Steamy East Broad Top: At the water plug. Oozing about as much steam as I could ever ask for, EBT's venerable "Mike" #15 pauses at the water plug adjacent to the shop building to water up before switching onto the mainline for a day of operations. For the first 42 years of her existence, "operations" would have meant hauling coal trains from the mines south of Orbinsonia, to Mount Union and a connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad. On this day however, she'll be hauling passenger trains and demonstration freights for rail enthusiasts, as part of EBT's annual Fall Spectacular...a sort of "retirement job" that she had since about 1960. I wonder if the crews who ran her back when EBT transitioned from a common carrier to a tourist railroad, ever had any inkling that 15's little retirement gig would last all the way to 2011?
A look at the one-time coal-hauler, which ran as a tourist railroad for decades and finally ceased operations in 2011. The album includes photos from an October 2010 charter as well as images from the very last Fall Spectacular in October of 2011.
