This past Monday Carl Franz ran another of his photo freight charters on the East Broad Top Railroad. The all-black 14 powered an 8-car train consisting of a boxcar, 6 hoppers, and a combine. As with Carl's Fall 2002 charter, the goal was to recreate a near-end-of-regular-service image of the EBT--a boxcar for LCL freight right behind engine and a combine (instead of a caboose--crews preferred the combine's ride) on the hind end. 30 or so folks (myself included) rode the combine on 3 round trips, which featured (in typical Carl fashion) something like a total of 50 photo runbys.

Carl's principal assistant, Bill Larduskey, has posted a number of excellent photos on TrainOrders. See the below link and once there click on the individual photo links.

EBT GM Stanley Hall gave an excellent talk on the past/present/future of the railroad while conducting a mid-day roundhouse and shop tour. As Bill noted in his TrainOrders post, 14 is returning to its "tourist look" of brass boiler bands and silver/white paint trim. It was hoped to have 15 back in service by the end of this season, but it looks more like it will be in 2004. Bob Holder was working away on 15 during our visit and is making steady progress, but a good deal of work remains to be done. As soon as 15 is ready, 14 will go out of service.

Many thanks to Stanley Hall for a great day and thanks to the train crew (especially engineer Tom Holder) for their efforts. And, as always, an extra thanks to "Mr. K." for keeping Eastie running yet another season.

Regards,
Jim Robinson

EBT freight charter photos