Wednesday, March 28, 2012

the East Broad Top Railroad's gas-electric railcar M1

 


A 3 ft (914 mm) gauge railcar built in 1927 in the East Broad Top Railroad's own workshops from Brill and Westinghouse supplied parts, denoted M-1. Its engine specifications: Brill 6 cylinder, 1980 cubic inch displacement (32,500 cc), aluminum block, 400 to 1100 rpm.

The EBT in central Pennsylvania was the last remaining 3 ft gauge common carrier east of the Rocky Mountains and ran from 1873 until 1956. It supplied coal to brick kilns and general freight to the towns it passed through, connecting to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Mount Union, Pennsylvania. Purchased for scrap by the Kovalchick Corporation when it ended common carrier service in 1956, it reopened as a tourist railway in 1960. Still owned by the Kovalchick family, trains operate over 5 miles (8.0 km) of the original 33-mile (53 km) mainline. This trackage is today the oldest surviving stretch of narrow gauge in the US.

Info about the EBT's steam loco fleet here

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