A brand new steam engine has been built in the UK. It's a A1, named Tornado and is the first steam loco to be built for 50 years.

Clicky

 

Thanks for the link.

The trials should include runs at 100+ mph since the originals were run that fast to keep schedule. I've stood trackside as N&W 611 went by at 70 mph and it was truly impressive.

 

I've stood trackside and watched the East Broad Top narrow guage mikados hammer by at about 15 mph lol.

 

Then you recognize where my avatar picture was taken.

A friend of mine was talking to Joe Kovalchick about a month ago and he said that he was seriously thinking about putting the EBT up for sale. This might be the last year to see it operating.

The first couple of years we went (mid 90s) you could stand in Orbisonia yard while four of the Mikados and the M-1 moved around you. It will be a shame if this national treasure is turned into a static exhibit.

 

I just rode the EBT a week ago lol. I live about 15 min away.

The EBT has been up for sale for some time now or so I've heard. There has been a rumor probably every single year for at least 10 or 15 years that it would close down. There have been a few deals where people or state agencies, etc., have come up with offers to buy it, only to be turned down by Mr. Kovalchick for various reasons.

I grew up around the EBT and it's literally in the back yard of my grandparent's old homeplace in Rockhill and I practically lived at the EBT when I was a child and remember all 4 active steam engines running around at once. Besides the fact there are not 4 locos steaming around, physically the EBT and its shops are in better shape now than in decades, with major contirbutions from volunteers in the past decade or so restoring the shops and rolling stock. It would be foolish for Mr. Kovalchick or another party to let the EBT die.

 

If you're into "Steam", This is the place to go:

http://www.nps.gov/stea/

 

Steamtown is a newly built "interpretive" national park that features late 30s steam locomotives from Canada and the United States.

The East Broad Top is a private venture that features teens and twenties narrow guage locomotives hauling rolling stock some of which dates from the 1880s in their original venue. The entire railroad is preserved as it looked when it was closed down in 1956. Some parts haven't been touched since, others have been restored. The special value of the EBT is that it consists of original equipment in the original site with the original buildings and machinery. It is the only railroad in the country that is not a collection of odds and ends thrown together and that still operates on original trackage in it's original site.

If you go during the tourist season be sure to pay the extra fare to get a ride in either a caboose or the Orbisonia (the president's private car).

The best time to go is Columbus day weekend when everything that runs is out on the rails and the shops (with overhead shaft drive machinery) are open for tours. Rides on one cylinder belt driven 1900s speeders are available for a paltry sum and there is a night run on Saturday. There is also an excellent trolley museum that shares dual guage trackage with the EBT.

 

Agreed. Steamtown is just a collection of hodge-podge while the EBT is 100% authentic. It's like going back in time 100 years, even down to the way they maintain it. It's a shame the EBT doesn't get the credit or business it deserves because of big government owned or overly commercial operations like Steamtown or Strasburg.

 

Well my Father who worked on the AC&Y Railroad (during the "Steam era") was impressed with Steam Town, but hey, what does an old Railroad "Brakeman" know?

I thought Steam Town was considered an "Outdoor Museum" so what's wrong with Hodge-Podge when you want to see a lot of different style of trains?

 

Im not knocking Steam Town, as impressive an operation as it is, but I prefer authenticity and small town charm. Not to mention the colorful 135-year history of the EBT.

When the EBT ceased common carrier operations in 1956, the workers left the shops and everything the way it was because of the nature of the coal and railroading business at the time in the area, they figured they would be back to work eventually. If you are fortunate enough to take a tour of the shops (which are now under restoration) you would see tools hanging where they belong on their racks, and miscellaneous things belonging to the workers laying around, old calendars still on the wall beside well oiled 100+ year-old shop machines all driven by an overhead belt system powered by steam boilers, just waiting for the workers to come back to work. It's history and Americana frozen in time.

 

Looks interesting, where is EBT.

 

http://www.ebtrr.com/directions.html

 

EBT is about an hour southeast of Altoona.

In Altoona is the Railroader's Memorial Museum, an excellent new interprative museum. Entry there also gives you a ticket to The Great Horseshoe Curve of the Pennsylvania Railroad just west of town.

Further west are the Alleghany Portage Railroad Museum (where they used to haul canal boats up inclines on railroad cars) and the Johnstown Flood museums, one in Johnstown and one at the broken dam (you can walk out on the dam). The U.S. Hotel in Hollidaysburg offers an excellent fine dining experience.

On 22 headed east from Altoona just before you get to Mount Union stop at Millers before 11:00 AM for a fine breakfast buffet. You will also pass Sweigarts Auto Museum which has an excellent collection of old toys.

In Robertsdale (the south end of the EBT) the Friends of the EBT have a small museum in the depot (may only be open on Columbus day weekend) and a couple of blocks east of there is an old theatre which houses the Low Overhead Coal Mining Museum. The road to Robertsdale is a well paved 2 lane that twists and turns over the local ridges.

 

The Miner's Museum recently moved most if not all it's exhibits into the 1800's Robertsdale church they purchased off the EBT.

 

Hairydalek, Actually its not the first built in 50 years. A chinese company built a steam engine for Valley RR in Essex Connecticut around 1988.