Looking back at Titus Generating Station
Guy Landis worked at Titus Generating Station for 27 years as a senior utility technician.
Titus was his first job out of Kutztown High School. He left in 2014 and hasn’t forgotten the place or the people. He still gets together with some of them.
“Quite frankly, it wasn’t just the plant, but the great people who worked there, and maintained its amazing reliability,” said Landis, now in his mid-50s and working for Carpenter Technology. “The camaraderie at the plant was awesome. I was always proud to be a part of the fundraising efforts and open house tours.”
Built in 1948 by Metropolitan Edison Co., Titus was named after former Met-Ed President Ormrod Titus and was completed in 1951, but did not go online until 1953.
The site was selected because of its access to water and coal. Until its closure, coal arrived by Norfolk Southern rail cars as it did in the 1950s. It drew about 2 million gallons of water a day from the Schuylkill River for all of its operations.
The aging power plant began the deactivation process Sept. 1, 2013, after multiple owners tried to keep up with increasingly rigorous environmental regulations.
Titus Station had three coalfired boilers and two gas-fired or oil-fired combustion turbines with a capacity of 274 megawatts. It was fully decommissioned in June 2014. It was one of hundreds of coal-fired plants in the U.S. that have been decommissioned in favor of cleaner natural gas.
To be reborn?
As King of Prussia-based ReFined Plastics LLC is poised to take over the 200-acre property, president and chief technology officer Joe D’Ascenzo gave a Reading Eagle reporter and photographer a tour of the property in Cumru Township.
The main plant was dimly lit and dusty. Some offices and work spaces looked as if everyone just got up and left. The superintendent’s office had papers and manuals strewn about. A kitchenette had doors open and cups and plates left lying around.
An old model of the facility remained as did the red lock boxes the maintenance team used to protect systems from inadvertently being turned on.
It is not yet clear how much of the property will change to convert it into an advanced plastics recycling facility.
Berks County property records show an environmental covenant, a deed restriction that gives the state Department of Environmental Protection oversight, was placed on the property at 296 Poplar Neck Road in April.
D’Ascenzo has been in negotiations with the current property owners, Titus Power and REMA (Reliant Energy Mid-Atlantic).
D’Ascenzo said the plant, which once drew water from the Schuylkill River and treated it, would be tied to a public water and sewer system.
He has said he also wants to generate power. He might be able to use the turbines. He was not sure what would happen to the giant cooling tower, a visual landmark to motorists on the West Shore Bypass.
D’Ascenzo said he expects to dismantle the system that took coal from railroad cars and brought into the plant via a conveyor belt system. The coal piles were removed, he said.
‘Getting dirty’
Landis and other former Titus workers described how the coal-fired power station operated. Looking at the pictures of what’s left at Titus, they said, evoked memories of a workplace that has vanished.
Landis recalled working with coal.
“I never minded getting dirty,” Landis said, noting that for a coal-fired plant workers kept it clean.
“I was very involved with the engineers with regard to the 1999 pollution control upgrade,” Landis said. “Most of my focus was to get the new coal blending system to work synergisticly with the old coal handling system. Most people ran from it, but I ran to it. I’m very proud how I championed it.”
Many out-of-state companies would come to see the system because it was leading edge technology at the time.
The control room was the small building near the dump truck. It was controlled by a nuclear coal analyzer and a human-machine interface that used neutron bombardment and spectral analysis.
It was dangerous work, pushing 450 tons to 1,000 tons of coal an hour, he said.
The seven-story building could get very hot.
“Your hair would dance on your arms as you walked past the boiler,” Landis said.
But those who worked at Titus derived a sense of satisfaction from managing the turbines to provide power to the community.
Landis said the turbines — and the crews that operated them — provided flexibility to the power grid in a way that other generating stations couldn’t. Because of their skill, they could increase or decrease the amount of power they generated to meet peak needs.
And workers were dedicated.
‘Great opportunity’
Matt Zielinski, who was
the foreman of operations, recalled staying five days straight during the blizzard of January 1996 when no one could make it in.
“It was a well-built, wellmaintained plant,” said Zielinski, who retired in April 2014.
He said he started working with coal and rose to lead operations.
“It’s never the same day, so many systems and equipment that you have to know,” he said. “I don’t think people knew what went into it.”
His wife, Kristie Baer Zielinski, was one of the few women who worked at the plant. She worked as a control room operator until 2011.
“It was a great opportunity for me, as a woman in the 1980s, when it was rare for women to work in nontraditional roles,” she said. “Although there were many challenges, it was the beginning of an era that wel
comed women into wellpaying industrial careers.”
Landis said he never felt bitter or disappointed that the facility had to close.
The Zielinskis also realized the plant was getting old and regulations had changed.
“I’d be back there in a heartbeat,” Landis said. “It never felt like a job. I liked what I was doing. I’m not sure what it is, but there is an aura existing at Titus.
“Maybe it’s from all the people who built it, and worked there to operate and maintain it for many years. I have always believed that some day Titus would be reborn.”