I was at a rail enthusiast dinner tonight and one of the more industry connected guests said that the EBT has been purchased by a group of prominent railroad enthusiasts with the intention of rebuilding the line and commencing operations. He said that an official announcement will be made some time in February. Has anyone else heard this?

I would hold your breath. I certainly hope I am proven wrong, but I've come to learn that in this industry, everything is just speculation until an official announcement from the very top.

It isn't February yet, and that's a short month. Not holding breath but willing to see if anything is announced. If so, it could be something of great interest - but the magnitude and difficulty would make it a formidable project, unless there's a public sector partnership involved.

Don’t get your hopes up until you see an actual announcement from that group. It did cost 8 million to purchase in full: that’s still a lot of money.

Here's my recommendation:

Unless you are ACTUALLY directly involved in either this supposed, rumored effort, OR are in the midst of negotiating your own offer or strategic plan to purchase the EBT (not just some wide-eyed dreamer, but drawing up contracts, brokering deals with government officials and financiers, talking with attorneys and local governments, etc.)..............

Just sit back and wait.

And if you ARE involved, there's a reason you wait for the OFFICIAL announcement.

"Loose Lips Sink Ships," as they said during World War Two.

It may be a lovely day if we ever hear some announcement, but I'm not holding my breath until then. I've been burned too many times getting hopes up.

Them's that know ain't talking....them's that are talking don't know.

Your patience will soon be rewarded.

Ross Rowland

I have heard something similar - almost every year since the line ceased commercial operation.

While I am acquainted with a few people who might be able to pull this off, and may (or may not) have even discussed the hypothetical possibility with them over the course of many years, the counsel which I would give them in this completely hypothetical conversation, is to not discuss the matter until the transaction was consummated. I am however enjoying the mental picture of certain well-connected railfans trying to look innocent while saying, 'What's an East Broad Top?'

To put a point on what has been said by one or two others, had I been made privy to such a venture by one of the parties I would not jeopardize the relationship by talking about it.

What would make for interesting colloquy here, and fall within the accepted bounds of discussion, is what the regulatory issues might be and how they might be resolved since the line is co-located in part with a standard gauge common carrier.

GME
(Who just went back and reread the proposal for the purchase of a small fleet of GE diesels to maintain narrow-gage common carrier service in the 1950s.)

I sure hope they have deep pockets.

More than a few of us have played the big jackpot lotteries over the years hoping to make this happen. If this comes to pass, cheer them on.

I’ve lived my entire life in Indiana County which is home to the Kovalchick Salvage Corp. One thing for certain, no information about anything they do ever comes out until they want it to.

Praying this time the EBT sold rumors are true, but as others have said, every year there is a new rumor just like lawn weeds popping up.

By the way, Kovalchick has Rail Works, Inc. rehabilitating their one mile long Texas & Oklahoma RR in Center Township, Indiana County. The line has multiple yard tracks and runs from a junction with the Buffalo & Pittsburgh just west of the 1200 ft long trestle over US119N and Two Lick Creek to their Railroad Salvage yard at Lucernemines. The Branch was part of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh RR, then B&O, serving the huge Lucerne coal mine and the coke ovens in Tide two miles south. It had been seeing only one or two carloads per month over the past ten years. Something has to be in the works now because the Kovalchick Corp spends money to make money.

In a conversation with someone asking if I knew anything about this supposed, rumor, the analogy came up where I suggested that certain railfan media have had ready for several decades now a big, ready-to-drop-into-the-layout story centered around "EBT SOLD TO [Fill In the Blank]!!!"

I told the person I was chatting with that newspapers have LONG routinely prepared in advance for the inevitable deaths of prominent people by having the majority of the writing done in advance--people like, for example, past presidents, major movie or music stars, prominent achievers like Bill Gates or Neil Armstrong, etc.

I flippantly said "Do you realize how long the British newspapers have been waiting for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second to die by now?"

"....................................... almost as long as we've been waiting for this hypothetical EBT sale or rescue story by now??"

"Exactly."

In the absence of any announcement, we're closing this useless discussion until something concrete ever gets announced.

The EBT Railroad Facebook page posted a short clip of Mikado #12 “Millie” being pulled out of her stall by a diesel this morning. Said “Big announcement about the future of the EBT coming tomorrow at 11am”

The moderator of that page is VERY involved with the EBT, so maybe, just maybe all of us who have loved the EBT and volunteered to help the FEBT will get a big happy Valentine’s Day.

Less than a day to go ... this will be interesting!

I hope he doesn't jinx the deal, jumping the gun.......

Word on the "street" was that the Durango & Silverton made the Kovalchicks an "offer he couldn't refuse" so they could acquire a fleet of 2-8-2's to convert to oil burning, so as to protect the historical integrity of their D&RGW Mikados.........

EDIT:

............... and if you actually FELL for this joke, you're probably part of the reason we "can't have nice things any more" come April 1st........