"Word on the "street" was"

I think someone done bumped their head

Patience, Minions.............

Your patience will soon be rewarded !!!

Ross Rowland

When this this year's edition of the rumor began. my lovely granddaughter, my son-in-law, and a colleague of hers spent an entire Friday morning coffee war-gaming it. We came up with two reasonable possibilities, neither of which I will discuss. Brother Harper was about number four on the list of two and though I would be pleasantly surprised I don't really expect it. I have a very different expectation - only because when the subject came up an old acquaintance looked at the ceiling and began discussing her grandchildren...

No matter how reasonable any of the speculation may be please remember that it is still about eight hundred thousand light years away from somebody handing somebody else a cheque.

GME
(Who might be planning a trip to Colorado by way of Orbisonia anyway.)

The East Broad Top Railroad has been sold to the nonprofit EBT Foundation.

Details can be found at the EBT Foundation's website at eastbroadtop.com And the friends of the East broad top website at febt.org .

Clickable Links:
East Broad Top
and
Friends of the East Broad Top (FEBT)


The press release is also posted on the NGDF:
EBT: Nonprofit Buys East Broad Top Railroad, Plans to Renovate and Reopen

Further comments and background:

https://www.facebook.com/BaltimoreNRHS/ ... ?__tn__=-R

This could end up being as big for rail preservation as the volunteers who re-opened the Talyllyn in Wales in the 50's, the preservation of the DSNG, C&T and Nevada Northern, or UP's work on 4014... buckle up this is going to be wild.

From the press release, "An all-weather fire-suppression system will be installed in the historic machine shops and roundhouse..." This is something that I've wanted to see for a very long time.

The comparison to Wales is apt.

With the Everett already running a first class heritage line and the EBT coming back, you have half the pieces for a tourism destination. If the Railroaders Museum can get the Altoona facility back in top shape, steam the K4 and make a few improvements to Horseshoe Curve it will be the kind of area tour bus operators will put on intineraries.

And that’s not to mention Allegheny Portage NHS and the potential of a reopened Seldom Seen Mine tour.

It goes without saying that the scenery is beautiful, as well.

I would love to see the greater Altoona area reach it’s heritage tourism potential.

Rob

I plan on going up there and gettin down and dirty on track work, loco restoration, and any and all ways i can contribute. Simply fantastic news!!

Don't overlook the Western Maryland Scenic and 1309 -- they are only 69 miles from Altoona and 88 miles from Orbisonia.

That may be the case.

But EBT, Altoona, etc. have long marketed most heavily to Pennsylvanians, and WMSR to people in Baltimore, DC, and northern Virginia (folks with money).

They might as well be in parallel universes.

But that's not to say SOME sound joint marketing strategy couldn't come out of this...... most likely in the form of "package tours" by the likes of the Smithsonian and other tour marketers......

Maybe for locals looking for a quick jaunt it wouldn't be appealing. But for those of us traveling there from out west or internationally, if you told us that we could make it from the EBT to the Western Maryland in about a two hour drive with Altoona in the middle; we'd definitely take it! Last time I was in Pennsylvania was a multistate family trip from Manhattan, New Jersey, Scranton, up into Buffalo, then down into eastern Ohio just outside of Cleveland, back into PA over Altoona then into Pennsylvania, before heading back up to Newark for our flights back home. In that kind of road trip, taking the detour down to see both the EBT and 1309 in a single trip would be possible.