The East Broad Top Railroad
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The East Broad Top is many things — a delightful family destination, a National Historic Landmark, a great volunteer opportunity, an unparalleled preservation undertaking, and more. Built beginning in 1872, The railroad is the only surviving three-foot gauge common carrier railroad east of the Rocky Mountains. And its shops, parts of which date to the 1880s, are among the best-preserved examples in the U.S. of a late-19th-century/early-20th-century industrial complex — in this case, powered by an overhead belt system driven by a stationary steam engine.
150 years ago, the East Broad Top was among the earliest railroads in America to try a revolutionary new technology: narrow gauge. Today it is the oldest narrow-gauge railroad anywhere in the United States and the last narrow-gauge common carrier east of the Rocky Mountains. When the EBT suspended freight service in 1956, its crews simply went home, leaving a time capsule that the Smithsonian has described as one of the most intact 19th century industrial sites in the country. Saved from scrapping by the Kovalchick family, the EBT was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1964. Preserved today by the EBT Foundation, Inc., we welcome visitors from around the world to sample this monument to early railroading and our industrial heritage.
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