Wednesday, May 25, 2022

the revival of the East Broad Top and it's magnificent M-1 Brill gas-electric motorcar, 1882 coach No. 8, and a round house full of six of Baldwin 2-8-2s (1911-1920)


the self-sufficient, coal-hauling narrow gauge railroad built and maintained its rolling stock, with 22 miles of track, a work shop complex that dates to 1873, and a station in Rockhill Furnace, Pa. 

Brad Esposito kicked off an unlikely revival of the East Broad Top in 2020, the oldest extant narrow-gauge line in the country.

He was able to bring everything together to awaken this Rip van Winkle of a railroad: financial backing and unwavering support from big names in the industry, because of his solid business plan based on turning the EBT into a nonprofit able to tap millions of dollars in state and federal funding. 

Plus, importantly, a dream team of staffers perfectly suited to their roles rebuilding locomotives, repairing track, drawing visitors, and cataloging oodles of documents dating to the railroad’s beginnings 150 years ago.

I heavily recommend you look at the boxcars and passenger cars, even two 1920  cabooses https://eastbroadtop.com/about/equipment/passengercars/


there are 4 1882 passenger cars, and 4 flat top cars from 1916



they also have tank cars, box cars, hoppers, https://eastbroadtop.com/about/equipment/freightcars

The first priority was to rebuild track between Rockhill Furnace and the Colgate picnic grove, where the railroad operated from 1960 to 2011.

Next will be the work to reopen the line to the historic towns of Three Springs, Saltillo, Robertsdale, and beyond.















The roundhouse was built in 1882, making it one of the oldest, still-in-use roundhouses in the country.

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