East Broad Top

The East Broad Top Railroad is a narrow gauge (36" between the rails, normal is 56.5") line that runs from nowhere to nowhere, in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. Up until the 1950s it was a working line, hauling coal from the mines of Applachia to the connection with the Pennyslvania Railroad and the outside world. As demand for coal disappeared after WWII, the line shut down. And shut down it did - everyone just walked out the door at the end of the day. Tools were left on benches, all cars left where they were, I bet the icebox even held a few lunches! A scrapper had bought the line with the intention of ripping up the rails to be sold as scrap, to be recycled into razor blades and Toyotas. A strange thing happened, in that the scrapper became intrigued by the whole railroad, and instead of tearing up the rails, he kept it operating. Not hauling coal, but tourists.

Visting the East Broad Top was stepping back in time to the 1920s. The steam locomotives, the cars, the previously mentioned tools still on the benches. A couple or three times a year they would put on a real show, firing up four or five steam locomotives and running multiple trains every hour. A person could ride, photograph or both. It was a great place to railfan, just find a scenic spot, sit and wait for the trains to come to you. It was easy to imagine it was sixty years earlier than when I took this picture in 1985.