No. Wyes on the EBT main were at Mount Union, Rockhill, Saltillo and Robertsdale. Also branch wyes at Shade Gap, Neelyton, Richvale and I think Goshorn.

Mailine sidings at Mount Union, Adams, Shirleysburg, Rockhill, Pogue, Three Springs, Saltillo, Kimmel, Coles, Wray's Hill, Cooks, Robertsdale, Wood, old Alvan and new Alvan. There were some earlier sidings that are long gone in 1956, like Prices siding.

Bear in mind the EBT bought most of its passenger cars rather than building them. Many of those ere secondhand. 8, 14 and 15 came from the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn, 20 from Big Level and Kinzua. 29 from Au Sable and Northwestern. Origins of 5 (at Tweetsie) 16 (in NJ) and 18 are not so clear.

The EBT did build cabooses and lots of freight cars.

Chris,

Thanks!

Is the Pogue siding before or after the bridge? I was doing some armchair strategic planning to see how far south EBTF could open the line in a much later phase, i.e. run around a train to return to Rockhill while avoiding use of the Pogue bridge.

Meanwhile I look forward to the installation of sprinklers and fire detection as much as a return to steam.

Wesley

I believe there was also a wye at Rocky Ridge.

Correct, however it was gone many years before the EBT closed.

After, if you are coming from Rockhill. It starts just before the Hamman Road crossing. If you zoom all the way in on the crossing you can see two sets of rails. The north switch stand has been restored by the adjacent landowner (with EBT permission).

I am reading a lot of arm chair what if this or that. I believe that the new owners will start with a small opening and then expand slowly. We will eventally have a long tourist ride. I am content to watch the system grow into a great tourist attraction. Also glad to see EBT saved.

Agreed. It's amazing that we have been hoping that the EBT gets saved for all these years and we already have people suggesting they get all new cars, all new locomotives, and not use the shop except for rare demonstrations.

Fortunately I think the EBT is in very good hands.

As you may have noticed, the Boston Revere Beach and Lynn was an electrified 3 foot gauge railroad, using trolley poles. After WWII part of the BRB&L was combined with the East Boston streetcar tunnel (which had already been converted to rapid transit) to form a 4' 8 1/2" gauge rapid transit line with partial 3rd rail and partial overhead wire using pantographs. It's MBTA's Blue Line.

Phil Mulligan

EBT coaches five and long gone twin four were built by the EBT, as was combine 16. Combine 18 was ordered from Billemeyer & Smalls for use on the Shade Gap branch. All have iron builders plates in the door sills. All have been re roofed, 5 and 16 had crude looking clearstory roofs that sagged badly and were rebuilt. Combine 18 came with a round roof without a clearstory, later was rebuilt with one. 16 and 5 have tie rods running across the body, added by the shops when the new roofs were installed and decorative wooden brackets to help support the rebuilt platform overhangs. 18 doesn't have those brackets because of the different design of the round roof.
It would be nice to have 5 back on the EBT but the Tweetsie has done a wonderful job of maintaining the car and it is now clearly theirs.

brian b

I feel that you are correct. As I have been told by at least one of the owners, they will slowly rebuild the railroad, encouraging folks to come back year after year.

These are professionals who have spent many years planning this, and they have lots of help from experts in all fields, including track, mechanical, advertising, financial, etc. No pipe dreams, just solid planning that will help to bring parts of the railroad back to life.

This is only my opinion, but I believe that any expansion of the current East Broad Top operations is at least five years and probably longer down the road. In essence, "restarting" the East Broad Top after eight years is like starting a new operation from scratch. It's going to take a couple of years to get the current operation back up and running, to establish a good cash flow and develop ridership.

And rebuilding a railroad that has been dormant for 64 years will not be an easy or inexpensive task. In fact, it can be said that such an effort will require cubic dollars. Is there any reason to believe that a longer ride will bring in more passengers? Has anyone done market research? What about the places where the original right of way is now in the back yard back of a nice ranch house that wasn't there 64 years ago? Do the towns along the line want the railroad back? There is a lot to do before the first tree is cleared and the first new tie is installed.

Development of ridership certainly requires advertising and garnering interest towards the railroad. Even though I’m not British, I have a soft spot for certain British steam railroads, and one of them that you may know is the Lynton and Barnstaple railroad. The L&B makes sure to have posts on social media (in particular Facebook) every single day to advertise the line. It may seem like spam almost but it works because I never forget about them. The EBT in my opinion should be putting advertising both physically in the local area, and online geared towards the DC area, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Altoona, and Harrisburg (as well as possibly Philadelphia). Each of those are located within a reasonable distance from the line.

Rebuilding the line is another thing that, while awesome, will certainly cost millions regardless of which direction they choose to pursue. This also applies a lot toward British heritage railroads too. Many British heritage railroads run on former small branch lines that are not long rides. They depend on the towns for entertainment of tourists in a similar way how people can either view the turntable for the Western Maryland Scenic, or choose to explore the town, or in a similar way to how Strasburg benefits from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, and vice versa. The EBT can excuse a shorter ride because they have a lot to offer in terms of infrastructure, so while it doesn’t necessarily depend on a line extension like some other British heritage railways, it will certainly benefit both the railroad and the towns who get the line extension because of increased ridership, as well as increased revenue, something both the EBT and many of those dying rural towns in PA certainly need. Seriously, check out the ridership increase that happened when the Bluebell railway for example extended their line not many years ago, or by contrast how much of a hit a local economy takes when a heritage line is damaged and can’t get to that location. It’s pretty astounding.

Here’s a good video about it by a guy named Chris Eden Green. He makes pretty good content on the British heritage line scene, and this video in particular addresses the impact a heritage railway can have on an area, environmentally, and economically.

https://youtu.be/P-Ld0aWpYbY

There is definitive proof that line extensions do garner plenty of interest from both volunteers, tourists, and enthusiasts. A longer ride allows for your destination to transforms the railroad from just a place of interest you may stop by to check out one day, to a destination you plan a visit to for an entire day.

I agree that the English/Welsh preserved lines like L&BRR are a good model, but for a different reason: in England the emphasis is on preserving history, and the train rides are generally used to finance the preservation and continued relevance of a preserved line ONLY, not as a money-making scheme like WP&Y, D&SNG, etc. I really hope we won't see the below 3' gauge unit (being readied for the WP&Y, and D&S has considered ordering them too) on the new EBT.