The East Broad Top's Fall Spectacular takes place October 8-10, and this year's schedule brings a number of changes and unusual movements, including a three-session Friday schedule for photographers and, on Saturday and Sunday, two 15-car mixed trains that will put No. 15 to work for real (the trains will also be too long to wye in their entirety). The railroad's press release is below; the schedule and price information are available online.

The photo was taken during last year's Fall Spectacular...

-- Lawrence


East Broad Top's Fall Spectacular
Brings 3 Busy Days of Steam Railroading

The East Broad Top Railroad's 2010 Fall Spectacular, set for October 8 to 10, will bring a busy new schedule to the historic Pennsylvania steam railroad, including 15-car mixed passenger and freight trains, a day of special excursions for photographers, a Saturday Pennsylvania Dutch dinner train, and later night runs.

The three-day event will continue the EBT's year-long 50th-anniversary celebration. In 1960, four years after running its final coal train, the narrow-gauge railroad reopened as a central Pennsylvania attraction for families and railfans alike. Every season since, the railroad's Orbisonia station has welcomed thousands of visitors eager to ride through the rolling Augwick valley behind one of the line's handsome steam locomotives or to explore the EBT's historic roundhouse and machine shops.

This year's Fall Spectacular begins Friday with a series of trains for photo enthusiasts. The first run leaves at 10 a.m. and features No. 15, a 1914 Baldwin Mikado, pulling a freight consist. At 1 p.m., No. 15 will depart on a three-hour photo run with a consist of EBT coal cars. Both trains will make a number of run-bys for photographers' benefit.

At 4 the railroad's antique track-maintenance cars, known as speeders, will make a rare northbound trip to Colgate Grove, accompanied by M-3, a 1924 track-inspection car. At 8 p.m. the railroad will offer a three-hour night photo session in the Rockhill Furnace yard that will feature No. 15 and M-1, the EBT's unique 1927 Brill gas-electric car.

Saturday's first train will leave at 9 a.m., and the last will depart at 9 p.m. In between, a variety of consists will be used—regular passenger cars, open picnic cars, and freight cars—along with the EBT's M-7 diesel and the M-1, so fans will enjoy plenty of switching action in the yard. Highlights of the day will be the traditional noon whistle salute and an extra-long 1:10 p.m. mixed train with 15 cars—a guarantee that riders will hear No. 15 working hard. For the complete schedule, visit the railroad's Web site, ebtrr.com.

Tickets for regular Fall Spectacular trains are $20 each for adults and $15 for kids ages 2 to 12. Infants ride free. All-day passes are also available. Each train makes a 10-mile round trip that takes about an hour.

At 5:30 Saturday, No. 15 will depart with another of the East Broad Top's popular all-you-can-eat dinner trains, this one featuring a Pennsylvania Dutch buffet. The meal will be served at the Colgate picnic grove and catered by the popular Chambersburg restaurant Family Traditions Lighthouse. On the menu are sliced roast beef, roast chicken, and baked ham, with salads, side dishes, and desserts—all for $40 for adults and $35 for children. Dinner-train tickets must be reserved in advance by calling the EBT station at 814-447-3011.

Two night trains pulled by No. 15 will run after the dinner train returns—one at 7:30 and the other at 9 p.m. Sunday's schedule will be the same as Saturday's, but without the dinner train or the two night runs. The speeder cars will offer 15-minute southbound runs all day both days, and roundhouse and shop tours will be available. Visitors can also ride historic streetcars at the neighboring Rockhill Trolley Museum.

Constructed to serve local iron furnaces and Broad Top Mountain's coal mines, the 33-mile-long East Broad Top was built with a narrow gauge—three feet between the rails, instead of the standard 4' 8½"—and ran its first trains in 1873. By the 1950s it was the only surviving narrow-gauge common carrier east of the Rocky Mountains. The East Broad Top was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

East Broad Top Railroad Preservation Association
P.O. Box 158, Rockhill Furnace, Pa. 17249