East Broad Top Railroad back from the dead

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Joined
Apr 5, 2011
Messages
6,090
Location
Baltimore. MD
When I was in Huntingdon last week, I noticed in the local paper that the East Broad Top Railroad was going to go back in service in 2021. I perked up when I saw that, as my wife and I last rode the line in 2010, the year before they stopped running the trains. We splurged for a ride in the first-class office car, which was something else. Alas, the steam engine wasn't running that day, so we were pulled by a diesel. And boy, it was a rough ride, even at our slow speed.

The EBTRR has the distinction of being the only preserved narrow gauge railroad in the east. There are a couple of museum 2-footers in Maine, but they're mostly reconstructed track. The EBTRR was kept running as a tourist line after the coal mines it served shut down in the 1950's. It was bought by a scrap dealer who decided to run it instead of scrapping it. Finally, even with the help of a non-profit volunteer group, the owner decided he couldn't make enough money running trains, so he put it up for sale and stopped running trains in 2011. He let the volunteer group stay on the premises and stabilize buildings and equipment. Now it seems that somebody set up a non-profit foundation and raised enough money to buy the property.

The foundation seems to have a bunch of railroad heavy-hitters on its board, so I think this is a for-real thing:

  • Henry Posner III is chairman of the Iowa Interstate Railroad and of the Railroad Development Corporation, of Pittsburgh. Initially, Mr. Posner will chair the EBT Foundation’s board.
  • Wick Moorman is former chairman and CEO of Norfolk Southern and former CEO of Amtrak. Mr. Moorman will be the foundation’s first president.
  • Bennett Levin is owner of the Juniata Terminal Company, of Philadelphia.
  • Brad Esposito is former assistant general manager of the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, a Genesee & Wyoming, Inc., company, and a longtime member of the Friends of the East Broad Top. Mr. Esposito will be the East Broad Top’s general manager
  • David Brightbill is the longtime office manager of the East Broad Top Railroad and also a longtime volunteer at the Rockhill Trolley Museum. Mr. Brightbill will be the foundation’s treasurer and will continue as the railroad’s office manager.
  • Lawrence Biemiller is a former senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education and a member of the Friends of the East Broad Top board. Mr. Biemiller will be the foundation’s secretary.
  • Jane Sheffield is the executive director of the Allegheny Ridge Corporation, a regional-development agency based in Altoona.
I'm looking forward to going up there when they get things going again, especially if they can get the steam locomotives running with reliable regularity. It always seems that when I finally go visit a heritage railroad, the steam engines aren't running that day. :(
 
On our recent northeast trip we visited the East Broad Top RR located in a remote part of middle PA. @MARC Rider gave a good recap of its history. A couple years after it’s second renaissance, it’s clear the infusion of funds has resulted in great improvements to track, equipment, and restoration of historic shop buildings.

The EBT piggybacked on an order by the White Pass and Yukon for new but historical accurate passenger cars. The EBT got 3 coaches and a combine. They have 5 steam engines, with one now in full time service, one under restoration with plans to restore them all.

The current destination is a wye with a picnic grounds, a few miles north of town. It too has been restored and playground equipment arriving soon. Work is underway to restore track south of town that has slumbered since 1958 and terminated at Robertsdale where coal mines were located. A couple miles will be restored by year end, and within two years extended about 8 miles to a town at the foot of the 2-2.5% grade to Robertsdale.

The shop buildings, on the National Register of Historic Places, have been stabilized. An excellent shop tour will show you what heavy machinery was like at the turn of the 20th century.

It’s about 1.5 hours west of Harrisburg and 2.5 east of Pittsburgh. About half hour from the nearest PA turnpike interchange. Aside from a good BnB next to the station, accomdations are minimal. It’s remote location is why it has survived but makes it tough to get large numbers of visitors.

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I visited the EBT a few times in the 1970s and 1980s.
At the time there was still stuff at Mount Union where the railroad used to interchange with the PRR (now Norfolk Southern) including a pair of standard gauge 0-6-0's locked in an enginehouse. I believe they have since been moved. A lot of freight equipment jsut left here when operations suspended in the 1950's.
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I was always fascinated by the dual gauge turnouts. That would be quite the challenge to build in HO

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Yes, @AmtrakMaineiac, some of those coal cars are still around. A few have been chosen as possible for restoration but they seem pretty far gone.

I asked our tour shop guide why they didn’t rebuild the line a few miles beyond the picnic area to Mt. Union. It’s a sizable town and a stop for the Pennsylvanian. He said the scenery is unremarkable but more importantly some of the land in town is now in private hands and precludes any possibility of trains to downtown and the Amtrak station. Too bad as it would have been a natural for the still operational Brill car to trundle to town for passengers to see the sights or connect to Philly or Pittsburgh.

Interestingly I talked with the fireman on our train. He just moved from working on the Cumbres and Toltec for more than 10 years. He likes keeping his hands dirty firing, but his move was to handle marketing for the EBT. Here he is on top of the tender. Seemed very sharp and enthusiastic. Said he enjoyed talking with Wick Moorman about their plans. Good to see young blood.

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I asked our tour shop guide why they didn’t rebuild the line a few miles beyond the picnic area to Mt. Union. It’s a sizable town and a stop for the Pennsylvanian. He said the scenery is unremarkable but more importantly some of the land in town is now in private hands and precludes any possibility of trains to downtown and the Amtrak station. Too bad as it would have been a natural for the still operational Brill car to trundle to town for passengers to see the sights or connect to Philly or Pittsburgh.
Amtrak doesn't stop at Mt. Union. Th nearest Amtrak stop is Huntingdon, maybe 5 or 10 miles west of Mt. Union. One train in each direction a day, the westbound arrives from Philly at about PM, the eastbound from Pittsburgh at about 10-11 AM. There is absolutely no transportation available in Huntingdon besides private cars, no bus, and not even a taxi service. My daughter went to college in Huntingdon, which is how I know this. Campus security would organize shuttles to get students to and from the train station at term break time.
 
Amtrak doesn't stop at Mt. Union. Th nearest Amtrak stop is Huntingdon, maybe 5 or 10 miles west of Mt. Union. One train in each direction a day, the westbound arrives from Philly at about PM, the eastbound from Pittsburgh at about 10-11 AM. There is absolutely no transportation available in Huntingdon besides private cars, no bus, and not even a taxi service. My daughter went to college in Huntingdon, which is how I know this. Campus security would organize shuttles to get students to and from the train station at term break time.
Huntingdon is a cute little town though. I have only driven there. Huntingdon - Tyrone - Altoona is an interesting drive, tracing the route of the Broadway - errr Pennsylvanian as much as one can.
 
A great relic @AmtrakMaineiac. Pogue is the town where they cleared the right of way and started work to rebuild the RR. We drove there and the old rail is very visible with nice stream and trestle. As mentioned Saltillo is the longer range target. The foundation for the old station is still there and what looks to be a new street sign: EBT Rd.

Since one of our sons lives near Harrisburg, we’ll be back often to check on progress. In the meantime we’ll join the Friends of the EBT foundation which has a lot of good info.

My first EBT visit was in the 60’s during high school when I lived in southeastern PA and a few more over the years including a ride in Orbisonia when it operated in regular service. Nice to see it come back to life.
 
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