All About our Model Railroad

I’ve been in S scale since 1952 when I received a set of American Flyer trains for Christmas. I proceeded through the years from AF to highrail and then finescale. I moved to my current address in South Central PA in 1996 and proceeded to construct my present S scale layout based on the PRR Philadelphia Divison. My house is only a half hour from the East Broad Top RR and I developed an interest in the RR and it’s history. In the years since, I have modeled many aspects of the EBT in Sn3 and this website is it’s story. I wanted to create this site, because these models are unique in that there is only one other model railroader that I know of that is modeling the East Broad Top in S scale.  Another impetus for creating this site is the revival of the EBT as a tourist railroad.  

Narrow Gauge in the United States:  
Narrow gauge railroads are a part of America’s history. They were designed to transport materials in areas where the terrain was too steep for the standard railroad.   Narrow gauge railroad systems were used throughout the United States. They get their name from the type of track that they were built to run on. Narrow gauge railroads primarily have a width of three feet between rails, unlike standard gauge railroads which have a width of four feet eight and a half inches between rails. There are/were several other widths designated as narrow gauge, including 42” (traction), 24” & 18”.

Narrow gauge railroads were primarily used in the mining and timber industries of the late 1800’s. These short line railroad systems were intended for use in mountainous regions where it was hard for standard gauge railroads to make it up steep grades. In areas where the grade was seven percent or more, narrow gauge railroads were used. They were seen as an inexpensive way of getting gold, silver, and timber out of remote mountainous regions.   It’s sad to think that most narrow gauge railroads are no longer in operation. Most of them have been converted to the standard railroad system. Others have been taken apart and turned into scrap. Even though narrow gauge railroads were inexpensive to build, off loading and on loading became too much of an expense. Each time a narrow gauge railroad met a standard railroad, shipments would have to be unloaded and reloaded.

Only a few narrow gauge railroads are still in operation today. The best examples of this are in Colorado and Pennsylvania. Most of those folks modeling narrow gauge in S model Colorado prototypes such as the D&RGW, Rio Grande Southern and Colorado Southern Most of the major modeling scales cover narrow gauge modeling. After the scale designation there is letter “n” denoting narrow gauge and a number that coincides with the track width modeled i. e. Nn3, HOn3, On3 and of course, Sn3. It’s interesting to note that the physical size of Sn3 trains are roughly the same as HO, Hon3 is close to N in size and On3 is close to S standard. Although my area is modeling PA narrow gauge and will be concentrating on the East Broad Top, I was a member of the Colorado Springs Narrow Gaugers for a short time and learned a little about modeling CO narrow gauge. Those modeling Colorado narrow gauge for the most part have layouts that totally Sn3 since the prototype lines usually stood alone.

The East Broad Top:
The East Broad Top, henceforth known as the EBT, has many features that an eastern standard gauge railroad might have had. Perhaps the neatest thing is that at Mt. Union, PA, the EBT interchanged with the Pennsylvania RR at its main line. This gives the S scaler some interesting options. He can model the EBT entirely in Sn3 or model both S and Sn3. Also, he can model the steam to diesel era or as I do, model a contemporary railroad and do the EBT as a tourist line.

The EBT is the last remaining 3 ft (914 mm) gauge line east of the Mississippi River and is located in Central Pennsylvania. Running from the 1800s until 1956, it supplied coal to brick kilns and general freight to the towns it passed through, connecting to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Mount Union, Pennsylvania. Purchased for scrap by the Kovalchick Corporation when it was shut down, it sat for four years until it was partly resurrected by townspeople of Orbisonia in 1960.

Revival:   
Unfortunately,the EBT closed down on Dec. 23, 2011. But, after an eight-year hiatus East Broad Top Railroad will soon get a new life. The railroad acuired a new owner, EBT Foundation Inc., a new nonprofit organization that urchased the railroad from the Kovalchick family. The EBT Foundation will hold several events this year, which is the 60th anniversary of the start of tourist service on the railroad. EBT plans to resume regular operation in 2021. The foundation will own approximately 27 miles of the line, from the south end of the concrete-arch bridge over the Aughwick River below Mount Union to the road crossing in Wood Township. The foundation will also own the narrow-gauge railroad’s shops, rolling stock, and equipment.

The organization’s been busy overhauling track and equipment, including locomotives and passenger cars; installing a fire-suppression system in the machine shops and roundhouse, and working on several structural stabilization projects. The roundhouse contains six narrow-gauge steam locomotives built for the railroad by Philadelphia’s Baldwin Locomotive Works between 1911 and 1920. Other railroad equipment includes several passenger cars believed to date to the 1890s, and numerous steel freight cars built in the railroad shops.