BARNEGAT LIGHT — After 65 years of retirement, "Ol' Barney" is heading back to work as a navigational aid to ships passing Barnegat Inlet.

The lighthouse is being gussied up for its 150th birthday on Jan. 1, when it will be relit for the first time since its decommission in 1944. Members of Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse State Park and its president, Angelo Rinaldi, have spearheaded the effort to restore the 172-foot-high beacon.

A new beacon will be installed soon, and for it to shine brighter, the windows that surround it were repaneled this week.

"We have the beacon," Rinaldi said. "We haven't put it up yet because we want the glass to be done first."

Work to strengthen the windows atop Barnegat Lighthouse began Monday and continued Wednesday, Anthony Iannone of Lacey-based Tri-State Glass and Panel said.

"We're replacing all of thepolycarbonate glazing," he said. "What they had there was all hazed, and you couldn't see through it."

The new product will be ultraviolet- and mar-resistant, which means it will stand up to damage from the sun, flying sand and even wayward birds.

"It's like 50 times stronger than glass would be," Iannone said. "We're putting it around the entire perimeter of the tower."

Tri-State's work crews have been limited to two people who don't suffer from acrophobia.

"You really can't have more than that," Iannone said with a laugh. "We took the guys who were least afraid of heights."

Iannone became involved with the project after his mother-in-law, Rosalie Jordan, saw that the Friends could not a find a local contractor to do the job.

"We stepped up to the occasion," he joked, "all 217 steps."

Barney's new beacon came to Long Beach Island from New Zealand and was paid for through a $15,000 donation from the island's Fraternal Order of Police chapter, Rinaldi said. It is a 100-watt bulb with a Fresnel lens surrounding it for magnification. Ships as far as 21 miles away will be able to see it — the same distance its predecessor shone. Unlike the lighthouse's original beacon, the new one will emit only a pencil-beam of light and will not keep its neighbors up at night.

"It's a straight beam as opposed to the old beam, which was a huge beehive," Rinaldi said. "That intense light is up 162 feet in the air. It's never going to shine in somebody's bedroom."

Still, Rinaldi has fielded some interesting queries since the Friends announced the plan this fall.

"I even got questions from people as far away as Virginia (who) were considering buying a home in Barnegat Light," he said.

His advice to the worried would-be homeowner?

"Look, if you're that concerned about it, I wouldn't buy the house until Jan. 1," he said.

The new light will make one revolution per minute and will flash every 10 seconds. To power it, TDK America of Neptune donated a $1,000 transformer, Rinaldi said.

"We've had a lot of nice people help out in many, many ways," he said.

Barney's hometown mayor, Kirk O. Larson, a former fisherman, said the light will be a welcome sight for returning, sea-weary anglers.

"I don't go fishing anymore, but you'll be able to see that from hopefully 15-20 miles off," Larson said. "You'll see it flashing and say, "Oh, we're almost home.' "

Modern fishing boats are loaded with tracking and global positioning equipment to guide their captains back to port, but the lighthouse will serve as a visual reminder.

"When you're out for a while, for a few days, it's kind of neat," Larson said. "It's still nice to see something, just like the old days."

Barnegat Lighthouse's official relighting will take place at dusk on New Year's Day — not in a raucous, Times Square-esque countdown the night before as one resident requested, Rinaldi said.

"I've been to Times Square on New Year's Eve," he said. "It's no better than being at Barnegat Lighthouse."