Steam & Excursion > EBT Passenger counts from The Daily News, Huntingdon

The October 18, 2024 article in the Daily News about the EBT Foundation and the Friends of the EBT buying the building in Mt Union to sort and store records and to scan them where they would have space to work.  The article included the following patronage count which have been kept a secret in the past. 

"The East Broad Top Railroad halted commercial operations in 1956 and reopened as a tourist attraction in 1960. Esposito said that during the railroad’s original run as a tourist attraction, from 1960 to 2011, it peaked in 1962 with roughly 27,000 ridersThe railroad reopened in 2020 and last year [2023] greeted 35,000 riders."“We anticipate meeting that number again this year,” 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/24 12:12 by PlyWoody.

That's an interesting article, Plywoody. Thanks for mentioning it.  The space in Mount Union could make a nice venue for housing special exhibitions on the railroad and its rebuilding

Lots of tidbits in the article

---"we have every expectation  to get  trains to Mount Union"
---"We anticipate 100,000 visitors in the next five to ten years"


https://www.huntingdondailynews.com/news/local/archives-project-to-move/article_37676f00-8c92-11ef-ae4d-83528ed22294.html

As the person who writes the press releases... I can assure you that we've announced our ridership numbers publicly for the past three years, and intend on doing the same this year. Trains Magazine usually covers this for us, however, I think I've quoted the "35,000" number more times than I can count this year on various TV appearances, interviews, etc. 

Just in case you missed it... here is a link to last year's Trains Magazine Top Ten Story where we went in-depth about that ridership record.