by Jeff Smith/photos as noted
On a frigid February morning in 2023, East Broad Top Railroad unveiled to the public its latest miracle as part of its Winter Spectacular event. EBT 2-8-2 16, a Mikado-type locomotive which had not led a revenue freight or passenger train since 1956, was the star of the event, its restoration completed just weeks before. Throngs of people descended on Orbisonia, Pa., for the debut. The excitement and energy in the air was something neither the town, nor EBT, had seen in many years. This article tells the most unlikely story of the restoration of EBT 16.
East Broad Top, which was built as a narrow gauge coal-hauling railroad in 1871, kept that focus for its entire existence as a common carrier. EBT’s motive power needs expanded greatly in the period around World War I. War-related industries in the U.S. were operating at full capacity and the customers EBT served were no exception. The refractories in the area were operating full tilt, new coal mines were opening, and existing mines were expanding, all driving more freight to EBT. As 1916 approached, the need for larger motive power was urgent.
ABOVE: EBT 2-8-2 16 crosses the Lower Aughwick bridge over Aughwick Creek with a coal train on an unknown date. —EBTR Archives
Between 1911 and 1920, EBT purchased six new narrow gauge Mikados from Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. The first three were acquired in 1911, 1913, and 1914 with tractive efforts of 22,100 (number 12) and 27,600 pounds (numbers 14 and 15). By 1916, tonnage was up at EBT and the railroad was in need of larger motive power. EBT 16 was purchased in 1916 for $16,000 and was the first of three nearly identical larger Mikados, each having 30,600 pounds of tractive effort. The new locomotives weighed 80 tons; were built on 48-inch drivers; had Schmidt superheater units; and 20×24 cylinders, larger than the 19×24 cylinders of their older siblings 14 and 15. EBT 16 featured Southern valve gear, which is rare on steam locomotives in the U.S. aside from those built for Southern Railway. The 16 also had piston valves and twin 11-inch air pumps. Its tractive effort was 11 percent higher than 14 and 15, allowing 16 to pull 22 loaded steel hoppers on the northbound ruling grade from Pogue to Jordan Junction. The lighter-designed locomotives could pull only 15 and 18 cars, respectively. Demonstrating the locomotive’s increased power, it is reported that 16 pulled 60 empty hoppers from Mount Union to Orbisonia.
EBT was impressed with 16’s performance, and because the railroad experienced its highest tonnage ever in 1917 and 1918, it ordered two nearly identical copies from Baldwin. Mikado 17 was delivered in 1918 and sister 18 was delivered in 1920. While they are mostly the same, there are some differences between the three locomotives, with some improvements made with each one. For instance, 18 sits about five inches higher off the ground and its injectors are six or eight inches higher than on 16. Comparing 16 and 18, EBT Master Mechanic Dave Domitrovich thinks “everything was just moved up, probably because they were ripping stuff off along the ground.”
ABOVE: During the early morning hours of April 6, 2021, the final portion of 16’s front tube sheet is cut away. —Matthew Malkiewicz photo
The 16, along with sister 17, had a welded steel tender rather than a riveted tender like the three smaller EBT locomotives. According to reports from the late 1940s, both came with riveted tenders, and new welded tender tanks were purchased from Baldwin.
As a result of the acquisition of the heavier Mikados, EBT upgraded several miles of track to 70- and 85-pound rail around Cole’s Curve in the mountains and a few locations that still had 40- and 50-pound rail, likely on several sidings. This work to support the heavier locomotives long-term was completed in 1919.
As the 1940s came around, the larger locomotives were doing most of the work, pulling two trains per day over the 30 miles between Robertsdale and Mount Union; occasionally, 14 or 15 would make an appearance when the train was limited to 15 or 18 cars. One interesting fact is that occasionally 16’s throttle would stick open, once taking out a portion of the back wall of the roundhouse in Rockhill Furnace.
ABOVE: In May 2022, Josh Capp is feeding one of the 180 2-inch tubes through the front tube sheet. It will then be rolled on both ends and beaded to complete the installation. Rolling compresses the tube into the tube sheet and ensures that it will not leak. —Matthew Malkiewicz photo
By the mid-1950s, mail traffic on EBT had been moved to truck, local freight traffic was minimal, and the automobile had taken most of the passengers. The loss of mail contracts in the 1960s is what made most of the larger railroads unable to sustain passenger operations profitably, and this hit EBT early. These realities meant that there was simply not enough traffic, passenger or freight, to sustain the railroad. Of the three silica firebrick plants in Mount Union, one had shut down and the other two transitioned to gas/oil and no longer required railroad service for the delivery of coal. What remained of the EBT freight business was the Rockhill Coal Company and several private mines between Broad Top Mountain and Sideling Hill that shipped coal to Mount Union for EBT’s cleaning plant and connection to Pennsylvania Railroad.
In the early 1950s, the railroad was operating five days a week and typically ran two trains. One would leave early in the morning from Orbisonia with one of the larger Mikados (16, 17, or 18) heading to Mount Union for empties or making up a train in the yard at Orbisonia. It would then run to Saltillo and up the Narco Spur to swap empties for loaded hoppers at the ganister rock loader. It would take water and leave the loads on the siding at Saltillo to be picked up on the return trip. The train would then continue to Robertsdale and work the mines. Returning to Saltillo, it would take water, pick up the loads it had set out earlier, and then head to Mount Union. The second train would run to Robertsdale, service the mines, and then head to Mount Union several hours behind the first train. As the mid-1950s arrived, train service became less frequent and traffic volume continued to fall. By the end of 1955, there were often only one or two trains a week.
ABOVE: The 16 is in the process of turning its train at the Colgate Grove wye during a photo charter in April 2023. The buildup of the ballast indicates how low the track was when the EBT Foundation began rebuilding the railroad. —Jeff Smith photo
From Common Carrier to Preservation
On March 29, 1956, EBT 16 pulled the last coal train from Robertsdale to Mount Union. The locomotive returned to the roundhouse after the run and dropped its fire for the final time in common carrier service. About a week later, on April 6, Mikado 17 made a cleanup run to Mount Union, gathering a few hoppers of rock from the Narco Spur and a boxcar of sand from Saltillo. After returning to Rockhill Furnace with a single combine, operations on East Broad Top fell silent.
The railroad was sold to the Kovalchick family, and in 1960 tourist operations began and continued through 2011. For most of the tourist era, Mikados 12, 15, and 17 were used. Due to 16’s size and the complexity of her mechanics, specifically the Southern valve gear, it did not see operation in the first tourist era. Around 1984, EBT announced its intention to restore 16 to service; however, it later decided to restore 14 instead, likely because management was concerned that the larger engine would be harder on the track. Allegedly, the decision was made because some of 16’s maintenance records from the 1950s were missing; however, that is unconfirmed. The 16 sat in the roundhouse and didn’t turn a wheel from 1955 until July 1987, when it was towed outside for a National Model Railroad Association group visiting EBT. In 1991, it and 18 were again pulled out of the roundhouse for display, this time facing each other across Meadow Street.
At the completion of the 2011 operating season, the Kovalchick family decided to suspend operations. Deferred maintenance had caught up with the railroad and there was concern about being able to continue operating safely. Many thought the railroad would never operate again, but after sitting dormant for nine years, the railroad was sold to the EBT Foundation in February 2020, and a massive effort to revive the railroad began. One of the primary objectives of the new owners was to have an operating steam locomotive as quickly as feasible…