Orbisonia was one of the sites proposed to house the Railroad Museum of PA. EBT offered to dual gauge the RR to be able to run the collection.
Strassburg was chosen for the RR Museum of Pa due to its easier accessability (not in the middle of no where), added attractions (Amish country), and closeness to the big population centers.
The B&O RR museum is closer to Washington, Baltimore and Philly than EBT. Strassburg (both the Strassburg RR and RR Museum of PA) is closer than EBT. Both of these have comparitively large advertising budgets.
With the average Joe not knowing the difference between a K-27 and a Y6B, Steamtown (much denigrated here) has a better advertising angle to the east coast. Why should they travel out to the back woods where there are no McDonalds when the east coast convienences are nearby Strassburg, and the B&O RR Museum, etc.
I think that the basic need of the EBT is advertising $$$$. It can be a living museum as good as Strassburg but it is little known outside of railroad circles. Members of my family who lived in Harrisburg (3 odd hours away) and who worked for the PRR for 30-40 years never heard of the EBT before I mentioned it to them but had heard of the other museums mentioned above.
Just as the C&TS needs more advertising to get people interested in coming and has competition with the better known D&SNG, the EBT fights for recognition against better known places also.
One other item to consider, not only is the EBT fighting for recreation $$$ against other RR museums, but also museums like the Smithsonian that dot the east coast. Yes there are alot more people close to the EBT but there is alot more competition fot the same tourist $$$
