People fight to restore the East Broad Top R

YOUR DESCRIPTION HAS REACHED THE LIMIT OF CHARACTERS ALLOWED AND WAS CUT. By: Erin Calandra
HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Railroads were " and still are " an important part of life in central Pennsylvania. They shaped the history of the state and the country. For many who are interested in historic trains, places like the East Broad Top Railroad in Huntingdon County are critical to preserve that bridge to the past.
Huntingdon County houses a historical gem " The East Broad Top Railroad.
It's recognized by the National Park Service as a National Historic Landmark, but what was once a bustling industrial rail turned tourist attraction, is now a silent railroad.
People came from all across the globe to ride these massive, old steam engines.
You can still find a steam engine or two across the country, but experts say you won't find anything like the East Broad Top Railroad, saying it's the last railroad system of its kind still intact. And now, a lot of people are fighting to keep it that way.
"I like to think of it as the Humpty Dumpty story," said Joe Kovalchick, owner of the East Broad Top Railroad. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the king's horses and all the king's men, could get Humpty Dumpty together again."
Kovalchick, an entrepreneur from Indiana County, feels the nursery rhyme best describes to possible future of the railroad.
"If East Broad Top starts to liquidate, it's a one-way show, it's a one-way tour it will never be again," said Kovalchick.
Experts say this is a piece of American history that can't be replaced.
"The East Broad Top is described by the Smithsonian Institute as the best preserved example of a 1900-era facility anywhere in the country," said Historian Lee Rainey.
The operation contains six steam engines, built in the early 1900s, many on site, along with a building that houses forgotten technology.
Rainey said this place is a snapshot of what the railroad and coal industry looked like turn of the century.
This rail was built in 1859

Пікірлер: 26

  • @BalticFilms144
    @BalticFilms1449 жыл бұрын

    Every steam railroad and railroads in general is worth preserving. The only narrow guage line left with steam operations like the EBT would be the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

  • @nicholasmedovich6729
    @nicholasmedovich67292 жыл бұрын

    Update: 16 is nearing completion of her 1472. Mostly repairs and partial replacements and new cistern. 14 will likely need new driving wheel centers along with new tubes and other miscellaneous items. Unknown what the condition of her tender cistern is. 15 most likely needs boiler inspection (should be sound becuase her tube sheets and firebox materials were replaced repaired) new tubes and mostly major running gear rebuilding and replacements. 18 unknown, 17 needs new running gear rebuilding and 12 most likely will be the most expensive project (new tube sheets, firebox, mud ring, smokebox, petticoat pipe, tender cistern etc aka the works

  • @scottfw7169
    @scottfw71694 жыл бұрын

    And here 5 years later, on February 14, 2020, some grand news! There is hope. There is a future!

  • @ItsTrain
    @ItsTrain8 жыл бұрын

    I remember when I was younger, I always wanted to go to the EBT, but now I can't. I hope they reopen this American Railroad attraction soon

  • @Strasburg_Railfaner611
    @Strasburg_Railfaner6112 жыл бұрын

    July 28th 2022 it’s back in operation and locomotive 16 is almost done with its restoration

  • @mattsmocs3281
    @mattsmocs32818 жыл бұрын

    If they get a temporary narrow gauge diesel it can haul freight to get money and the engines can probably be sent to a shop like the Steamtown NHS which does have space to work on another engine even with 2 diesels and a steam engine.

  • @OldsVistaCruiser

    @OldsVistaCruiser

    5 жыл бұрын

    Or Strasburg. They also have a marvelous facility.

  • @williambryant5946
    @williambryant59464 жыл бұрын

    If I was to ever hit the lottery of one of the bigger jackpots, I think I'd have to donate the enough money to get this place running again including all 6 locomotives.

  • @sparky107107
    @sparky1071074 жыл бұрын

    i can get over 100 people there in 2021, May,, but where would all of the people stay , need hotels

  • @Lil_Pennsy
    @Lil_Pennsy3 жыл бұрын

    I would love to go there everyday n help

  • @nicholasmedovich6729
    @nicholasmedovich6729 Жыл бұрын

    1:03 sign that ebt isn’t dead yet.

  • @jerseycentral833
    @jerseycentral8339 жыл бұрын

    If Pennsylvania can find skyscrapers, they could definetly restore this old railroad. This is history on the line here!

  • @countrypaul
    @countrypaul Жыл бұрын

    As of 2020, a new infusion of money and effort is going into the EBT. Tourist trains are running again at Orbisonias/Rockhill Furnace and the line is being reopened south of there. There is also new trackage available to jusr speeders for now south of Robertsdale, where the station is a museum.

  • @gmdick247
    @gmdick2478 жыл бұрын

    I remember growing up going to the E.B.T. every year riding through the woods. I have family that lives right off from the railroad and I would gladly help restore the historical railroad just to add on to my many memories. I miss the sound of the steam engine's whistle. it's pronounced Orb-a-son-yah. I wish while I'm hunting in the woods that I could hear the train roll by.

  • @TheHolyMongolEmpire
    @TheHolyMongolEmpire7 жыл бұрын

    Still abandoned today :(

  • @nicholasmedovich6729

    @nicholasmedovich6729

    2 жыл бұрын

    Not anymore

  • @TheHolyMongolEmpire

    @TheHolyMongolEmpire

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@nicholasmedovich6729 did they open it again?!?!?

  • @countrypaul

    @countrypaul

    Жыл бұрын

    @@TheHolyMongolEmpire - yes! There is new money and new enthusiasm aboard. They are running on the former open section north of Orbisonia and are opening the track to the south as well. Also, they are clearing some track south of Robertsdale, the ultimate goal being connecting the the two parts. I don't know how much further north they'll go from Colgate Grove. And of course the Trolley Museum is operating on the Shade Gap branch.

  • @billyhallman2229
    @billyhallman22298 жыл бұрын

    this was my frist out of town train ride i was only 5 years old the only train rides before i went to east broad top was arcade and attica railroad and the upside down bridge ride

  • @roterakaten636
    @roterakaten6366 жыл бұрын

    Seriously they just put down there tools and left frozen!! Fuck all you need is people at that point if you have the Mills and lathes to do the work which it sounds like they do. There has to be a railroad person with at least 1 million dollars to run that line. But seriously every state should have a steam rail that just travels around the whole State and shows off the cool stuff they have like the sleepy little towns frozen in time and all that. It would be a giant tourism capture. And most people hate Diesel electric engines they don't have any personality to them and there all quiet an just ugly. A steam engine is something that has a personality and it's large and beautiful and made well and just a piece of working art!! They should be preserved and put back to work in some way. And besides we technically don't have to burn fuel in them now days just use good insulation and electrical heating elements. Bam coupled with the generator the train has on its water and fuel car depending on the year it's made you could just have a self powered boiler that needs water to run and can tow 100 tons on no combustion.......

  • @jamesshanks2614
    @jamesshanks26146 жыл бұрын

    It ran freight service until 1956 when their main customer for coal the Pennsylvania railroad dieselized.

  • @OldsVistaCruiser
    @OldsVistaCruiser5 жыл бұрын

    Still asleep in 2019.

  • @the3amigos931
    @the3amigos9319 жыл бұрын

    Joe won't say how much? He want's $70,000,000

  • @garylavinus6270

    @garylavinus6270

    4 жыл бұрын

    Steve Painter I heard more like 8 to 10 million. There is a lot of timber land for sale as well that would drive the number up.