Re: East Broad Top

On the subject of public involvement in the preservation of the EBT, here is an interesting "what if" scenario from 1964, in the form of a quote from Frank Kyper's article, "The Life and Times of the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company," that appeared in R&LHS Bulletin 110:

"But even as only a shadow of its former self, EBT still has high hopes for future development. The railroad is presently exerting every effort to induce the Commonwealth to construct a gigantic proposed state owned railroad museum to house the Pennsylvania Railroad's Northumberland steam locomotive collection on land it owns in Mount Union. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania would own the facility, but Nick Kovalchick has promised to donate the land (along Route 522 in the borough and in Allenport, adjacent to the presently unused yards and main line), give the two standard gauge 0-6-0's to the museum, reopen the EBT main line for tourist operations all the way into Mount Union, and possibly add a standard gauge third rail all the way to Rockhill Furnace so the PRR engines could be moved to the extensive EBT shops for repairs."

I think the powers that be probably made the right decision in locating the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg rather than Mount Union, at least in terms of maximizing visitor numbers, but wouldn't that have been amazing?

-Philip Marshall