ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — The East Broad Top Railroad celebrated two notable events on Friday (Aug. 8, 2025), returning 2-8-2 No. 16 to operation after it was sidelined for several months, with the locomotive bringing ta train to the campus of Southern Huntingdon County High School adjacent to the railroad.
It is the first train to operate on that segment of EBT trackage since 1956. It pushes the operable trackage about 2½ miles south of the railroad’s Rockhill Furnace headquarters as part of the railroad’s ongoing “March to Saltillo,” to reach that community some 8 miles from Rockhill Furnace. The long-term goal is to restore the railroad’s full 20-mile main line.
The initial train to the school carried EBT employees, volunteers from the Friends of the East Broad Top, Southern Huntingdon County School District board members and administrations, and the EBT Corridor Planning Committee. The first public train to the school is set to run this Thursday, Aug. 14, for the ORFHS Obisonia/Rockhill Homecoming. Information is available at the EBT Facebook page; tickets can be purchased here.
No. 16, the Baldwin built in 1916, had been sidelined all year. It missed much of 2024 with cracked spokes in a driving wheel, returning in August [see “East Broad Top 2-8-2 No. 16 is back in service,” Trains News Wire Aug. 29, 2024].
Meanwhile, the Friends of the EBT said its 2025 fundraising campaign has reached $385,233 as of the end of July, some 142% of its goal of $270,000. Funds for the campaign ending Sept. 30 are purchasing track materials as well as supporting the construction of a new station in Saltillo.
— Updated Aug. 12 at 7:05 a.m. to correct date in photo above.
