By Railfan & Railroad Staff

The East Broad Top Foundation, the non-profit restoring the iconic Pennsylvania narrow gauge railroad, said work to extend the operating main line south of the terminal at Orbisonia is continuing in the new year. 

One of the most ambitious parts of the foundation’s effort to restore the EBT is its plan to reopen the line toward Saltillo, which hasn’t seen train service since the railroad first shutdown in 1956. Presently, the railroad operates between Orbisonia and Colgate Grove. That is the only portion of the railroad that has been active since 1960 and it was put back in service in 2021, the year after the foundation purchased the railroad from the Kovalchick family. At one time the EBT ran on 70 miles of track connecting the coal fields with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Mount Union. 

The line from Orbisonia and Colgate Grove is about five miles long and so opening the route to Saltillo would give the EBT nearly 15 miles of track to run on. Because the railroad was never abandoned, all public grade crossings remain in place and the EBT Foundation is working with state and local officials to repair those. Besides repairing crossings, the railroad must clear brush and rebuild track and bridges. The railroad has not put a timeline on when the line to Saltillo would open. “We move at the speed of labor and funding,” officials have said. 

In early 2024, work was underway on the section directly south of Orbisonia between there and Pogue. 

“Brush clearing has reached the Pogue Bridge, and tie insertion is rapidly approaching the Highway 475 crossing. New track that is designated “in-service” (safe for train operations) has reached the southern yard limits of Rockhill Furnace,” the group posted on Facebook.

For more information, visit eastbroadtop.com.