This year the East Broad Top Railroad is planning its busiest season by far since service was cut back to weekends-only in the late 80s.

The railroad is opening a month earlier than usual—on Saturday, May 7—and going to Thursday-through-Sunday operation in July, the first part of August, and October. Plus there's a six-day Thomas the Tank Engine event—the EBT's first—in early July, and a full month's worth of Polar Express trains—also the railroad's first—before Christmas. There will also be a number of dinner trains throughout the season, an evening of fireworks runs in July, and haunted Halloween trains (EBT employees make surprisingly good zombies, I have to tell you).

All that's in addition to more familiar events, including the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime Festival (June 17-19), a Civil War weekend (August 13-14), and the three-day Fall Spectacular (October 7-9). There's serious-sounding talk about a Winter Spectacular next February, too, reviving a tradition that died in the early 80's. All in all, an ambitious, exhausting schedule, but Larry Salone, the head of the East Broad Top Preservation Association, is committed to proving that the EBT is a viable tourist attraction as well as an amazing historic landmark.

If you come visit—especially if you come on a weekend, when roundhouse and shop tours will be available, courtesy of the Friends of the East Broad Top—you can also see what progress FEBT volunteers have made on repairs to the shops complex and to combine No. 14. Take a speeder ride and you can inspect the work starting now on the coal dock at the south end of the yard, which operations manager Daniel Gilliland would like to get back into service. That said, there are monumental repair jobs still ahead of us—the blacksmith shop seems to have sunk another foot over the winter—so we can use all the volunteers we can get.

The railroad's press release is attached. Questions? Ask away—I'll do my best.

—Lawrence Biemiller

Oh — I forgot to mention that the EBT is offering both an "Engineer for an Hour" program for $150 (http://ebtrr.com/engineerforanhour.php) and a week-long "High Iron University" (July 26-30) that will be run in conjunction with the Railroaders' Memorial Museum in Altoona. Details for the latter program are still in the works, but you can be sure you'll get plenty dirty and real sore. — Lawrence

It is truly great to see EBT management being pro-active toward building the ridership and revenue. I have long thought that proper management could really help polish the diamond in the rough that exists there. The potential is unbelievable, really. Like the Nevada Northern, an entire historic railroad exists, just waiting for renewal. I just hope the Kovalchick family continues to be supportive in this venture.