A few weeks back Nevin posted basics about the East Broad Top's June 5 opening-day celebrations, which kick off the EBT's celebration of its 50th year of tourist service. But in case you've been itching to see the press release, it's pasted below.
The opening-day highlight -- besides the unusual M-1 runs, the speeder trips all the way to Colgate Grove and back -- will be the 7 p.m. dinner train, which as far as anyone can remember is the first the EBT's ever run. The cost is $35 ($50 for first class), and reservations must be made by June 1.
One other season tidbit: The railroad plans to run steam for this year's Santa trains, which I believe will run the weekend after Thanksgiving and also the weekend after that. This will be the first time since the end of the fabled Winter Spectaculars in the 1981 that steam has been scheduled to run in cold weather at the EBT.
-- Lawrence
The press release:
East Broad Top Railroad
Marks 50 Years as a Historic Attraction
On June 5, a brief morning ceremony and a busy day of special trains will kick off the East Broad Top Railroad's 50th season as one of Pennsylvania's most historic attractions. The celebration's highlight will be a steam-powered 7 p.m. train carrying riders through the rolling countryside of southern Huntingdon County to a catered dinner at the railroad's Colgate Grove.
The dinner train—believed to be the EBT's first ever—will be powered by No. 15, a 1914 Baldwin steam locomotive that will also pull the day's other passenger trains. The railroad's 1927 gas-electric car, M-1, will make two round trips during the day, and fans of the line's antique gas-powered track-maintenance cars, known as speeders, will be able to ride them all the way to Colgate Grove and back. M-3, a restored 1924 inspection car that has a rare four-cylinder Nash engine, will also make a round trip to the grove. In addition, tours of the railroad's historic roundhouse and machine shops will be available throughout the afternoon.
The dinner at the grove will be catered by Family Traditions Lighthouse, of Chambersburg, Pa., and will offer a Pennsylvania Dutch buffet, with roast chicken, baked ham, and roast beef as entrees. Coach tickets for the dinner train are $35 (meal included), while tickets for children age 2-12 are $25. In the parlor car Orbisonia, once the private car of the EBT's presidents, special appetizers will be served on the way to grove, and coffee and pastries will be offered on the way back. Parlor-car tickets are $50. After the evening train's return, a slide and video presentation covering the EBT's history since 1960 will take place in Rockhill Furnace. Dinner-train reservations must be made by June 1.
Special Commemorative Anniversary tickets will be available for purchase June 5 and 6 only. Tickets are $25.00 and include a daylight steam-train ride, a speeder ride southbound to Route 475, a roundhouse and shop tour, a souvenir hat, and a chance to win a framed EBT print.
The 33-mile-long East Broad Top, the only surviving narrow-gauge steam railroad east of the Rockies, operated its first trains in 1873 over rails only three feet apart (standard gauge is 4' 8½"). It carried chiefly Broad Top Mountain coal, but it also transported other freight and ran daily passenger trains, including commuter trains for coal miners. After the railroad closed in 1956, it was purchased by the Kovalchick family of Indiana, Pa., and in 1960 it began running steam-powered excursion trains on a five-mile portion of the line.
A National Historic Landmark since 1964, the EBT is famous for its Baldwin steam locomotives, its antique passenger and freight equipment, and its unparalleled machine-shop complex. The railroad is now operated by the nonprofit East Broad Top Railroad Preservation Association.
Speakers for the morning ceremony have not yet been announced, but at least two of the people expected to attend have a 50-year association with the EBT. Joe Kovalchick was a teenager when his father, Nick, bought the railroad in 1956. And Stanley Hall, the general manager since 1989, was hired as a painter in May of 1960, three days after graduating from high school.
The railroad's 2010 operating season will bring a few schedule additions, including trains on Monday, July 5, and Monday, September 6; trains on Halloween; and steam-powered Santa trains after the end of the regular operating season. Among other highlights will be the second Central Pennsylvania Ragtime Festival, June 18-20; Community Appreciation Day and Civil War Weekend, August 14-15; and the EBT Fall Spectacular, October 8-10.
Regularly scheduled trains run at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday from June through October, with round trips taking a little over an hour. Regular fares are $13 for adults and $8 for children 2-12; children younger than 2 ride free. Caboose and parlor-car fares are slightly higher. Speeder cars make a two-mile round trip over the southbound main line for $2 per person. Tours of the roundhouse and shops are available most days for $8 per person.
The EBT is also offering a season pass good for a coach seat on any regular train; a pass costs $100 if purchased before June 5 and $125 thereafter. Season passes are not transferable and are not good during the Fall Spectacular or on special runs.
For more information, visit the railroad's Web site:
ebtrr.com
--
Lawrence Biemiller
Washington, D.C.
