ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – Sixty years ago, that quote by East Broad Top Railroad owner Nick Kovalchick signaled the first rebirth of the historic East Broad Top narrow-gauge railroad in central Pennsylvania. It came true again Friday with an announcement that the bulk of the 33-mile line, including six Baldwin steam locomotives, rolling stock, and extensive shops, has been sold to the nonprofit East Broad Top Foundation, Inc., which aims to reopen it for operation in 2021.
Organized by a group of railroad-industry executives and dedicated EBT fans, the foundation plans a number of “soft-opening” events this season, including marking the 60th anniversary of the August 13, 1960, start-up of the railroad’s tourist operation. The group’s goal is to rehabilitate five miles of tourist-era track from Rockhill Furnace to the wye at Colgate Grove, and to restore locomotives and rolling stock to permit steam operations to resume next year.
Speaking to a crowd of some 250 people, leaders of the group promised that “The torch having been passed, the East Broad Top is back.” The sale was completed Feb. 8.
Built in the 1870s, the three-foot-gauge line hauled primarily coal until the abandonment of local mines in 1956. When EBT closed that year, it was the last remaining narrow-gauge common-carrier railroad in the Eastern United States. It was bought by the Kovalchick Salvage Co. of Indiana, Pa., which in 1960 reopened a segment for tourist service in connection with a local bicentennial celebration. Under the Kovalchick family’s watch, including that of Nick’s son Joseph Kovalchick, EBT ran as a tourist railroad for a remarkable 52 seasons, closing at the end of 2011.
His father, Joe Kovalchick said Friday, went to 13 banks before finding one that would agree to loan him money for the down payment in 1956. Not having a toy trains as a child was the motivation for Nick purchasing the railroad, and when he bought it, he wanted to see it run again.
The sale ends decades of speculation and uncertainty over the future of the iconic line, a National Historic Landmark that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the 1990s, Preservation Pennsylvania added EBT to its “Pennsylvania at Risk” list, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation did likewise, placing the railroad on its list of most endangered historic sites.
Among those who worked to organize the foundation were Lawrence Biemiller, longtime East Broad Top historian and frequent guide for shop and roundhouse tours; David Brightbill, EBT’s office manager; Brad Esposito, 20-year employee of the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad and new general manager of the EBT; and Stephen Lane, entrepreneur, Amtrak employee, and volunteer at the Everett Railroad.
The foundation will be governed by a 10-member board. Three members represent the group’s founders, three represent the railroad and presentation industry, three represent outside or community interests, and one member will be named from the Kovalchick family.
Principal backers of the foundation – and the three industry board members – are:
- Bennett Levin, a retired entrepreneur and electrical and mechanical engineer who heads the Juniata Terminal Co., which owns and operates two historic former Pennsylvania Railroad Electro-Motive Division E8-model diesel locomotives and a small fleet of three private passenger cars. He has been involved in the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg, Pa.
- Charles “Wick” Moorman, retired chairman and CEO of Norfolk Southern Railroad and former CEO of Amtrak. It was he who instituted NS’s “Steam for the 21st Century” program that employed steam locomotives borrowed from museums to pull public and employee specials. In addition, he instituted NS’s “heritage fleet” of 20 modern diesel locomotives painted in the historic colors of railroads that were predecessors of NS.
- Henry Posner III, chairman of Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh. Through RDC, he oversees the Iowa Interstate Railroad and railroads in Europe, and formerly operated railroads in South America, Central America, and Africa. The Iowa Interstate owns two steam locomotives that are used occasionally for fund-raising purposes for first responders.
The three founding members of the board will be Biemiller, Brightbill, and Esposito. Of the community members, only one has been named thus far, Jane Sheffield, executive director of the Altoona-based Allegheny Ridge Corp., an economic development and heritage tourism agency.
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — A non-profit foundation has purchased Pennsylvania’s storied East Broad Top Railroad and plans several events on the railroad in 2020, with the aim of resuming regular operation in 2021.
The EBT Foundation Inc., backed by prominent rail-industry figures and longtime East Broad Top fans, will own approximately 28 miles of railroad, as well as the narrow gauge line’s shops, rolling stock, and equipment. The purchase includes right-of-way from the south end of the concrete arch bridge over the Aughwick River below Mount Union to the road crossing in Wood Township.
The East Broad Top is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“This is the best possible outcome for the railroad, which has been in my family for two generations,” said Joseph Kovalchick, whose father, Nick Kovalchick, purchased the East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Co. after its coal mines closed in 1956. “It is with a combination of pride and relief that we pass the torch in its second reincarnation.” The Kovalchicks will continue to own coal-company property that had been jointly owned with the railroad.
“When my father bought the company, it was never his intention to scrap the railroad. At the time he was the only one to stand for the EBT, and his role in the history books is assured. My generation has struggled to balance the need to preserve this national treasure with running it as a business, and I take pride in our role in its survival. But it is clear that a for-profit business model is not sustainable. Our faith in the new model is reflected in both the sale and the Kovalchick family’s ongoing role on the board of the new non-profit.”
Brad Esposito, a 20-year veteran of Genesee & Wyoming’s Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, led the effort to purchase the EBT, along with longtime EBT enthusiasts David Brightbill, Lawrence Biemiller, and Stephen Lane. Esposito will become the East Broad Top’s general manager.
Backers include three rail industry and preservation heavyweights: Wick Moorman, former chairman and CEO of Norfolk Southern and former CEO of Amtrak; Henry Posner III, a former Conrail manager who is chairman of the Iowa Interstate Railroad and the Railroad Development Corp., of Pittsburgh; and Bennett Levin, a retired mechanical and electrical engineer who owns the Juniata Terminal Co., which operates two Pennsylvania Railroad E8 diesel locomotives and three private cars.
Esposito says the EBT Foundation has a three-part mission: to preserving and operating the East Broad Top as a steam railroad; to educating visitors about the role of railroads in local and national history; and, to promote local and regional tourism and economic growth.
“The East Broad Top is a unique national treasure unmatched anywhere in the United States,” says Esposito. “It has been impressively preserved for over 60 years by the Kovalchick family. We are excited to pick up the torch and ensure that the railroad is preserved for future generations.
“Our close partners will be the volunteers of the Friends of the East Broad Top. They have contributed countless hours of work and significant amounts of money to help preserve the historic fabric of the EBT since 1983.
“Also, we look forward to working with the Rockhill Trolley Museum.” The all-volunteer trolley museum dates to 1960 and operates over the former Shade Gap Branch of the EBT.
“The East Broad Top is a remarkable survivor from the age of steam railroading,” says Moorman. “I’m delighted to have the chance to be a part of its revival, both for the preservation of such an important part of our industrial heritage, and for the economic benefits that it will provide to an area of Pennsylvania that is so closely linked to the railroad industry.”
Levin notes that the EBT runs through a bucolic landscape almost unchanged since the early 1900s. “The railroad’s historic fabric is an important component of the region’s industrial archaeology, and the educational possibilities here are almost limitless.”
The new organization’s advisors include Linn Moedinger, former president of the Strasburg Rail Road — one of the most successful tourist railroads in the U.S. — and Rod Case, a partner at the consulting firm Oliver Wyman who leads its railway practice. Among the organizations providing support is the Allegheny Ridge Corp., which manages the region’s state-designated Heritage Area. The corporation “is thrilled to participate in the rebirth of this great asset,” says Astride McLanahan, a longtime board member of the organization. “The EBT is a jewel in the Allegheny Ridge Heritage Area and its revitalization will bring economic opportunity to this rural community.”
Built from 1872 to 1874 to haul coal to a new iron furnace in the center of the state, the 33-mile-long East Broad Top survived the collapse of the local iron industry at the turn of the 20th century because the top-quality coal it carried had found other markets, thanks in part to close cooperation with the Pennsylvania Railroad. When the last of the coal mines closed in 1956, the East Broad Top was purchased by the Kovalchick Salvage Co. of Indiana, Pa. Despite being in the scrap business, the company left the railroad intact and in 1960 reopened a portion for steam-powered tourist trains that proved widely popular.
The 3-foot gauge railroad is the only surviving original narrow gauge line east of the Rocky Mountains.The railroad’s shops complex, which dates to the 1880s and was greatly expanded from 1905 to 1907, is among the most complete early-20th-century industrial facilities anywhere in the U.S.
Still in the railroad’s roundhouse in Rockhill Furnace are six steam locomotives built for the EBT by Philadelphia’s Baldwin Locomotive Works between 1911 and 1920. They share the building with the unique M-1 gas-electric, constructed at the railroad in 1927 with plans and parts from Philadelphia’s J.G. Brill Company, a leading streetcar manufacturer, and Westinghouse Electric. Other EBT equipment includes passenger cars believed to date to the 1890s and numerous steel freight cars built in the EBT shops. The East Broad Top was the only American narrow gauge to convert to an all-steel freight car fleet.
Remarkably, track remains in place over nearly the entire 33-mile main line, which connected the coal mines in Robertsdale to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Mount Union. The former PRR main line is now Norfolk Southern’s east-west route between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.
“The East Broad Top Railroad is a unique historic asset that is a national treasure representing our area’s rich railroad heritage,” says state Sen. Judy Ward, who represents southern Huntingdon County. “The sale of this railroad to this group of longtime EBT enthusiasts who are committed to preserving and operating it as a steam railroad is very exciting news for the region because it preserves this irreplaceable treasure for future generations while opening up significant tourism and economic development opportunities.”
Says Posner: “Aug. 13, 2020, will be the 60th anniversary of the East Broad Top’s first reopening, which took place during the bicentennial of the founding of what became the ‘twin boroughs’ of Orbisonia and Rockhill Furnace. This was an era of revised expectations in the face of the decline of the railroad industry nationwide. At that time Nick Kovalchick could not have imagined the possibility of reopening the entire line, but fortunately our industry’s renaissance has helped create an environment in which this important and audacious project can succeed. We are honored to follow in the footsteps of two generations of the family that has made this all possible.”
“This will be a monumental undertaking,” says Esposito, “and I encourage anyone interested in helping us to join the Friends of the East Broad Top and come work on buildings, track and equipment.”
The railroad’s new website can be found at eastbroadtop.com.
I lived in Orbisonia 1954-57. The EBT was still in commercial operation, about one train a week as I recall. I played on and around a trestle in town between Orbisonia and Rockhill Furnace, I don’t recall the name of the stream. Does anyone know whether the old coke ovens are still there? I am excited to be able to come back to see it in operation next year. I have been back only once since ’57 and everything was shut down at that time. My love of steam trains comes from my Dad who worked on the PRR in 1916-20.
Very exciting news, indeed! EBT has been on my “bucket list” of tourist railroads to visit for a number of years now.
Had to add this: About 20 years ago my brothers and I all avid cyclists, stopped at the Orbisonia shops and parked our van while bike riding in the surrounding hills. It was an epic ride,; almost got lost and had to rely on a DeLorme page ripped out of an atlas to get back. When we returned, they were putting an engine away for the evening, and the three of us assisted in rotating the “armstrong” turntable. Have pictures somewhere, darned if I can find them…
Anna, If you look at Google maps for PA 944 ( Pogue Rd) you can see where the track passed in front of what is now Southern Huntingdon County High. At the entrance to it, there still is track that was heading to the mine area. The bridge over Aughwick Creek is still there on the other side of the school. At Three Springs It crossed Church Street just up from the ball field. Continue on up to where PA 655 meets 829 ( S Oak Street, Saltillo ) and next to EBT Station Road and Railroad Street where it crossed the North Spring Branch.The line further on has been gone for years. It is the track that passed the on to Robertsdale that was the major part of the line.
Got it. Thanks.
AH
Mister Marquette:
OK… there is a river in Mount Union (looking at Google Earth) but I can’t get the name of it. Then (following the line) there is Allenport, Aughwick, Shirleysburg, Orbisona, and Rockhill Furnace. I don’t see where the line crosses the Aughwick River. Between which two of the above listed points is the concrete bridge?
Thank you.
AH
The northern eight miles were sold a few years ago. AFAIK the non profit will own from the concrete bridge over the Aughwick south.
http://railfan.com/orbisonia-obsession/
Mister Marquette:
Google Earth does not always tell the straight story. But it is reasonable if not perfect photoreconnaissance. You can see quite clearly, for example, in Mount Union where the third rail (narrow gauge third rail) ends.
Back in Rockhill Furnace it shows an extension south but then everything disappears. However from what you are telling me there is a great deal more beyond that, not visible because of the overhead canopy. From which I conclude – and correct me if I am wrong, the bulk of the railroad is south of Rockhill Furnace.
As long as the ROW is legally intact, rebuilding the track is simply a question of money. It would be interesting to know where the 8 miles not included in the sale are located.
Oh – and thank you.
The above comments are generic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. When visiting Universal Studio ask for Babs.
If this partnership can pull this off, it will be wonderful! My father took me to EBT several times in my younger days. I remember the little roadside signs on U.S. 522 pointing the way.
Being from PA this is just awesome news.
Anna – read the comment by CTJACKS on this page of the RPN discussion forum. He walked the EBT south of Orbisonia. Basically there are 2 rails remaining plus over 60 years of tree/bush growth.
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44199&start=90
ANNA the track is mostly in place to Alvan. The original main line was about 33 miles I believe about 25 miles is included in this sale. I believe the mines were mostly on the southern end of the line.
The trolley museum is on EBT land near the Rockhill yards.
The tourist era run was north to a wye at Shirleysburg.
This track I’m sure will need work for train use but should be relatively minimal (lots of ties) .
The track south from Rockhill to the rt 924 crossing had been used for speeders not terribly long ago. The new group hopes to extend the usable trackage, but really the most important thing is that it remains together as one piece and is preserved.
Much like your disclaimer I’m sure there are errors in the above, but believed to be generally true.
Great news!
I am nowhere near the East Broad Top so someone please help me out here. Looking at it on Google Earth it looks like there is three-foot trackage to Mount Union, and that is where the gondolas are parked. A little further on there is Aughwick and then Shirlesburg and then Orbosona and then Rockhill Furnace, where the trolley museum is located. There is trackage to Groghan Pike (it sez) and then it stops.
Where was the mine located. And what is that quarry, it looks like off Highway 2017?
How much of the trackage was included in the sale, and what connection (if any) and/or what relationship (if any) does EBT have with the Trolley Museum?
How much of the trackage is viable, and is there any chance for the rest to be rebuilt?
EBT is a long way away from Durango but it is still narrow gauge and I would like to visit it once, on a bucket list.
Maybe someday.
The above comments are generic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.
Such great news to hear. There’s several steam locomotive heritage groups looking for track to run on. It would have been a shame to loose the EBT, a complete operation from roundhouse, maintenance to it’s own railway to run on. With all the steam locomotives being refurbished nationwide, I kept hope EBT would be rescued from scraping. I say Thank You to all involved.
The East Broad Top Preservation Association owns north of the Aughwick Creek bridge. East Broad Top Connecting Railroad is filed to operate north to the Norfolk Southern interchange.
Great news. There are some real heavyweight railroaders involved in the rebirth of the East Broad Top.
Minor correction:
RAILS may lie over the entire EBT route (save for a couple places where people have pushed/pulled rails aside from their driveways or access roads), but to portray it as “track” is a bit of a misnomer when ties that haven’t been replaced for 70+ years except for some on the operating segment have “returned to nature.”
In effect, virtually the entire railroad needs to be rebuilt from scratch, and that even includes much of the railroad where trains operated past 1960. (Ask anyone, like me, that walked in the 2000s on the fill near the Runk Road overpass–whose abutments are also in critical need of repair.)
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!!! Many, many thanks to the Kovalchick Family for their stewardship and support of this national treasure over the past 65 years and for transferring this unbelievable asset to a vet worthy successor! Best of luck to the new owner.
This is truly good news. It will be great to travel the rails of this treasure once again. This is an incentive to want to support another steam project less than 150 miles away, that of getting the C&O 1309 running ASAP.
I suppose north of the Aughwick River bridge is currently owned by East Broad Top Connecting, at least for now?
Wonderful news after 64 years of waiting and wishing it would really run again.
Sounds like the best of the best team and hope they include track work for volunteer as additional incentive, like the success that WW&F obtains. Don’t worry about Runk Road as the driveway was relocated to the north and the bridge is closed. The Pogue Bridge will be the biggest challenge.
Wonderful news indeed! I may make a trip there next year!
Kudos to the team!
What wonderful news!!! Enough to start planning a road trip to PA next year. I wish my grandfather who took me there in 1961 could be here to see it again. Many thanks to all involved in saving this piece of Americana!