Anyone who has been to the Aughwick Valley will never forget it. The last thing it needs is a McDonalds and all sorts of modern tourist trappings. The EBT is one of the last true threads remaining from the fabric of the Southwest Pennsylvania iron and coal age. It is just as important as Williamsburg, Mystic Seaport or Old Sturbrige Village in preserving America's industrial past.
Several years ago there was a lot of activity at the state and federal level to preserve and interpret the iron and coal history of Southwest Pennsylvania. Some of this effort included the Railroader's Memorial Museum at Altoona. EBT was targeted in all of this, but I don't know what happened, or if any of this activity translated into a cohesive interpretive program.
In the past the Kovalchicks have done this country an enormous service by saving such a valuable part of our common heritage. But, in recent years they have seemed curiously paralyzed in terms of what to do with their little gem. It is my impression that most real efforts to transfer their EBT assets into a well funded public arena have met with enough resistance that all these efforts have failed. I am sure the Kovalchicks are not all to blame for these outcomes.
The EBT is not for tourists or other casual dreams of running steam trains. The EBT is the one remaining icon of an industrial culture that exists nowhere else in the world. It is a crime that all the high powered historical organizations in the East cannot find some common ground that recognizes the incredible, almost crushing contribution the Kovalchicks have made to this little railroad's history while, at the same time, slowly and methodically building a program that can save these irreplaceable assets and find acceptance amongst the Kolvachicks too.
I remember the EBT's slightly tarnished image from my visits in the early 1980's. I was so dumbfounded by what I saw I almost quit my new job at the Skinner Engine Company in Erie to go to work for Stanley Hall. I could not bear to see it now. But, If you have never seen it before and you always wondered how America lived and worked in the steam era, see it while you can. If the EBT disappears the very last vestige of the American steam adventure will disappear with it.
Bill Petitjean
