A report on the Chaski Railfan forum says, and I quote:

"Per the FEBT's most recent newsletter, it has been announced that the Saltillo depot of the East Broad Top will be demolished in early 2005. The borough approached the railroad, and told them to either restore the building or demolish it. As with most of the US now, funding is not available, and we will loose this 123+ year old structure. Luckily, the FEBT fully documented the building through professional drawings, and retained examples of the siding, sashes and other pieces of the building so if train service ever does return to Robertsdale, an exact replicia can be built in its place."

Yes, as with other stations of its ilk, it may well be cheaper and more effective by now to raze and rebuild than attempt to restore the rotted remnants pictured below in a 1999 photo from Chris Coleman's site. Still........

It's almost always cheaper, unfortunately.

I hope that the "demolition" is more a "disassembly" that saves as much original fabric as possible. Bundle it up and tarp it until the resources are available.

JAC

Regrettably, this is getting to be a routine with the EBT. Saltillo's EBT enclosed wooden water tank succumbed to fire, set accidentally by kids playing with matches, in 1987, and the Saltillo wye has been badly encroached by the adjacent property owner. And many of the other surviving structures on the EBT, including the shops complex, are but one heavy snowfall, out-of-control grass fire, or lightning strike away from catastrophic destruction.

As much as it remains a miracle that so much of the railroad's facilities has survived for 48 years after its closure (and perhaps 60 or more years past realistic maintenance, save for the heroic efforts of FEBT volunteers), the hard reality is that unless a massive effort to structurally preserve the entire property is undertaken very shortly, nature and time will start doing irreversible damage to the original fabric of the railroad. (Or, should I say, step up the pace of same.)

I live on the left coast so what I know about this remarkable bit of history I learned here.

Does the price wanted by the current owners of the EBT include all the right of way and track as well as the rolling stock and real estate? There appear to be rails in the snow in the photo in front of this little depot.

Perhaps there could be a corporation formed and shares sold to buy the whole kit and kaboodle, but I'm sure those of you in the East have already thought of that.

It is truly a treasure.

None of the EBT mainline was ever lifted--the rails go right up the mountain to Robertsdale and Wood where the mines were located. Of course, everything but the active part has gone back to a total state of nature--years of lush east coast second growth. But you can trace two strips of iron all the way.

I don't think there is "a price" for the railroad outstanding. The owners have been approached with various offers at various times under various terms, but never in the end have seen a deal they wanted to take. But those were all private offers; the owners have never publically said "I will sell the railroad for X price..."

It is fair to say that whatever the price if any, it would have to be much more than any group of enthusasts could range by selling private shares. You could buy the Strasburg that way back in the 1950s (5 miles, mostly level, no other real estate) but the EBT is a much much larger property--acres and acres of land, coal reserves, shops buildings, rolling stock, and so on and so on. It's a big property--even its raw real estate liquidation value would fetch a fair penny, as in more than a million easily.

Been thought of, been considered, been discussed ad nauseaum. Check this forum's archives.

The major problem is that the Kovalchick family has never firmly set a price for the operation. That would indicate a willingness to sell. Rather, they have rebuffed at least two public offers involving government monies, and have been rumored to have turned down substantial private cash offers for the operation in the past. The family, in effect, "loves" their family heirloom to death.

The major stumbling block is believed to be that the current ownership--read Nick Kovalchick's son, Joe--is vehemently and adamantly opposed to any government ownership of the railroad property. And the remoteness and economic poverty of the region, the same remoteness that has kept the railroad mostly intact, effectively blocks any ability for private, for-profit enterprise to set up shop Strasburg or Grand Canyon style to make any return on investment on the property as a historical artifact, mandating government involvement in the property's preservation. Stalemate.

I have personally led a potential investor over the line, one already involved in railroads. He was as enchanted and entranced by the EBT as any of us, but hasn't yet been able to justify the undoubtedly-high price the K's would ask for the property, given the fact that we had to go all the way to Huntington for a halfway-decent meal and a cell-phone signal, and all the way to Altoona for a motel with Internet access. (I think by now Huntington's motels have Internet--but you get my drift.)

I've been told rumors that much of the auxillary EBT coal and timber holdings have been sold off over the past 4.5 decades to subsidize the operation of the tourist railroad. The railroad used to burn coal from its own strip mines, but I'm sure quality fuel is not the only reason the EBT now buys coal elsewhere. The same rumors suggest that the company is now running out of stuff to sell--thus the scaleback of operation from four operable locos and all-week operation to one loco on weekends.

The same party I showed about the railroad a while back seemed to insinuate that the Kovalchicks were "insulted, and rightfully so" at the appraisal of the properties by both the Department of the Interior and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. However, I'm also of a nagging suspicion that whatever figure the Kovalchicks are offered for the property, they'll want twice that. You can't win, and I've emotionally given up trying.

I have always understood (or thought it out on my own) that the railroad operation was used to offset the income from the sale of land, etc. If you sell less stuff then your offsetting costs have to be less.

I had a chance to explore the line two years ago, and even then the depot was so far gone that a restoration would have been nearly impossible. There was little left to salvage, but much to document.

I have a west coast eye for old railroad lines. It was a very strange experience chasing the remains of the EBT. In the west there are numerous places where you can find and follow intact right of way with ties, and occasional car fragments, of lines which were abandoned and scrapped as much as 90 years before. The EBT is the opposite. It was never scrapped, the rails are still in place, yet in many ways it is more difficult to follow. At one point I parked on the mainline (over rails) and only found the tracks after I got out of the car. On another occasion I stopped and pulled over, certain the railroad must be near. Again, it was less than 10 feet away, all but invisible for the brush and trees.

The yard at Mt Union is particularly unreal. What was once a industrial center, with coal washing and processing facilities, Manufacturing, and a major railroad junction is now a jungle with ghostly lines or narrow gauge hoppers in a thick forest.

While much of the EBT remains, most of it is so deteriorated that to restore any component (with the exception of the shops) would really require replacement in kind.

I am saddened by the news about the depot, but not surprised.

As ever, bad EBT news travels fast and good EBT news nary gets a reply. As for Saltillo Station, every piece of wood in the building is rotten - roof, walls and floor. There is just nothing to start with for a rebuild. The writing was on the wall for the building a decade ago when the roof started falling in. The demolition will be just that. What was salvagable or unique in the building has been removed this fall. The borough and the railroad have been _very_ accomodating to allow FEBT the time to fully document the station and remove what was appropriate. This move is, unfortunatelyy, necessary euthenasia.

The other surviving EBT intrastructure need not meet the same fate. For those of you who wish to be part of the solution, the means is at hand.

-Join FEBT - http://www.febt.org/member.html
-Donate funds - http://www.febt.org/funddrv.html
-Volunteer - http://www.febt.org/Restore/

Prediciton of doom and gloom do nothing to help. Swinging hammers and checks in the mail do. Don't tell us we can't save the EBT, because we ALREADY ARE!

Thank You for your efforts,

As I noted before there was really nothing left to restore.

Considering the ownership situation, the Friends have found a wonderful way to preserve what they can.

We can't win them all, but we have to keep trying.

It is my understanding that EBT still retains very substantial land holdings. As for the coal, I believe it is now supplied from other mines owned by the Kovalchicks; Mr. K himself used to personally truck it in.

One way or another, EBT twenty years from now will not be the same as it is today; the present character of the place can be as easily destroyed by by a massive influx of money as it can by neglect and the erosion of time.

I think FEBT is doing an outstanding job and I hope they are able to continue their good work.

Alan Maples

As of 1/1/05, the station is gone.

All that remains in a foundation, a pile of wood, and a dumpster full of wood.

The building was likely demolished last week.

Very sad week for EBT fans.

In other news, #15's flues have been installed.