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East Broad Top Celebrates 60 Years As Tourist Line

Temporary North End of the Line: The East Broad Top 60th Anniversary excursions operated one mile over recently ballasted trackage. The diesel powered excursions ended at the grade crossing at Enyart Road in Shirleysburg, Pa. The excursion train is shown at the temporary north end of operation Friday, August 14, 2020. Photo by James Benetzky

East Broad Top Celebrates 60 Years As Tourist Line

by Alex Mayes

To mark the 60th anniversary of its opening as a tourist railroad, the East Broad Top Railroad held a three-day celebration August 13-15, 2020. The event also celebrated the purchase of the railroad by the EBT Foundation. The original East Broad Top was a three-foot gauge common carrier which hauled primarily coal from central Pennsylvania to a connection with Pennsylvania Railroad in Mount Union, Pa. Due to declining revenue, the EBT was shut down in 1956 and was purchased by the Kovalchick Salvage Company, whose owner, Nick Kovalchick, recognized the significance of this incredible 19th century railroad and decided to preserve it rather than scrap it. In 1960 the EBT came back to life as a tourist railroad, hauling passengers aboard steam-powered trains from the Orbisonia station to Colgate Grove, 4.5 miles to the north…

East Broad Top

Mikado 17 is coupled to vintage freight cars in the Orbisonia yard on August 12, 2020. Alex Mayes photo


October 2020Read the rest of this article in the October 2020 issue of Railpace Newsmagazine!

This article was posted on: September 15, 2020