In case you haven't been checking the East Broad Top Web page as regularly as you know you should have, Fall Spectacular events begin this coming Friday with day and evening photo trains, then continue Saturday and Sunday with crowded schedules of runs of every variety. There was a close call this weekend, when a swing pin link in the 15's trailing truck* gave out and M-7 pulled both days' trains. But the engine crew spent all weekend in the roundhouse, and the trailing truck was repaired by the end of this afternoon.
Highlights:
Friday's photos sessions start at 8 a.m., break for lunch, and resume in early afternoon. Most or all of the runbys will be in the yards, and absolutely, positively no one without a ticket will be admitted. The three-hour evening photo session begins at 7 p.m., with Alex Mayes of
Railfan & Railroad magazine lighting the shots. Tickets are $150 for the whole day — nine-plus hours' worth of runbys — or $100 for just the day sessions, $75 for just the evening session. (I saw the 15 in fresh paint in the roundhouse this afternoon — very smart. And the 12 is getting fresh paint, too, in honor of its 100th birthday. So some really handsome photos will be possible.)
Saturday will bring so many runs, in so many configurations, that you'll want to print
a copy of the schedule and keep it handy. A 9 a.m. steam train starts the day, followed by a 9:05 speeder run north to the picnic grove, and the schedule closes with a 9 p.m. night train and a 9:05 p.m. M-3 run. (M-3 is the 1924 track-inspection car with a four-cylinder Nash engine — a great little piece of equipment.) M-1 runs at 1:15 with her original vacuum fuel pump, just restored, taking over from a 1960s electric version. At 2:30, the 15 pulls an extra-long train, and will be followed out the line by M-7 with a freight consist and then by the speeders — that'll be a big entertainment at the wye. At 5 p.m. there's a dinner train, with a $45 ticket and a menu including ham, roast beef, scalloped potatoes, vegetables, pickled eggs, desserts, drinks, and more. Night runs begin at 7:30.
Sunday's schedule is identical to Saturday's, except without the dinner and evening trains. But it gives you a chance to ride everything you couldn't ride Saturday because you were on another run at the same time...
Chris Coleman has already posted an item about the
belt-drive demonstrations in the machine shops (if you haven't watched
the trailer, you should). There will be regular roundhouse and shop tours as well, plus regular speeder runs on the southbound main line. And the Rockhill Trolley Museum will have a full schedule of runs as well.
And did I mention it's leaf season? Just sayin'...
— Lawrence
* It's actually the 14's trailing truck, in case you're keeping score. The 15 is borrowing currently borrowing it.
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Lawrence Biemiller
Washington, D.C.
