Run around the train, the #1751 heads north for the final time that day. From here, I left, because it was 3:30 and I still had a 6 hour and 15 minute drive home.
Run around the train, the #1751 heads north for the final time that day. From here, I left, because it was 3:30 and I still had a 6 hour and 15 minute drive home.
Also, some random shots I grabbed early in the morning. The station in better light. It was really funny, by afternoon the CSR staff was already hanging Christmas lights on the awning.
A plethora of old wooden cabooses out behind the parking lot
This old ex-US Army 44-tonner (and it's an early model, because there's no walkways around the ends of hoods) is still lettered for New Hampshire Central. No clue how it ended up here or if it's operable (I'm going to guess not, due to the reliability of the Caterpillar D17000 engines).
CN 0-6-0 #7470's cab sits out behind the roundhouse. No clue what the deal is with this engine lately. It came off a 1472 in 2019, made a couple of runs in 2019-2021, then had a fire in the cab back in January of 2022, and it's been radio silence ever since.
They have another steam locomotive as well, but I couldn't get a photo of it because of where it was positioned. That's Maine Central 2-8-0 #501, and it was owned by the 470 Railroad Club, who then transferred ownership to Conway Scenic a couple years ago. Conway moved it into the roundhouse for evaluation for an operational restoration (An attempt had been made, and botched, years earlier) and, again, there's been radio silence ever since. The fact that it was moved back out of the roundhouse doesn't seem to bode well for it though. Too bad, because a genuine MEC steam engine treading home rails, pounding up the MEC Mountain Division to Crawford Notch and back, would be something to see.
Some more photos of the #1741 leading.
Some more great news out of Huntingdon County PA:
The Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program has awarded the EBT Foundation $1.6 million to restore two steel bridges that lie on the route to Saltillo. The major structure to be rehabilitated is Pogue trestle, a 275-foot-long 1904 steel Warren truss bridge over Aughwick Creek. It's the largest bridge on the system and is just three miles south of Orbisonia. Work includes strengthening two piers to protect them from flood debris and ice; renewing the bearings that support the superstructure; and installing bridge timbers to replace the original untreated ties that have long since rotted away. EBT General Manager Brad Esposito and Director of Engineering James Roslund have said that inspectors have determined that, despite its age, the bridge is sound. Esposito said the funds, “in combination with a previously awarded RACP grant, will also include some clearing and grading of the right-of-way between Pogue and Three Springs, as well as the work on the Pogue Bridge.” The other bridge is the Three Springs Bridge, a through-plate girder bridge, built in 1907. It's 80' long and spans Three Springs Creek, located about 3 and half miles south of the Pogue Bridge.
Work to reopen the southern main line is being carried out by EBT’s two full-time track crew members and a pool of Friends of the East Broad Top volunteers. The project, termed the “March to Saltillo,” after the name of the town that is the near-term goal of restoration, reached a milestone last month at the Fall Reunion when trains ran over 1.3 miles of track that hadn’t seen a revenue movement since the spring of 1956, to a point named Jordan Summit. In the few weeks since then, track renewal has advanced another 3,000 feet to the McCoy Road grade crossing, within sight of the PA-994 grade crossing and just a mile from the Pogue bridge.
The Three Springs bridge. Obviously the lack of decking is the first thing that stands out, but also check out the size of the tree growing in the gauge. Remember, this line hasn't seen regular train service since 1956. Also, in the last photo, it looks like the center column isn't attached to the bridge, but actually, that's left over from the original wooden bridge and was never attached to this structure. For whatever reason, the EBT left the old support standing in the river.
The most haunting location on the EBT to me is the Coles Tankhouse. The last remaining tankhouse on the entire system, it sits surrounded by a forest, with trees growing up in the gauge, awaiting a train that hasn't arrived in 68 years. It contained the pump and a perfectly preserved cedar tongue-in-groove tank, unused since 1956. Sadly, in the winter of 1997 the tankhouse pump was stolen by persons who damaged part of the wall to remove it. Water damage also had caused the front beam to partially fail, causing the front of the tank to drop nearly six inches so far. Some repairs were eventually taken by an unauthorized third party (what's the term for "vandalism but you fix stuff instead"?) including shoring up the front beam, but termites have taken hold in the beam and more catastrophic failure of the beam may occur if more repairs are not done. Also, and even more unfortunate, someon broke out several slats of the well-preserved tank, most importantly the slats that were marked with the tank information, apparently as souvenirs in January of 2000, and I don't believe they were ever located.
The most haunted-looking spots though would be the two tunnels south of Saltillo, the Wrays Hill Tunnel and the Sideling Hill Tunnel. One portal of the Wrays Hill Tunnel is completely collapsed and this tunnel is said to have been a pain in the EBT's side for most of it's existence, with lots of issues with chunks of the ceiling falling in. The Sideling Hill Tunnel looks worse, with lots of water on the floor of the tunnel and rockfalls on the southern end, but is said to be fairly sound structurally. Sideling Hill was noted to have issues in the winter with the wind freezing water on the tunnel floor and causing derailments, so EBT installed doors on the end of the tunnel to keep that from happening. At the end of operations the inner manual door was left closed and the motorized door was left open. The closed manual door rusted to pieces over the years, and about 2000, the outer motorized door and its wood frame toppled outward from the portal onto the track. The manual door later fell directly down onto the track. Both door operator shanties, actuators, poles and signal poles are gone. The north shanty is reported to have been burned, but the foundation is still visible. The south shanty is also gone, though the four posts on which it rested can still be found.
Shortly after the EBT Foundation took ownership of the EBT, one of the discussions was rebuilding the long-abandoned Coles Valley Branch. Unlike the rest of the EBT, the Coles Valley Branch, which split off at Coles and went up to the mine town of Joller (it's often also referred to as the Joller Branch), was yanked up in the '50s but the EBT still owns the right of way. The idea was that that that would give them a terminus until the eventual restoration all the way to Robertsdale. They would have to restore the Sideling Hill Tunnel, which is less work, and then the branch split off before the Wrays Hill Tunnel. No clue if that's still a plan, but it was proposed back in 2020 by Foundation Chairman Henry Posner III.
The #14 taking on water at the Coles Tankhouse in 1940 with a railfan excursion.
In reply to NickD :
Wow, it's hard to imagine that's the same location.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
84 years, 68 of them without any sort of clearing or operation, will do that.
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