I thought it better to create a new, fresh thread on the EBT, free of the 22 page behemoth currently on on this board.

For many years I posted EBT and FEBT happenings here and other boards. In general the response on this forum was silence or close to it. For those of us who continued to support and promote the EBT during the dark times (2012-2020) we really had to make the most of our resources. At a certain point you have to redirect effort into avenues that produce the best results. Alas, that was not here and that was sad, as I have many fond memories of this forum.

That being said, I dropped by here again and saw people seem interested in the great things happening at the EBT. So, for starters, here are some places that you can find more info on EBT going's on:

For those into Social Media:
FEBT - https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheEBT/
EBT - https://www.facebook.com/ebtrr/
EBT Discussion - https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=fans%20of%20the%20east%20broad%20top%20railroad

If you distrust all social media:

- There are regular posts to the news section of the FEBT website at this address https://febt.org/news/
- FEBT publishes a fine monthly electronic newsletter with all kinds of going on at the EBT and FEBT https://febt.org/newsletter/ . It is available to members and non-members.
- The FEBT website also allows you to sign up for email alerts when news items are posted: https://febt.org/news-alerts/
- FEBT quarterly magazine the Timber Transfer is published to members (which you should become if you are a true EBT supporter) https://febt.org/timber-transfer/

Now, lets have a nice discussion of the EBT!

Chris,

Thank you for a fresh post.

What has happened at EBT is nothing short of amazing. The investment of time, talent and cash dollars by the founders of the EBT Foundation are greatly appreciated. I am also happy to see the deeper relationship between the Friends and the Foundation.

Please extend my thanks to the person(s) who are managing marketing and social media. The graphics and logos are excellent.

Onward to Saltillo!

Wesley

In railfandom, as in most other hobbies afflicted with a degree of Asperger's Syndrome, the easiest way to get an overwhelming response is to make a mistake, typographical or factual, and watch the correcting responses overwhelm you.

Just ask any editor, present or past (via a Ouija board if need be), of Trains, Railfan, Railroad, Model Railroader, etc. The "Railway Post Office" section of Trains used to lead off routinely with edited corrections submitted by readers.

Silence is often a deference to greater authority and truth, or the fact that the article/report is so thorough as to have answered all pertinent questions on the subject. Furthermore, glib responses of the "atta boy!" or "good job!" type are better suited to the short-attention-span nature of social media, whereas longer-form, more professional "peer-to-peer" networks like this forum tend to lead to a lot of silent assent or in-depth queries. And the people who find this forum and congregate here are knowledgeable enough not to waste your time by endlessly repeating "when are you gonna run to mount union?????" or "when r u fixin up no. 3 in the enginehouse??"

If it returns you to posting worthwhile updates here, however, I'll be happy to post glib, cheerful replies and time-wasting questions in response to every such posting............ but I won't correct your Klingon grammar. Or would you prefer a combative press corps at every press conference demanding to know if your leadership has stopped beating their spouses? >;-D

It took just two reply posts for bigotry and intolerance to be appended to a brand new thread.

Fantastic work, as usual, Mr. Mitchell.

Thank you Chris Coleman for your thoughtful post and its many ways to help us stay up to speed on the wonderful things happening on the EBT. As I have posted here often it is THE railway preservation story of the decade ( at the very least) and will generate tons of new public interest and support for historical preservation going forward.

I'm comforted by the fact that you are a RyPN veteran and thus well equipped to overlook the musings of a TGB 4 . Every family has one and we're no exception.

Thanks again for your good input.

Ross Rowland

Here is something that this particular forum may be able to help with. Anyone know of a vintage PRR gondola in decent shape that is available for low or no cost? Models similar to the following would be good but not required: GR, G25B, GS/GSD, GS/GSA. A B&O or Reading gon might also fit the bill. Please don't speculate on why, just let me know if you have leads and I will pass them on to the right people.

Not sure if they still have it but the Catskill Mountain RR had one that was essentially in their way seven years ago or so. http://photos.greatrails.net/showpic/?p ... ex=0&key2=

May I suggest posting your gon request in the Classifieds so it doesn’t get buried in this thread? Most of us acquiring/disposing of equipment/parts or just cruising for stuff periodically check the Classifieds.

I tend to agree with Brother Mitchell in that yes, we really do appreciate the updates as they keep us up to date on what other organizations are doing though we’ll respond mostly to technical aspects. Don’t take silence as disinterest. I, for one, am a “silent” fan of EBT.

The best place to check for these sorts of things for me is the now archived Railway Preservation Index.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210830114 ... y-railroad

They don’t have everything but it’s always a solid place to check if you’re looking for something.

The best defense against libel and slander accusations is for the supposed slander/libel to be utterly true.

There are hobbies out there that have routinely attracted, as their most visible participants, people who hyper-focus on sometimes arcane technical details or trivia, obsess over minute details, and the like. Certainly not every participant is subject to it, but you'll know it when you see it: the "rivet-counters" of model railroads and other modeling, the guy who can tell you exactly how many wines or beers he has sampled in his life and keeps the record on his cell phone, the the bird spotter that drops everything and goes a thousand miles when a bird turns up on the wrong side of the Gulf of Mexico, sci-fi/comic book fans that can tell you every internal contradiction within a series, etc.

Some of the very first mainstream media articles that brought Asperger's to the public eye directly compared Asperger's to British "train-spotters"--and by doing so garnered national media attention in Britain in September 1991.

I know for a fact that if the spirits of late rail and hobby magazine editors--David P. Morgan, Freeman Hubbard, Dave Ingles, Jim Boyd, Linn Westcott, etc.--could be contacted, they would happily confirm my initial allegation.

Just because a certain stereotype is true doesn't make it right to drag it around like that. It is essentially the equivalent to punching down in comedy, its taking a jab at a group that is uncalled for.

Especially when there are several prominent people on the spectrum who DO make positive contributions to society and this hobby, and such comments throw them under the bus (think of science communicator Kyle Hill, or railfan videographer Chris Eden Green who are both very transparent about their autism diagnosis and positive about it).

Anyways, yeah this thread was supposed to be about the EBT right? The EBT is awesome, I would love to get out there someday.

I have often wondered if I have a degree of Aspergers as I exhibit some of the traits. I do not find it to be an impediment but think of it as a benefit. It is just a part of who I am. Brother Mitchell was not in my opinion disparaging such people in his comment. He was simply acknowledging that it exists, which most of us figured out years ago.

Since this is an EBT Thread, here is some EBT info! (go figure)

Here are some of the recent accomplishments at the EBT:

- Engineering assessments have been done on all bridges owned by the EBT Foundation. All are in decent shape except one, which is repairable.
- Engineering assessments on the tunnels are in progress.
- Clearing around Pogue Bridge was done last winter (it is the highest and second longest on the line and the only truss bridge.) More work there coming soon.
- Installation of fire suppression in the Machine Shop Complex and Roundhouse is in progress. Lines in the buildings are in, work on water system to supply them will start soon.
- Stall 8 in the roundhouse has been converted into a modern locomotive shop.
- Locomotive #16 - Disassembly is completed, NDT completed and Form 4 is submitted. Many parts are completed and ready to go back on.
- Locomotive #14 - Driver centers had more cracking than was expected. New driver sets are being made.
- M1 has been re-roofed with grant funds and the roof was returned to its common carrier appearance.
- Spare set of M-7 trucks are being rebuilt to go under M-7 and increase reliability.
- Machine Shop, Boiler Shop, Car Shop, Carpentry Shop and Storehouse have been lifted and stabilized by a contractor.
- Robertsdale Depot has been re-roofed.
- A full time archivist has been hired and has begun the process of cataloging the EBT immense paper holdings.
- About 90% of the ties on the traditional tourist run have been replaced, all bolts tightened or replaced. All cuts have been ditched. Large amounts of ballast have been spread. A tamper has been converted to narrow gauge and is actively tamping the line.
- An EBT history exhibit has been installed in the recently restored EBT Freight Office in Rockhill.
- FEBT's new Robertsdale Museum has opened in the Rockhill Iron and Coal Post Office building in Robertsdale.
- A large part of the Robertsdale yard has been cleared and about 500' of track regauged for handcar rides.
- Scheduled train service restarted in 2021.
- Scheduled trains returned to Colgate Grove in October 2021.
- A PRR X-29 boxcar has been moved onsite and will be placed on EBT transfer trucks to demonstrated the EBT's retrucking process.
- Several switches in the Rockhill yard have been rebuilt.
- Turntable ring track has been ballasted and tamped up.
- FEBT raised over $150,000 in the last year to fund several EBT projects.
- EBTF has received several grants for projects.

There are more that I can't think of right now, but that is enough for the moment...

Chris,

Thank you for sharing this detailed update and bringing the thread back on topic. I continue to read FB posts by the Foundation. The Foundation media person does an excellent job!

Seeing a complete list in one post is a helpful reminder of what has been done to to bring a dormant railroad back to life in just 18 months.

What is the legal status of the leg of the Saltillo wye that is being used by an adjacent landowner?

Applause applause!

Wesley

[Let's see, how do we do this again....................]

OH, I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!! GOOD JOB!!!!! YOU SHOULD BE SO PROUD OF YOURSELVES!!!! THUMBS UP!!!!!!




Okay, on a more serious note, I'm happy to see that my predictions of past decades are coming true: If the EBT were to be put into the hands of a non-profit and assured a hope for a long-term future, the floodgates of money and sweat equity would open. I'm sure my wife is happy that I'm not attempting to spend every second or third weekend up there helping out now that we're 2000 miles further away...............

Having seen the "miracles" of the revivals of the Ffestiniog AND Welsh Highland Railways in Wales, I'm rooting for the day when I can ride round trip Orby or Mt. Union to Robertsdale and back, preferably one way behind EBT 16 and return behind a "new-build" EBT 2-8-2 replica, aboard newly-built EBT replica passenger cars......