Newsgroups: rec.railroad

Form the SF Chronicle, by Don Phillips, Rockhill PA

Engineer Robert Gilliland Jr. eased his snorting 65-ton steam
locomotive out of the roundhouse, then climbed down to perform another
duty. He and his brother Daniel grabbed large poles sticking from each
end of the turntable, planted their feet firmly and heaved. It's
called an "armstrong" turntable because it takes a strong arm to move
it. No motors, no mechanical help. Just a combined weight of less than
500 sweaty human pounds against many tons.

The calendar said 1992, but it could have been 1882. Timeless is an
apt way to describe the entire East Broad Top Railroad, a 33-mile
narrow-gauge line that was carved into rugged Pennsylvania mountain
country in the 19th century to haul iron and coal. Called EBT, the
small railroad changed little before it went out of business in 1956
when the bottom fell out of the coal market.

No diesel ever sullied its rails, no electricity ever ran a shop
machine, and its most modern locomotive was built in 1920. With minor
exceptions, the railroad was a time machine, its destination the turn
of the century.

In 1956, the last employees simply stored the locomotives in the
roundhouse and walked out of the extensive shop complex here, leaving
everything exactly as it was. The Smithsonian Institution says the
shop is the only survivor among the old steam-powered, belt-driven
railroad shop facilities in North America.

Today, five miles of the old line is operated, and the entire main
line is largely intact, although overgrown and broken in places.

A growing band of preservationists, now joined by the National Park
Service, has come to realize that the EBT is more than a train ride.
It is a historic jewel, with a remarkable degree of preservation.

The extensive shop complex, roundhouse, main line, Rockhill station,
some of the old coal company towns and even the remains of 19th
century iron furnaces are still there.

It is "a site like no other anywhere on the continent," said William
Withun, the Smithsonian's transportation curator.

The EBT was never a major railroad, like the Pennsylvania Railroad,
with which it connected at Mount Union. It was tiny, and not just in
length. Its gauge -- the space between the rails -- was 3 feet rather
than the standard 4 feet 8 1/2 inches. That is one reason for its
preservation; the EBT's rolling stock and equipment were useless
elsewhere.

"It is like King Tut's tomb," said Jack White, former Smithsonian
transportation curator. "He was a very minor pharaoh, but because it
(the tomb) was so well preserved, it was very important in Egyptian
history."

Credit for the salvation of the EBT can go to a scrap dealer. Nick
Kovalchick, of Kovalchick Salvage Co., bought the line but did not rip
it up. Instead, he, and now his son, Joseph, treated the EBT almost as
a giant toy train and have continued a small tourist operation with
all original equipment.

But today EBT is endangered, physically and politically.

More than a century of grease, oil and coal dust have accumulated in
the shops, making them prime candidates for fire. And the buildings
themselves are in poor shape. Some have taken on an obvious lean.

Except for the five miles in operation, track is in poor condition.
Some tunnels and bridges are deteriorating. Hope of reopening the most
scenic part of the line for tourists is fading.

Now there is a new threat: sight pollution. General Public Utilities
has applied to build a 500-kilovolt power line with 150-foot towers
that would run along the mountainous portion of the line, crossing it
five times.

Preservation groups, including the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum
Commission and a volunteer group called Friends of the East Broad Top,
have lobbied to reroute the line, and the National Park Service and
other organizations have met with officials of the utility in an
effort to apply pressure.

The utility has promised to help camouflage its line from view from
the rial line but has held tough on keeping the route. A spokesman
said an extensive survey showed that the planned route would have a
lesser impact on the public than any other route. The utility will try
to mitigate the impact on the EBT, but rerouting the line "is not one
of the options we are considering," he said.

The southwest Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission, a branch
of the National Park Service, has budgeted $1 million to help
stabilize the property and install sprinklers in the shop buildings.
Up to $40 million would be needed, however, to put the railroad back
into running condition and refurbish the shops.

                                                     Washington Post

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