Re: EBT Fall Spectacular

Don't look for TEA-21 money for the Orbisonia Shops this year.
Yes, EBT did submit an application to the TEA-21 program for 2.1 million to restore the shops; Gary Landrio of Stone Design participated in crafting the proposal. It was a winner in the selection process, but only $1 million was obligated by the Feds and the state of Pa.
Now TEA-21 is a matching grant program, and the proposal called for the EBT to make an "in-kind" donation of equivalent value by transferring title to the shops to a foundation. However, cutting the amount of money on the federal/state side effectively cut the valuation of the match on the EBT side. Mr. Kovalcheck declined to make the transfer at the new valuation of 1 million rather than 2.1 million.
Thus the proposed transfer of the shops did not occur, and as a result no TEA-21 money was ever released.
All parties continue to talk from time to time, and you may very well see the EBT try again in the next TEA-21 application round.
For a fuller discussion see the URL provided for a thread at Railway Preservation News.