massive structure stood 50 feet tall. To fill the tower, coal and sand were dumped from hopper cars into pits between the rails. Elevators would hoist the coal or sand into compartments inside the tower. When a locomotive was positioned under a chute, coal or sand was discharged by gravity. Use of the tower to resupply steam locomotives ceased in 1957 when the Pennsylvania Railroad completely switched to diesel power. Sand continued to be stored in the tower for diesel locomotives.

The Renovo Shops remained open until 1968, when the railroad centralized its repair facilities to Altoona, taking many jobs with it. The yard and remaining facilities were utilized by the successors of the PRR, Penn Central in 1968 and finally Conrail in 1976. Conrail closed what was left at Renovo in 1980. With that, the railroad abandoned what it once created.

Renovo during the steam era. The coaling tower can be seen in the background
Photo Retrieved From: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Archives

Renovo Shops as they appear today

Author's Photo

The coaling tower is presently a central feature of the Renovo Heritage Park. In 2018, the tower was added to the Pennsylvania at Risk listing, a register of historic homes and structures maintained by the non-profit, Preservation Pennsylvania. The list represents those structures that would be endangered without adequate funding and maintenance. With proper support, the tower will remain a sentinel for Renovo’s railroad heritage for generations.

Trains still run through Renovo, though the frequency pales in comparison to the constant activity that took place here decades ago. Visiting the tower can offer a peek into the past, when steam locomotives thundered by and the nation moved on steel rails. Although the yards are vacant and the buildings empty, one can still hear the whistles of the past echoing off the mountains.