East Broad Top
The East Broad Top was chartered in the 1856. Operation on the line did not really begin until the 1870's. The railroad was used to bring coal from the coal mines to the coal cleaning plant in Mount Union. Mount Union was the interchange point with the Pennsylvania Railroad. The interchange was not a typical interchange, the E.B.T. is narrow gauge and the Pennsy was standard gauge. Freight cars that were destined for somewhere on the E.B.T. would have their trucks taken off and the car would be put on narrow gauge trucks. The East Broad Top ran until 1956 when coal was no longer profitable and the entire railroad was sold to a scrap dealer.
Typically if a railroad is sold to a scrap dealer, its future is pretty much set. The East Broad Top is the exception to that rule. Nick Kovalchick, the scrap dealer saved the railroad, completely intact. In 1960, the town of Orbisonia was celebrating its centennial and asked if a locomotive could be brought out for display. Nick better than that though, he restored two engines and 3 miles of track to run excursions on. After the celebration, people kept coming to the East Broad Top to ride the historic railroad. It was decided to restore another mile of track to Colgate grove and trains have been pulling excursions ever since.
The pictures on this page were taken at the 1997 fall spectacular. I had never been to an event like this and could not believe all the stuff that was going on. It was really a neat feeling to be standing in the middle of the wye at Orbisonia and be able to see a steam locomotive on each section of they wye around me. This first trip sparked an interest in this railroad and an annual pilgrimage to the fall spectacular.
1998 Fall Spectacular
1999 Fall Spectacular
40th Anniversary
2000 Fall Spectacular
2001 Fall Spectacular
2005 Fall Spectacular
Click here to see the East Broad Top's shops from above on Terraserver.
East Broad Top official web site