Interesting document here about an EBT railroad crossing and a PA highway project.

From what I can understand, the EBT loses a grade crossing, but has three years to ask for it to be installed in a different location. Otherwise the crossing will be abolished.

PA PUC document
jrevans@accusort.com

> Interesting document here about an EBT
> railroad crossing and a PA highway project.

> From what I can understand, the EBT loses a
> grade crossing, but has three years to ask
> for it to be installed in a different
> location. Otherwise the crossing will be
> abolished.

This all has to do with the point on the abandoned Shade Gap branch at which PA route 522 crosses first the EBT right of way and then Blacklog Creek as at switches from the south to the north bank heading into Orbisonia from the south.

PennDOT wants to realign the S curve here and improve the bridge over the creek; the new bridge would sever the EBT's right of way by crossing the current RR grade at about 5' in elevation. SO, PennDOT initiated a procedure to take the crossing under eminent domain.

I have touble interpreting the opinion muyself, but it looks like PennDOT has been required to design the new highway improvements such that a relocated railroad crossing could be reininstated, or else, if they don't design the improvements such that a crossing could be retinstated, they will have to buy and compensate EBT for the rest of the Shade Gap Branch right of way beyond the crossing that the RR could no longer access.

In any event, it's worth understanding that this is all on the Shade Gap branch, not on the EBT main stem from Mt. Union to Robertsdale (active or inactive).

eledbetter@rypn.org

Two questions... 1)How will this affect the streetcar museum that operates over the branch? 2) I thought with the exception of the standard gauge streetcar operation, the track on the Shade Gap branch was gone. So what is the legal status of the Shade Gap right of way without track?

Randy Hees

hees@ix.netcom.com

> Two questions... 1)How will this affect the
> streetcar museum that operates over the
> branch? 2) I thought with the exception of
> the standard gauge streetcar operation, the
> track on the Shade Gap branch was gone. So
> what is the legal status of the Shade Gap
> right of way without track?

> Randy Hees

1) The fight over the crossing actually "helped" the RTM in that it encouraged RTM and EBT to collaborate on extending RTM's track right up to the disputed crossing. RTM got a very scenic extension to its main line, and EBT demonstrated that it had a tenant still actively using the Shade Gap branch, improving its negotiating position with PennDOT.

On the downside, disabling to crossing would of course prevent any further extension of the RTM line in the indefinate future.

2. The rails on the Shade Gap Branch were taken up in the late 1940s (sorry, don't have the books that would give me the exact date at work). Rails were actually left in the ground at the crossing under dispute, however. As for whether the Shade Gap branch was ever abandonded in the legal "formal filing with the ICC" sense, well, I dunno, but my guess is that it was not. The entire EBT petitioned the ICC for abandonment, had the petitition granted, and then requested an indefinate stay of abandonment. My guess--a guess only--would be that the Shade Gap Branch was never legally abandoned, and that the larger EBT stay of abandonment covers the Shade Gap branch and remains in effect though the demise of the ICC and on into the present STB era.


eledbetter@rypn.org

Another question: since there is no economic development in the entire valley apart from the RR, what is PENNDOT's motivation to waste money improving the road?

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> Another question: since there is no economic
> development in the entire valley apart from
> the RR, what is PENNDOT's motivation to
> waste money improving the road?

> Dave

Saving lives in a word. The S-curve at Blacklog Bridge has been the site of many an accident. As usual operator error was often a factor, nonetheless PennDOT wants to reduce the penalty that stretch of road exacts for being stupid.

As for no economic development, in fairness 522 is a major road in that area--serving the forest products plant in Shade Gap among others. It's not like it's a farm crossing.


eledbetter@rypn.org

Is the extension to the said crossing complete or in work? As you mentioned that would be a big help to their case.

The extension for the running track is complete and added 3,000 feet of track to our operation at the Rockhill Trolley Museum. We opened it in August of 2001. We are currently working on a track turnout and pocket track which will enable us to pass cars at the end of track. A passenger platform will also be constructed between the tracks. For a complete report (with many pictures) on the entire project visit our website at www.rockhilltrolley.org and click on the FEATURES page and CURRENT NEWS for the pictures. Or copy this for a direct link to the track report and pictures www.rockhilltrolley.org/ext_root.htm

Joel

> Is the extension to the said crossing
> complete or in work? As you mentioned that
> would be a big help to their case.


http://www.rockhilltrolley.org
jdstrolley@enter.net

It's really a shame Penn Dot needs to work only toward the most effecient means to move traffic. The character of the landscape chages so radically when they move in. The last rt. 522 construction completly changed the chacter of Shirleysburg and the entry into Orbisonia. While you can travel a few minutes faster, it sure looks different- not to mention the views from the train. In a region that has a lot going in promoting the past, it would be nice if the modern 'necessities' of life could be designed with some sensitivity. At least blend it in with 'native' grasses and wildflowers insted of the PennDot favorite, crown vetch, a plant right out of the 1970's. One wonders how often landscape 'preservation' gets a consideration

pvanmeter@msn.com

Amen, brother.

K4s1361@hotmail.com

The answer, of course, is "money"...Unless YOU live/work/vacation there, you object to the state spending one extra nickle on the project. Making it pretty takes longer, thats also why most of our newer public buildings (even the churches) look like warehouses.

Unfortunately it's always "short term" money --- they never say more money spent now may yield benefits in the future like when the town is featured in a magazine because it has retanined so much of its original flavor. Instead they'll ruin the town and then have to spent 4 times as much to revitalize it.

> The answer, of course, is
> "money"...Unless YOU
> live/work/vacation there, you object to the
> state spending one extra nickle on the
> project. Making it pretty takes longer,
> thats also why most of our newer public
> buildings (even the churches) look like
> warehouses.

The Shade Gap Branch was originally graded in the 1870's for the Rockhill Iron and Coal tramway that supplied limestone from near Blacklog and iron ore from mines in the narrows. The exact migration of the branch from tramway to the Shade Gap Railroad (an EBT holding subsidiary) is unclear (the two may have co-existed at some point side-by-side), but eventually it was extended from a spit at Blacklog (right near the current crossing in dispute) through Shade Gap and turning north to ore mines in Shade Valley. In the mid 1880's the NYC interests were building the stillborn South Penn RR and the EBT graded beyond Shade Gap to Neelyton and turning south toward the South Penn's Tuscarora Tunnel (today on the Turnpike). When the SPRR bubble burst, construction was halted The ROW laid unused until track was laied in 1909 to just south of Neelyton to service a sawmill there. In 1913 the SGRR was incorporated into the EBT as the Shade Gap Branch. Also a spur was built from Neelyton north to a ganister quarry at Stanton.

The branch was regular service until 1935 and then went to on-demand trains. The Stanton spur was abandoned in 1940. The branch from Shade Gap station to Neelyton was abandoned in 1943. The branch was cut back from Shade Gap station to Blacklog, a tie loading area, in 1948. Blacklog station was just on the opposite side of the highway from Rockhill. It stayed in that state until the general abandonment application in 1956. It may or may not have been part of the stay of abandonment. Likely in 1956 immediately after the sale to Kovalchick Salvage, the branch was dismantled from Blacklog back to near the Rockhill wye. The track was left in the 522 crossing.

Railways to Yesterday was formed in 1960 around Johnstown car 311 and had it in operation at the new Rockhill Trolley Museum by 1962. Periodic extentions to their main along the old Shade Gap Branch ROW, including 600' in 1992 and 3000' in 2001, now extends to within a couple hundred feet of the 522 crossing.

Personally I'l love to see RTY tie their rails into the rails buried in the crossing (symbolically only at this point, afterall they are different gauges) and apply for reactivation of the crossing. That might force PennDOT to revise their plan which, from the beginning, seems to have considered the railroad something to be overcome rather than to preserve. The EBT had to intervene when the 522 overpass was built in Shrileysburg and the crossing in Mount Union. Both original plans would have left the railroad unusable, and as most have heard the 522 crossing in Mount Union has been brought back into operation status since (though operations have not yet begun there.) This demonstrates PennDOT's indifference to the EBT's historic importance.

The EBT still owns at least a couple hundred yards of ROW beyond the crossing, which the point of the legal action seems to be to force PennDOT to buy if they are going to take the land at the crossing (which the EBT owns, not PennDOT.) Apparently, sometime during the wrangleing, the planned change in status of the crossing was changed from abolished to suspended. Legally, since it is only suspended it could be re-established without going from scratch, and hece the ROW on the far side of teh road is no longer a white elephant. Realistically, with a five foot raise in the road grade, it is not likely the railroad can be reconnected to the crossing without substantial regrading.

BTY, the reconstruction at the narrows is part of and overal reconstruction of US 522. Between US 22 in Mount Union and the turnpike, this in one of only two section that have not been rebuilt in the past two decades or so. On the plus side, the increased traffic and decreased drive time could be of benefit to the EBT for attracting more visitors.


The East Broad Top Homepage

ebtrr@spikesys.com

Does Pennsylvania have a Department of Conservation? In Missouri, though it is not wihtout controversy, the Dep. of Cons. works actively with other organizations, I believe including the DOT, to promaote native vegetation and sustainable land use. Now it's mostly supported by hunting and fishing concerns, so if there's a strong anti-hunting lobby in Pennsylvania, you might have more of a fight on your hands. Another organization that looks after that kind of thing loclally is the Missouri Botanical Garden. Their presence in St. Louis creates a much stronger gardening and lanscaping community than might otherwise exist, and the Botanical Garden also acts in the community to promote sustaibale gardening and site sensetive landscaping. (Not to mention cataloging endangered species and other more hard research.) If organizations like this are present in Penn. (and I'm sure there are some good paralleles,) then they might be good people to approach about lanscape preservation. If nothing else maybe they coud halp you restart the venerable but largely forgotten tradition of railroad gardening. (Both to improve station sites, and to beautify the right of way. I read about a particulairly impressive rose planting along a cut intended to be viewed at track speeds. Even back yard plantings to create varied views of the line behinds your house, as the train passed through different visual oppenings.)
Sincerely,
David Ackerman


david_ackerman@yahoo.com

Gentle People,

To be fair to PennDOT, they have been very sensitive and responsive to the historical value of the EBT for a long time. The EBT was not cut off from Mount Union when 522 was improved in that area. Beneath the 522 bridge that soars over the Aughwick, there is rebuilt EBT mainline. PennDOT went to extraodinary lengths to hold open the possiblity of TEA-21 funding for the EBT when they easily could have released it to other worthy projects. These things happened not just because a property owner took a position but, also, because civil servants (in the literal meaning of those words) listened to historians and remembered what they learned in their actions.

Some historic fabric will be lost when 522 is widened in Blacklog Narrows (see below), but you can be sure that PennDOT finds no joy in that. PennDOT, however, must serve the needs of today and, only a few years ago, three lives were lost in an accident at this very curve on this obsolete section of 522.

The full history of Blacklog Narrows, the area through which PennDOT is preparing to improve U.S. Route 522, provides a fascinating context for the East Broad Top Railroad. The EBT is only about one percent of that history, but its all connected. Human use of Blacklog Narrows and the route followed by US 522 goes back 10,000 years, according to archeologists.

Starting 10,000 years ago, native peoples quarried chert and other material in the mountains of Maryland and Pennsylvania and carried the material generally north by west, following wind and water gaps, such as Blacklog Narrows (one of the latter). Acccording to archeologists, these parties would make camp in Blacklog Narrows for some days to weeks (more temperate than up in the mountains) and fashion some or all of the raw material they carried into tools and weapon points before moving on to larger groupings to barter (so, which would you rather carry, a big rock or a bunch of weapon points?). European settlers followed the same wind and water gap-determined trails, as do today's highways including US 522. But, things get more interesting.

A pattern of activity and habitation developed in the lower EBT region determined by climate and terrain. Permanent, year-round native settlements developed in the relatively broad and fertile river valley between present day Orbisonia and Mount Union, where weather was less severe than up on the mountains. Crops were grown and raw materials and animals killed by hunting parties continued to be brought down from the mountains to be processed into tools, weapons, and hides in the more hospitable valley communities. These were transported north on the Aughwick Creek to its junction with the Juniata. There, trading parties turned east and west (mostly west) to follow the Juniata to larger, distant communities to barter.

Do you see where this is going? Do you really need a map? I don't think so.

Fast forward to about 250 years ago. European settlers arrive in the area. Okay, different culture and totally different prespective, right? What do the Europeans do? Settle in the valley and bring materials down from the mountains to the valley where it is processed into higher economic value goods (also easier to transport), then north on the Aughwick and east or west on the Juniata. Difference is that now iron ore was prominent in the mix of materials. Then coal. Some of the earliest charcoal iron furnaces in Pennsylvania were in Blacklog Narrows. Tragically some will be lost when 522 is improved (archeologists documented them in the late 1980's-early 1990's).

The orginal concept for the East Broad Top Railroad was to bring raw material from hills and mountains down from all directions and inward to a center for iron making in the Aughwick Valley (not coincidentally, also the nucleus of the railroad's operations). There, these materials would be converted into iron and hauled north (along the Aughwick) to transhipment to the Pennsylvania Railroad for movement east and west (along the Juniata).

Rockhill Furnace was quite a prominent iron making center until Pittsburgh trumped it with the Bessemer process. Then, the EBT's line to the coal fields on Broad Top Mountain became so dominant that, today, most of us think of the EBT as linear, north-south. But, the original idea was more hub-and-spoke. The EBT's Shade Gap branch, through Blacklog Narrows once was a very important spoke.

The quarrying, transport, and processing of gannister rock into fire brick for reshipment followed the same pattern, but with the processing center at Mount Union, not Orbisonia-Rockhill.

Now PennDOT is improving 522 because its still the best route on the ground to get from here to there. Should you drive to the EBT in the near future over wind and water gap-defined US 522, do yourself a favor and pull over in Blacklog Narrows by one of the early iron furnace ruins (before PennDOT construction partly obliterates them). Get out in that leafy glen and settle down with your hand on a natural rock (not the furnace ruin - that's a paltry two centuries). Listen to the sounds of the mountains until you hear the whistle of the EBT (while still it runs). Like time traveling ten millenia?

See you on he railroad,

Phil Padgett



ebt4evr@aol.com