After reading about the EBT possibly being for sale, I remembered seeing a website some time ago that showed all the abandoned trackage and structures, and showed a lot of equipment (standard gauge?) on the property in among trees and bushes now.

Does anyone know of a website that shows the abandoned parts of the EBT? I read on one site where several abondoned US Army marked cars were on the property, does anyone have pictures of them as well?

http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/Tour/top.html

I believe that the website you are looking for is Chris Coleman's East Broad Top Unofficial Homepage. The site is located at: http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/ On his page at the bottom is a virtual tour that takes you all around the railroad by interactive map. Locations also have pictures under the map for the places he has been. It is a pretty complete tour and there is lots of information on his site.

I had the pleasure of talking with Chris during the Fall Event. There isn't much that he doesn't know about the EBT and if he can't answer the question he certainly knows who can. He also was ver good at talking me into a membership to the FEBT which I don't regret at all. The FEBT puts out an amazing magazine called Timber Transfer that could easily be sold as a quarterly publication. It too is full of great info about the EBT and the Friends of the EBT.

I also have some pictures here of the US Army standard gauge boxcars that are sitting in the yard in Mt. Union. These cars have been there a while and the forest has grown up around them. Most of the cars look like they were good places for kids to start fires and many are burned out. Others look like they have had people sleeping in or at least using them for other non-railroad oriented purposes. As soon as I have some time I will post the pictures I have on my website. Until then hopefully someone else has a picture of the cars on the net.[/url]

That's not the one.
The website I saw had several photos of abandoned equipment, and you didn't have to spend half an hour looking for them...

I remember another site that had images of rails in the grass near people's houses and streets, images I can't seem to find this site, well done though.

Anyone know the latest progress on the Mount Union Connecting RR?

Joshua

Maybe Jim Vliets page:
http://www.totalracing.com/ebt/rob2mtu.htm
Or Ben Sullivan:
http://bsulliva.oozy.ws/rr/ebt/photos/0 ... /index.htm
Or this one:
http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/Pics/ebt_off.html

Last I heard on MTC, they had finally acquired the parts to repair the Cat engine in their locomotive. That was this past summer. Don't know if the parts are installed yet.

Ahh yes Chris- thanks. It was the first site I remember the most, in particular this image- SHEESH!

http://www.totalracing.com/ebt/large/P8110033.JPG

http://bsulliva.oozy.ws/rr/ebt/photos/0 ... /index.htm
THAT'S THE ONE! Thanks!
Great photos there, very interesting to see what's abandoned but still in place. It almost looks like you could put trains on a lot of it (but I'm sure these are patches of rails that have large gaps in them). It's just strange to see so much that wasn't taken up, as the ET&WNC was when it was abandoned. It's even more sad to know that no trains will ever run there. I'd say someone should step up and put the money into refurbishing it, but I'd hardly be the first one to ever wish that.
I was stationed in Maryland when I was in the Army, and still kick myself that I never went out to look at the EBT. To think that I kept going back to Strasburg and places like that. God, how I wish I'd gone once to the EBT now, as I now live on the West Coast...
Anyone have any idea of the timeframe for this boxcar?
http://bsulliva.oozy.ws/rr/ebt/photos/0 ... ion033.htm
Wood sides and metal ends, and are those Battendorf trucks? I didn't know the Army had a presence anywhere near there in the past. How long have those cars been parked there? I noticed archbar trucks on that tank car.

I don't recall exactly where the cars came from if I ever knew. Kovalchick Salvage bought them at some point (Joe Kovalchick is the owner of the EBT) and just stored them there. Kovalchick Salvage deals all over the northeast, near midwest so they could have come from anywhere. They might even be realtively local--even in Pennsylvania, the Army had several big arsenal operations with internal railroads--Letterkenny and Tobyhanna come to mind, I know there are others.

As I understood it (perhaps incorrectly, mind you), the ten or so USATC boxcars at Mt. Union were a one-for-one trade for a set of former EBT narrow-gauge hoppers that were sent off to the White Pass & Yukon, apparently in connection with some U.S. military project up there. The EBT's small souvenir booklet, sold for years at Orbisonia, pictured a couple of these hoppers on flat cars awaiting shipment.

Correct me if I'm wrong........... of course, is anybody left to confirm the details?

The rail was never taken up on the main and remains in place from Mount Union to Woodvale, and about a half mile beyond. There are about three breaks in the rail for maybe 50' each but the rail is sill there, just moved aside for access. Although the rails are in place, the ties are not. The EBT used untreated ties so thay have all gone back to the earth now. As a rusult the gaugue can vary by as much as two feet on curves depending on the temperature, but is usually close to gauge on straightaways. I don't think those of us who support the restoration effort have given up on the possibility or rehabilitating track but we are realistic about it. We have years of work to do in Rockhill Furnace and along the line to Colgate Grove before considering such things. This past year we cleared out about 1000' of the main south of the yard for speeder car rides, however to make it train worthey would require triple or more the work done.





The army cars wre brought in by Kovalchick Salvage for storage shortly after they bought the railroad in 1956. They have no ties to the common carrier EBT. There is reportedly another string of them in the Kovalchick yard in Burnham (near Lewistown). Here is a photo of them not long after arriving ar the EBT.

http://www.spikesys.com/Bin/EBT/w9051d.jpg

The intent was to resell them, but it was found they had cast iron wheels rather than steel and were unsaleable. Don't know about their history prior to their coming to the EBT.

The hoppers were sold to the White Pass in 1968. Don't know when exactly the army cars came in. There were 15 hoppers sold to the White pass and there are 15 army boxcars, however, as I said in another post, Kovalchick Salvage reportedly has more army cars in Burnham. Also, the boxcars are standard gauge so they would not have come from the 3' guage White Pass.

Reportedly the reason for the White Pass purchase was for ballast service in line rehabilitation. The hoppers were shipped out in opne ended Pennsy gondolas and were shuttled out by the Rockhill Trolley Museum's Mack swithcer. They have since deassesioned the switcher body but still have the trucks.