Rockhill, PA: 1872 East Broad Top Railroad and Trolley Museum

EBT Roundhouse: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite)

Trolley Museum: (Satellite)

East Broad Top (EBT), "which was built beginning in 1872, is the only surviving three-foot gauge common carrier railroad east of the Rocky Mountains....Our roundhouse still houses steam locomotives that have called this site home since they were built in the early 1900s. Our machine shop, the largest and most intact belt-driven facility of its kind in the United States, still echoes with the sounds of craftsmanship from a bygone era." [EastBroadTop]

Stephen Boothroyd posted
old photo of the East Broadtop roundhouse at Orbisonia, PA in the 1970s

 

Don Richardson commented on Stephen's post
2009

Chris Ohl, Apr 2025

Street View, Sep 2023

1 of 12 photos posted by Greg Obst
A few photos from the shop tour today at the East Broad Top Railroad in Rockhill Furnace, PA. The fellow who gave the tour was super knowledgeable and very accommodating of his time and making sure everyone had their questions answered. It was a great experience. This place is chock full of history. I’ll be posting more photos over the next few days.
Chris Nicholson Sr.: I had heard that someone bought the the EAST Broad Top RR, has there been any word as to whether it will be open to the the Public again for Train Rides ? I have had my Children over there for rides a number of Years Ago, Now I would like to take my 10 Grandchildren there for a RR RIDE. IT WAWS ALWAYS A QUITE SCENIC RR RIDE, AND THE WORK BUILDINGS AND RR STATION WERE ALWAYS SOMETHING TO TOUR. I LIVE IN WAYNESBORO, SO IT WOULD NOT TAKE LONG TO GET THERE.

AltoonaWorks posted
Slim Gauge Sunday
8/2022 - When you visit the East Broad Top, make sure to do a shop tour if one is available. You won't regret it.
www.eastbroadtop.com
Bernd Varg shared
The East Broad Top Railroad National Historic Landmark in Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, USA
Photo: L.R. Myers, 2022
Dustin Lehman: Last time I was there was back in the 90s, with my parents. I see alot of improvements since I was there from this drone photo. Never got to do the shop tour or see the roundhouse tho. Back then the area was chained off to visitors. Did get to ride the trolley tho. My late father would have loved to see this being brought back to life.

I knew about East Broad Top because it is famous for pulling its trains with steam power.

They have preserved and use six of the railroad's original steam locomotives. [EastBroadTop_SteamLocomotives]

The EBT went south of Mount Union, PA, to this location where it branched and went southwest to Alvan and southeast to Neelyton. [1928 RR Atlas] (The font for the terminal towns is in the smallest font, and I'm not sure about the spelling of Alvan because Google Maps doesn't know about it.)

EBT now offers train rides north to Colgate Picnic Grove and south to Pogue. [EastBroadTop_ride]

The trolley museum uses the other EBT branch to here.

They have preserved not only the locomotives, but the equipment necessary to keep them running. This is a wheel lathe. I believe they also do work for other museums to help them keep their steam locomotives running.

EastBroadTop_equipment

Note the lineshafts in the above and following photos.

EastBroadTop_ShopTours

By the 1950s, the southeast branch had already been cut back to today's trolley museum's run. The southwest branch went to what is today call Wood.

1954 Pittsburgh and 1950 Harrisburg Quads @ 250,000

Mt. Union, PA: Lost/Pennsy Depot and East Broad Top Interchange

(Satellite, based on the topo map below.)

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
Pennsylvania Railroad Station located in the town of Mt. Union, Huntingdon County in 1908.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
Pennsylvania Railroad Depot in the town of Mt. Union, Huntingdon County in the early 1900's.

Anthony Imperioli: my grandfather tried to buy the station and ground...RR would not sale.....years later they tear it down....go figure????

This would be the depot before the tracks were elevated.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
Pennsylvania Railroad Depot along Pennsylvania Avenue in the town of Mt. Union, Huntingdon County in the early 1900's.

And this is the elevation work.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

The soon to be completed subway under construction for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Mt. Union, Huntingdon County in the very early 1900's. Prior to completion, the main line ran along the tracks located on Pennsylvania Avenue (East Broad Top). 

(Photo form Bill Pyles via https://www.facebook.com/groups/181311765268540/)

1959/61 Newton Hamilton and Mount Union Quads @ 24,000

The above topo map did not label the tracks that stayed on this side of the Juniata River and headed south. So, I checked my 1928 RR Atlas. It was the East Broad Top Railroad (EBT). I recognize that name because the EBT is now a tourist railroad that is famous for using steam locomotives on its trains from Rockhill, PA. See Rockhill, PA, for information about the EBT route.

The EBT terminated at the Pennsylvania RR in this town. Since the EBT was a narrow-gauge railroad, a gantry crane was used to change the trucks under the freight cars as part of the interchange.

Robert Wanner posted
That overhead timber transfer building with the lift crane in Mt Union on the East Broad Top R.R. & Coal Company that made it possible to exchange the trucks of standard gauge cars to a set of narrow gauge trucks to expedite delivery on line. Great innovation for the small railroad. Photo by Fred Cupp in 1950.
[TotalRacing diagrams how the standard-gauge trucks were replaced with narrow-gauge trucks using the timber transfer crane.]

C Stewart Rhine commented on Robert's post
1955 photo by Charlie Mahan.

Bev Smith commented on Robert's post
Jack Fornadley: A Reading box car- part of the “alphabet route” west. I guess we should add EBT to the alphabet routing?

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Co. Engine # 3 along Pennsylvania Avenue near the Station in Mt. Union, Huntingdon County in 1945.

(Photo from Dorothy Cramer via https://www.facebook.com/groups/181311765268540/)

George John Drobnock: Location on Pennsylvania Avenue, Mount Union. The yard Shifter is on the fourth track, near the wall constructed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1905 for the East Broad Top Railroad. The PRR provided an agreement stating the wall would be the responsibility of the railroad and its successors. Between 1904-1905 the PRR purchased 20 feet from the properties fronting the railroad.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
East Broad Top Railroad Mail Drop at Pennsylvania Avenue and Jefferson Street in Mt. Union, Huntingdon County.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

Train Wreck in the town of Mt. Union, Huntingdon County in February of 1917. Twenty-one people were killed including nine mmbers of one family on the way to a funeral of a relative. The cause was listed as missed signals during a heavy fog. All of the dead were occupants of the sleeping car Bellwood. So powerful was the impact that the two last sleeping coaches of the all-steel train were wedged so tightly together that they had to be cut apart. Every passenger in the rear Pullman of the express train, the steel Bellwood, was killed outright. The Bellwood split in two, against the next steel Pullman, the Bruceville, which cut into the Bellwood like a knife. The living in the Bruceville and the dead in the Bellwood were imprisoned by the telescoping of the latter sleeping car, making rescue work and identification difficult. 

The nine members of the family of Chester A. Minds, a coal operator of Ramey, Pa., and a former football star of the University of Pennsylvania were on their way to Brooklyn, where Mrs. Minds's Father, William Caflisch, died Sunday. They boarded the train at Tyrone, buying tickets for Utica, where, it is thought, they intended joining other members of the family. Others killed included Mrs. A. F. Delling who was only a Bride for a short time, Mr. and Mrs. Fanning who were on their honeymoon and bound for New York and Frank Landry who was on his way home from St. Vincent's College.

(Text from http://www3.gendisasters.com/)

George John Drobnock: Location South Jefferson and Canal Street (near Water Street) Mount Union Pa. Current location of the Sheetz Store. [So we are looking at Jefferson St. Based on the topo map above, I think the depot was just east of Division St.]

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
[same description as above]

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
[same description as above]

Lonaconing, MD: 1839 Lonaconing Blast Furnace, First Coke-Fired Furnace

(Satellite)

Old Blast Furnaces Overview

Street View, Jul 2023
75 tons of iron a week.

Facebook Reel
"It had two hot air furnaces heating the blast."

Chris, Sep 2023

Chris, Sep 2023

Prattsville, OH: 1854-83 Vinton Blast Furnace and Belgian Coke Ovens

(Satellite)

Old Blast Furnaces Overview                                    

Chris Hardin, Sep 2022

Kimberly Murray, Jul 2024

Facebook Reel
"The last remaining Belgian Coke Ovens in the world."

Arden, NY: 1854 Clove & 1806 Southfield Blast Furnaces and Erie Depot

Clove Furnace: (Satellite)

Southfield Furnace: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite)

Old Blast Furnaces Overview

Clove Blast Furnace

The furnace is the stone tower behind the building. I think the building was the cast house. It is rare to see a preserved cast house.

Street View, Oct 2016

This provides a better view of the cast house and furnace.

DPL, Aug 2019

This is the other side of  the furnace.

HudsonRiverValley
"One of many blast furnaces in this iron ore-rich region, Clove Furnace opened in 1854, producing some 5,000 tons of iron by the following year—and 101,000 tons in the decade between 1871 and 1881. Iron produced here was used for the manufacture of stoves and other hardware. The furnace was shut down in 1885 and now serves as headquarters of the Orange County Historical Society. The restored stack, spillway, and other buildings provide a rare glimpse into an important 19th century industry in the Hudson River Valley, while the adjacent museum explains the iron-making process and offers displays about other aspects of Orange County history. Hiking trails in Harriman State Park pass many of the mines that supplied this and other furnaces."

The audio didn't work for me. That is unfortunate because Linda normally provides an informative narrative.

Facebook Reel

Southfield Furnace and Iron Works

Yurii Chinenov, Jan 2023

Google's AI summary: "The Southfield Furnace and Iron Works, located in Tuxedo (Southfields), New York, was a charcoal-fired blast furnace built by Peter Townsend II in 1806." I could not find a reference for the 1806 date.

Ann Marie Sutherland posted
A View Of The Ruins Of The Old Southfield Furnace, Monroe, New York NY 1907

Julie Journeys posted
Went to go check out the ruins of Southfield Furnace and Iron Works and discovered a gorgeous waterfall!

Erie Depot

Street View, Oct 2016

Kevin Wong, Mar 2023

Drake, IL: Lost/GM&O Depot

(Satellite) The town was also known as Hanks Station.

Barbara Donovan posted four images with the comment: "Depot at Drake, Illinois."

Jeanne Pence Strubbe: David McGraw The Depot sat just north of the RR tracks on the west side of the road. The old apple shed (Cox's Auction) was on the east side of the road. I can still picture it all in my mind.

DaVe Durham shared

Richard Fiedler shared

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1926/26 Roodhouse Quad @ 62,500

The town was south of the tracks.

1937 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Williamsburg, PA: 1807-75 Mount Etna Iron Furnace, first furnace in Blair Co. and Lock #25

Furnace: (HAER; Satellite, "one mile east of US-22" and the HAER "sheet" below.)

Lock: (Satellite)

This photo is from 1990 or before.

npshistory
 HAER PA,7-WILL,1-A--2
2. EAST ELEVATION - Mount Etna Iron Works, Etna Furnace, East of U.S. Route 22 on T.R. 463, Williamsburg, Blair County, PA

They have added a lot of reinforcement to hold the furnace together.

Facebook Reel

In fact, they had to do restoration work as well as stabalization work.

HAER PA,7-WILL,1-A--3
3. SOUTH AND EAST SIDE OF FURNACE, CHARGING EMBANKMENT IN BACKGROUND

sah-archipedia, Michelle Krone

This video is longer and includes an explanation as to how the iron was used before steel became cheap.

Facebook Reel

There were also several support structures by the furnace: charcoal house, blacksmith shop, ironmaster's house, company store, residence, forgeman's house #1, tenant house, boarding house, mule barn and church.

HAER PA,7-WILL,1- (sheet 1 of 1)
HAER PA,7-WILL,1- (sheet 1 of 1) - Mount Etna Iron Works, East of U.S. Route 22 on T.R. 463, Williamsburg, Blair County, PA

The Pennsylvania Main Line Canal bordered the property.

npshistory

The Lower Trail repurposed the canal right-of-way. [nps]

Jacob L. Wible, Nov 2025

Martin Bassani, May 2024