Steam & Excursion > Workin' on the Railroad (EBT to be precise)

The week of September 16-20 saw me head to scenic central PA to (finally!) volunteer in person with the Friends of the East Broad Top.  I signed up for four days on the track crew, where I sought to get down and dirty helping to extend the mainline south from Rockhill Furnace to (eventually) Saltillo and beyond.

Three out of the four days we worked on extending the end-of-track southwards towards Pogue.  My primary job on two of those days was helping lay and align ties, place tie plates and spikes, place and bolt new rail sections, and start spikes on one rail.  While that was happening, another crew followed behind us to gauge and fully spike the newly-laid rail, a task I was a part of on the last day of the work session.

One of the days we concentrated our efforts in Robertsdale (the ultimate goal of the mainline restoration), where there is a Friends museum which operates rail bikes that run south from the museum for about a mile.  We worked in woods outside the teeny town of Wood, building a bridge over a washout that will extend the length of the rail bike operation, and tightening the gauge of some of the rails that have spread since the last train rode over them almost 70 years ago.  

The experience was everything I hoped for and more - I got filthy dirty hauling ties, placing tie plates, bolting rail, spiking rail both by hand and with a pneumatic spike gun, picking and digging to place foundation stones for the rail bike bridge, and a bunch of other manual tasks - I loved every minute of it!  I learned how to use gigantic pry bars to lift rail and ties, how to properly start spikes by hand, space ties, gauge track, and mostly learned what hard and dirty work all of that is!  It gave me an appreciation for previous generations who did most of this work by hand, day in and day out, in all kinds of weather - much tougher fellows than I’ll ever be!  What struck me is that after a career spent in the mostly virtual world of Information Technology, how soul-satisfying it is to be working in the physical world, helping to create something that should be in place long after I leave this earth.

I can’t stress enough the impressive efforts of the Friends and the employees of the EBT.  Many of the volunteers who I worked with are here week in and week out (there are work sessions at least once a week almost year round).  Lunch was provided (for a donation) and a cookout with a multi-media presentation was had mid-week.  Besides track work, much was being done in and around Rockhill Furnace, including building rehab and maintenance, equipment restoration, and a million other mundane things that need to get done.

This was my first time volunteering with the Friends, but definitely won’t be my last.  My one big issue is that I live over 1,100 miles away, so getting there in person is no small task.

I’ve put two videos together highlighting the extent of the new mainline - they’re too long to post here, but if you are interested check them out on the ’Tube - the titles are "East Broad Top trip to End of Track" and "East Broad Top - riding the Silver Sightseer to End-of-Track"

If you haven’t already, please consider donating to the Friends, or better yet join them and volunteer yourself - you won’t regret it!

Some pics (12 in total):

1) The first three days of the week (I missed Monday) was laying track.  Here is our work train we had both Tuesday and Wednesday at the then end of track, being pushed/pulled by the M-4, a 12-ton 2-axle Plymouth :

2) Here’s Henry (EBT employee and a real POW in the best of ways) cutting out a bent section of rail.  Behind him is the tie truck, which with a picker he places the ties down one by one to be properly spaced and placed by the volunteer workers:

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3) Henry (out of view) is controlling the picker and placing another section of rail, while a few volunteers wait to bolt it up to the already laid rail.

4) Looking north back towards the work train, you can see the placed tie plates and spikes on each tie, and lying by the end of the rail a couple of joint bars and bolts ready for when the next section of rail is placed.

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5) When the tie truck was empty, it enabled me to observe and photograph the spike gang working behind us.  Here they are, with one using a pneumatic spike gun to pound home the spikes that were started the ‘old-fashioned’ way by hammer.  A pry bar is being used to make sure the tie is snug up against the rail.

6) On our way back to Rockhill Furnace, looking north along previously laid but as-yet unbalasted track.  This is approaching Jordan Summit, with the long-closed Jordan Cemetery Road bridge in the distance.

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7) On another day, looking south on the first curve south of Rockhill Furnace (just north of the Rte. 475 crossing).  This is the “finished product” - looks pretty good!!

8) On Thursday Sep 19, we traveled to Wood, just south of Robertsdale to construct a bridge to support the hanging rails over a small creek.  Here’s your’s truly with the not quite finished bridge.  NOTE:  this bridge is NOT intended to support a train - just rail bikes!  

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9) On Friday, Sep 20, we had one crew out to finish spiking the rail laid that week.  Here Zane (a local volunteer) uses the battery-powered spiker to pound the spikes home.  Larry is making sure we have proper gauge, and John is using the pry bar to make sure the tie is snug to the rail as the spikes are driven home.  The “Silver Sightseer” track car is in the distance, which provided the crew their transportation to and from the worksite that day.

10) Here’s the tired, dirty, but elated crew at the end of the day (well, 3:30 or so) posing in front of the Silver Sightseer - your’s truly is kneeling on left.

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11) A map of the progress so far - hope it’s legible.  Shows the current extent of track, and some future obstacles - especially the Pogue trestle, which still needs some structural work and bridge ties before track can be laid across it.

12) Last but not least, my accommodations for the week was in this ex-B&M (maybe) caboose in Shade Gap, PA - not too shabby!

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Utterly fantastic accomplishments by EBT and excellent post !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/24 14:19 by train1275.

Hope you enjoyed - thanks for viewing!

Rob Benkovitz
West Palm Beach, Florida

Outstanding report.   I was hoping to hear a first hand report of a volunteer.  I'm a Friend of EBT and follow on FB.  My age and health would make me a liability on the track crew.  Thanks for sharing your accomodations as that is always an issue when going out there.  How about dinner meal?  what did you do?

Tominde Wrote:
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> Outstanding report.   I was hoping to hear a
> first hand report of a volunteer.  I'm a Friend
> of EBT and follow on FB.  My age and health would
> make me a liability on the track crew.  Thanks
> for sharing your accomodations as that is always
> an issue when going out there.  How about dinner
> meal?  what did you do?

Thanks for the compliment.  Yes, food is a bit of an issue out there.  I ate a couple of times at the Spring Creek Diner in Three Springs, which was pretty good.  Also did a Sheetz run one night in Mt. Union, and the Friends took care of Wednesday night dinner with a cookout.  Definitely slim pickings in terms of lodging and dining in and around Orbisonia!!

Wonderful post!
Bob

Good on yer, Rob for getting out there and getting dirty.  I actually clicked on and watched the YT video several days ago before I realized it was yours.  Much appreciate the photos, the map and especially the effort.

mike woodruff
north platte ne

Excellent post and report my brother.  Great to see the work you and the rest of the friends and employees accomplished in your time there.  I hope to do the same thing when I retire from the daily grind in a year or two.  I really enjoyed your videos on my big TV and hope my sister in law appreciated what you did when you left her for 5 days.

Pretty official looking rail structrure for a bunch of volunteers, and the railbike bridge was nicely done. I
really do appreciate the progress videos, not much of that gets regulary posted and now ew have yours
and Mary's in a couple days, certainly no complaints. 

Out 

Great post!  History in the making and the track/ROW is beautiful.  Wonder if it ever looked that good in service.
You guys did great (and hard) work and should be proud of it.

Great report and you've made me decide that I too am going to donate a weeks time to helping wherever I can be of best use. That finished curve sure looks great. Class 5 ng track...who would of thought that possible in 2024.   Thanks for your efforts and thanks for including us. Ross Rowland 

Battery powered spike driver?
How many spikes will the battery drive, before needing recharge?
Did you need a lot of spare, charged batteries on hand?

It Still takes a STRONG man to drive them suckers HOME...
But it's better than a trusty spike maul!

​W.

Great series of photos Rob.  Thanks so much for your volunteer efforts - a salute to you and the other guys working alongside of you.
The B&M caboose is a Pullman Standard product similar to many that were on neighboring New Haven RR as well.
jb

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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> Battery powered spike driver?
> How many spikes will the battery drive, before
> needing recharge?
> Did you need a lot of spare, charged batteries on hand?
>
> It Still takes a STRONG man to drive them suckers HOME...
> But it's better than a trusty spike maul!
>
> ​W.

We had two batteries - forgot what the amperage was, but they were pretty heavy suckers, which made the spike driver a bit top-heavy.  One charge would get us about 100-150 spikes before we'd have to change battery packs.  And yes, it was tiring using it, mainly because it was unwieldy, and also because I was unfamiliar with it - I did about 50 or so before I turned it over to another volunteer.  Zane (the one in the picture) was much more efficient than I was, having used it many times before - he's a strong local high school kid who apparently helps out a lot with the track work.  He and others seemed to prefer the pneumatic spike driver better - easier to handle, and of course no batteries to change.  

Oh - there was a spike maul on hand, but it saw very little use!  To start the spikes we used normal 10-pound hammers - much bigger head to hit the spikes with for inexperienced people like me!

It's great to see the work behind the results we were seeing last weekend. Thank you for your efforts!

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Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions