The East Broad Top has finally released information about its upcoming Fall Spectacular. Here's the text of the press release.
-- Lawrence Biemiller
East Broad Top Railroad 2009 Fall Spectacular
Fireworks, music, mixed freight trains, and demonstrations of a stationary steam engine from the 1870s will be among highlights of the East Broad Top Railroad's 2009 Fall Spectacular on October 9-11. The Fall Spectacular—the steam railroad's biggest event of the year—takes place when trees along the historic line are at their most colorful, and it offers a busy schedule of trains and activities to please families and thrill railfans.
Families will especially enjoy the fireworks display, which will take place at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, October 10. The fireworks will cap an evening featuring a steam-powered train at 6:45 p.m. and, five minutes later, a rare evening trip by the railroad's one-of-a-kind 1927 gas-electric motorcar, M-1. An Amish rock-'n'-roll band, the Smick Brothers, will entertain visitors from 8 p.m. until the fireworks begin.
A total of 24 trains will run between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. The narrow-gauge railroad will operate two separate consists—a passenger-only consist and a rare mixed consist with both passenger and freight cars. No. 15, a 1914 Baldwin steam engine, and M-7, a 55-ton General Electric center-cab diesel, will trade consists during the course of both days. In addition to its evening run on Saturday, M-1 will make trips Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 2:45. The 10-mile trip to Colgate Grove and back takes about an hour.
Besides the expanded train schedule on Saturday and Sunday, visitors can also enjoy speeder-car trips on the main line south of Rockhill Furnace and rides on historic streetcars operated by the neighboring Rockhill Trolley Museum. The Friends of the East Broad Top will offer tours of the railroad's roundhouse and machine shops both days. Antiques and crafts dealers and food vendors will be on hand as well.
For railroad buffs and history fans, the action will begin Friday, October 9, with a special photo train and other events. The day starts at 11 a.m., when members of the Friends of the East Broad Top will celebrate the restoration of the stationary steam engine that once powered the railroad's entire machine-shops complex. The engine, which will operate on compressed air, has not been used in more than five decades.
The steam engine is believed to date to about 1870 and to have originally been used at one of the nearby iron furnaces. It was moved to the railroad in 1882 to power a system of overhead shafts from which belts descend to run each machine in the shops. The shops' drill press and wheel lathe will also be demonstrated.
At 2 p.m. the railroad will operate a freight train with multiple runbys for photographers. No. 15 will pull a consist of EBT coal hoppers along with caboose No. 27, which retains its original red paint scheme. Photographers will be dropped off by another train at several points along the line, some of them accessible only by rail. The trip will conclude with a photo runby by the coal train in the railroad's yard, which will be closed to anyone without a ticket for the event. The ticket will also admit photographers to a rare night photo shoot with No. 15 in the yard.
Between the afternoon and evening photo events on Friday, the railroad's 1924 inspection car, M-3, will run to Colgate Grove and back at 5 p.m., accompanied by several of the antique speeder cars, which were used by the railroad's track crews. M-3 will also make a Colgate Grove trip Saturday at 5 p.m.
The East Broad Top, which was constructed from 1872 to 1874, primarily hauled coal but also carried general freight. In addition, it ran twice-daily passenger trains as well as commuter trains for miners. The railroad ceased operations in 1956, when the last of the coal mines on Broad Top Mountain closed, but reopened as a tourist line in 1960. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1964.
The railroad is owned by the Kovalchick family, of Indiana, Pa., and operated by the East Broad Top Railroad Preservation Association. The association's president, Larry Salone, will welcome visitors Saturday and Sunday at noon.
For updated information, visit the railroad's Web site at [
ebtrr.com], or call the station at 814-447-3011.
Schedule
Friday
11:00 a.m.-Shop steam engine demonstration and shop tour
2:00 p.m. - Photographers' Special: Coal train with No. 15, hopper cars, and caboose No. 27
5:00 p.m. - M-3 and speeders run to Colgate Grove
Evening - Photo shoot with No. 15 at one location in the yard (time to be announced)
Saturday and Sunday
9:00 a.m. - Passenger train, No. 15 (Baldwin, 1914)
9:10 a.m. - Mixed train, M-7 (General Electric, 1964)
10:30 a.m. - Passenger train, No. 15
10:40 a.m. - Mixed train, M-7
Noon - Larry Salone, president of the EBT Preservation Association, welcomes visitors
1:00 p.m. - Passenger train, M-7
1:10 p.m. - Mixed train, No. 15
2:30 p.m. - Passenger train, No. 15
2:35 p.m. - Mixed train, M-7
2:45 p.m. - M-1 (J.G. Brill, 1927)
4:00 p.m. - Passenger train, No. 15
5:10 p.m. - M-3 (EBT, 1924) SATURDAY ONLY
6:45 p.m - Passenger train, No. 15 SATURDAY ONLY
6:50 p.m. - M-1 SATURDAY ONLY
Roundhouse and machine-shop tours and speeder-car rides will be available both days. The railroad reserves the right to alter schedules and substitute equipment as operating conditions warrant. All tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
Ticket prices (Adult/Child aged 2-11)
Steam or diesel train, single trip - $20.00/$15.00
All-day train ticket for Saturday, including evening train (does not include M-1 or M-3 trips) - $100.00/$75.00
M-1 (all runs) - $35.00/$35.00
M-3 (all runs) - $25.00/$25.00
Speeder cars, southbound to Route 475 - $5.00/$5.00
Speeder cars, Friday, northbound to Colgate Grove - $15.00/$15.00
Roundhouse and shop tours - $10.00/$10.00
Friday coal train and night photo session - $125.00/$125.00
Night photo session only - $50.00/$50.00
Tickets may be purchased by credit card by calling the station at 814-447-3011. To purchase tickets by mail, send a check or money order made payable to the East Broad Top Railroad Preservation Association, with the memo line marked “Fall Event," along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Please specify the number of tickets, train times, and date, and include a phone number at which you can be reached.
