For a fifth straight year, the revival of the much-loved narrow gauge East Broad Top Railroad in Pennsylvania has made Trains News Wire’s year-end Top 10.
The rebirth of this 33-mile-long coal-hauler turned preservation tourist railroad began in 2020 with the formation of the nonprofit EBT Foundation, Inc. by industry leaders Henry Posner III, Wick Moorman and Bennett Levin. The group bought the majority of the property from the Kovalchick family, which had rescued the railroad after it closed as a common carrier in 1956. A 4½-mile segment operated as a seasonal steam tourist road from 1960 to 2011, achieving National Historic Landmark status along the way.
The Foundation’s work has been accelerated by the Friends of the East Broad Top, Inc., an auxiliary nonprofit that has provided grants and volunteer labor to EBT since 1982, repairing and restoring buildings, rolling stock and track.
The role of the Foundation is threefold: Getting the railroad back into operation by restoring regularly scheduled steam passenger service, including opening EBT’s historic 1900-era machine shops for regular public tours; pursuing public and private grants to underwrite capital projects; and coordinating labor and fundraising work with the Friends.
Even during a shutdown from 2011 to 2020, the Friends continued to work on the property despite the railroad’s then-cloudy future. With the arrival of the Foundation, Friends membership has nearly tripled, from about 800 to 2,200, and its fundraising success has gone into overdrive. Each year, the group exceeds its fund-drive goal by many tens of thousands of dollars, and last June it announced that it had raised more than $1 million since 2020.
Under General Manager Brad Esposito, EBT restored regularly scheduled service and reopened the historic tourist-era line to Colgate Grove in 2021; acquired four new-built passenger cars in 2022; restored EBT 2-8-2 Mikado engine No. 16 (Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1916) in 2023; and rebuilt and reopened part of its main line south, track that hasn’t seen a regular train since 1956, in 2024. During the year, Foundation Chairman Posner reaffirmed the goal of reopening the remaining dormant part of the southern main line 20 miles through mountainous territory to reach the former mining town of Robertsdale. This section includes EBT’s largest bridge (a 275-foot-long steel span over Aughwick Creek at the village of Pogue), two tunnels and a horseshoe curve.
Other achievements in 2024 include the Foundation and the FEBT jointly starting a “Young Easties” program to introduce teenagers interested in railroading to EBT; and winning a $1.6 million state grant to rehabilitate two bridges on the southern main line.
Jonathan Smith, EBT’s director of sales and marketing, said the line handled 30,000 riders and tour visitors during the year on 130 operating days. This included visits from the conventions of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, National Railway Historical Society, Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, and National Narrow Gauge Convention.
More than 1,500 students visited during school field trips, Smith said, and the railroad added or expanded special theme and holiday events such as music-and-dining runs. Also, docents led 280 people on site tours, among them 3-hour extended tours of the shops, master mechanic’s tours of the roundhouse and tours of the archives.
In addition, the EBT Archives and Special Collections staff, led by archivist Julie Rockwell, opened an office in Mount Union, Pa., the former northern terminus of the line at its junction with the Norfolk Southern, Harrisburg-Pittsburgh main line.
Over the year, the Friends group expanded its presence at Robertsdale, enhancing its museum and the EBT station there, offering railbike and handcar rides and walking tours of the mine ruins.
Andy Van Scyoc, president of the Friends group, told News Wire that 2024 “has been yet another banner year, from fundraising success to new [walking] trail surface and museum displays in Robertsdale, to 1½ miles of track built . . .. As successful as 2024 has been, 2025 promises to be even better for FEBT and our ever-strengthening partnership with the EBT Foundation.” Coming up, he said, are groundbreaking for the re-construction of Saltillo station, more track renewal, and continuing development at the Robertsdale site, including archaeological excavation of the ruins of the EBT enginehouse there.
Continuing progress on trackage
It’s the trackwork on the reopened main line that has both created and sparked much enthusiasm among EBT admirers over the last year, because it shows tangible progress toward the expansion Posner reaffirmed.
The Foundation’s full-time track crew consists of foreman Henry Long and Galen Covert, who plan and coordinate projects ahead of volunteer workdays. A gang of FEBT members, led by Gene Tucker, numbering up to a dozen at a time, typically worki one or two days a week, as well as at other times.
Over the last seven months, members of the combined crew extended usable track more than a mile from the south end of EBT’s yard and shops at its headquarters town of Rockhill Furnace, Pa., reopening two public grade crossings in the process
In October, EBT ran a charter special over this section for the Friends, saying that since the group had paid for the materials and donated most of the labor, it should be the first to ride on it.
By early December, the crew had reached the edge of a third crossing — State Route 994. From here, the work takes on a high-visibility, high-profile flavor. Within the next mile, the track parallels the busy highway, passing through the front yard of the local high school (including two more grade crossings) and over the soon-to-be-restored Pogue Bridge, the setting for many iconic ’50s scenes captured by photographers Phil Hastings, John Krause and others.
Shortly beyond lies the Pogue passing siding and a former general store that served as a contract agency for EBT ticket sales. That will likely be the first place to which revenue trains can travel and reverse on the southern main line.
It’s still another 6 miles of work to Saltillo, the near-term goal of restoration (to be reconstructed there: station and water tank, both of which the Friends have committed to fund, and a wye). For context, the 9-mile stretch from Rockhill to Saltillo is exactly twice the distance EBT now operates its scheduled trains running north to Colgate Grove.
Previous News Wire coverage:
East Broad Top starts rebuilding track south of Rockhill Furnace, March 14, 2024
Friends of EBT debuts ‘Young Easties,’ May 1, 2024.
Friends of EBT reaches $1 million in donations since 2020, June 6, 2020.
East Broad Top reopens two public grade crossings on dormant main line, Aug. 11, 2024.
News photo: A first at East Broad Top, Oct. 6, 2024.
EBT reopens more track; chairman confirms full-restoration goal, Oct. 8, 2024
East Broad Top wins $1.6 million state grant to restore two bridges, Nov. 4, 2024.
