Why Is It Still Around?
THE FATE OF MOST ABANDONED RAIL roads is a speedy dismemberment. The rolling stock is sold to other railroads, or if it’s as obsolete and undersized as that of the EBT, it usually goes to the scrapyard. The rails are then pulled up and sold to be relaid or scrapped. The buildings are sold for adaptive reuse, torn down, or simply abandoned. The rightof-way is offered to anyone who can use it. But whatever means are taken, almost everything is normally gone within a few months, and precious little is left behind to remind anyone that a working railroad once stood on this ground. The weeds and trees move in, and soon even those who worked on the line can no longer point out just where it ran.
For reasons that have never been explained, the Kovalchick Salvage Company made no move to recycle the moribund EBT. A little rail was salvaged, and some cars were sold, but the new owners showed a curious reluctance to tear into the property. There was speculation that the Kovalchicks were waiting for the low price of scrap to recover. Another rumor said that they were waiting for the demand for coal to go back up; the EBT package included considerable coal land, and the railroad would be very useful once again in moving it to market. Perhaps it was just that Nick Kovalchick had been smitten with the quaint little railroad.
If this wasn’t true, then why did the EBT remain intact? Four years after the closing, hardly anything had been disturbed; the basic fabric of the railroad, including the relic of a repair shop, stood untouched. The fox had, in this case at least, done an excellent job of guarding the henhouse.
When the town of Orbisonia began plans for its bicentennial celebration in 1960, the Kovalchicks responded generously. A portion of the track was repaired, and an engine was put under steam. In June 1960 the EBT came back to life. Public response was lively enough that Nick Kovalchick was persuaded to continue tourist-train operations on a seasonal basis. When the senior Mr. Kovalchick died in 1977, his son and daughter-in-law, Joseph and Judy, took over management of the property, and they treated the EBT like a favorite child. The trains ran each year, and repairs were made faithfully. Yet ridership rarely topped 21,000 per season, and revenues did not allow for longterm maintenance. In recent times the EBT’s operations have been renewed each year, but the future is always uncertain.
The state of Pennsylvania and the National Park Service have shown serious interest in developing the EBT as a historic site. Funding is dependent, in part, on public support for the project. If you would like to help, write to Gov. Thomas Ridge, 225 Capitol Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120.
