East Broad Top Pictorial 2002

EBT Cars #18, #29 Arrive from Colorado, September 5, 2002

On July 20, 2002, the assests of the Sundown & Southern RR in Colorado were put up for sale at public auction. The Friends of the East Broad Top bid on and acquired former EBT combine #18 and former EBT baggage-express #29. Other than EBT coach #5 at the Tweetsie RR, these were the two remaining surviving EBT passenger cars not secured for restoration or in service. Combine #18 was either purchased new or built by the EBT around 1876. Baggage #29 was bought used from the Au Sable & Northwestern in 1916. Combine #18 had been sold by the EBT in 1954 with the loss of the mail contract and the end of scheduled passenger service, and baggage #29 (then in MOW service) was sold in 1956 at the end of common carrier service. Both cars went first to the proposed Northwoods operation in Michigan, and then to the Sundown & Southern. After purchasing the cars, Venezia Enterprises, Inc. was contracted to secure and transport the now fragile cars back to the EBT's hub at Rockhill Furnace, PA. These photos document the arrival and unloading of the cars at Rockhill Furnace. More history, details, and loading of the cars in Colorado can be found on the FEBT's website.

Car #18 Arrives [2002sep5,18arrival] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
Combine #18 is carried across the tracks on Meadow St, past the EBT's Orbisonia station.

Car #18 [2002sep5,bothparked] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
Combine #18 and Baggage #29 are parked in the roundhouse parking lot alongside the yard with the shops in the background.

Car #18 [2002sep5,18end] x480 (k) - x900 (k)
The platform from one end of each car was removed during their previous trip to Ft. Lupton, but kept in storage and shipped separately to the EBT. This is the intact end of Combine #18.

Car #18 [2002sep5,ramp] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
The cars are sitting on wooden rails on the trailer decks. Here EBT and Venezia Enterprises employees and FEBT's Hank Inman assemble a ramp that will allow the car to roll off the trailer and down onto the the #1 track. Visible here is the platform-less end of #18, with an additional tarp around the front (this end was leading during the highway move). Not shown is David Brightbill oiling the journals on both cars prior to any movement.

Car #18 [2002sep5,18pull] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
With three people 'scorching' the wheels and with a saftey chain on the rear, Stanley Hall gently coaxes #18 off the trailer with a backhoe.

Car #18 [2002sep5,18ease] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
With the car blocked, the backhoe is turned around and used to let the #18 roll down the ramp under it's own weight.

Car #18 [2002sep5,18pry] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
Except that wooden rails don't roll as smoothly as steel rails, so two EBT employees move the car by hand (with the aid of pry bars).

Car #18 [2002sep5,18rail] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
At last, combine #18 is sitting on EBT rails once again.

Car #18 [2002sep5,18shop] x480 (k) - x900 (k)
Combine #18 is carefully pushed into the car shop where its rebuilding likely occured, (though the shop has been rebuilt itself since).

Car #29 [2002sep5,29and15] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
Before and after? Combine #15 never looked so good in comparison!

Car #29 [2002sep5,29flatbed] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
Baggage #29 is spotted over the #1 track.

Car #29 [2002sep5,29pull] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
Second verse, same as the first! The same procedure was used to unload #29 as #18. Additional frame problems on #29 required the extra blocking for transport. This damage is the reason #29 was seen listing in photographs at the Sundown & Southern, and made unloading a bit more nerve racking.

Car #29 [2002sep5,29rail] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
Baggage #29 made it down the ramp and sits on EBT rails.

Car #29 [2002sep5,29andm4] 600x (k) - 1200x (k)
M4 pushes baggage #29 down the track to the car shops to join combine #18.

Car #29 [2002sep5,29shop] x480 (k) - x900 (k)
Stanley Hall (on ladder) and Hank Inman keep an eye on clearances as baggage #29 is eased through the door.

page by Bill Adams