The hiss of steam. The smell of coal smoke. The blaring of the horn. All are in the air again. The East Broad Top Railroad (EBT) is back on track.
In February, “Number 16” emerged from the repair shop after 67 years in mothballs, ready to resurrect the sights and sounds of narrow-gauge steam railroading. It’s one of six steam locomotives in the roundhouse of the Pennsylvania-based line, the only original narrow-gauge railroad now operating east of the Rocky Mountains.
EBT no longer delivers iron, coal, and limestone as it did, beginning in the 1870s until changing economic conditions forced the line’s closure in 1956. Four years later, a merciful scrap dealer named Nick Kovalchick reopened the steam line to the public and kept it chugging until 2011. Now, the East Broad Top Foundation, a group that includes seasoned railroad executives who purchased the line in 2020, aims to entertain a growing number of visitors, educate them about the heyday of steam, and provide a sustainable jump-start to Central Pennsylvania’s economy….