The National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) held its 2024 convention in Harrisburg, the capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Attendees traveled to several prominent historic and tourist rail operations.
While I’ve been a member of the Society for 47 years, I’ve not attended that many of the annual conventions, which generally last five days – this one was close by and offered two experiences I was looking forward to.
This year’s kicked off on Tuesday, August 27th, with a visit to Strasburg, the home of both the Strasburg Rail Road, a popular tourist attraction, and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. I chose to skip, as I’ve been to both a number of times over the past several decades … and it’s an easy one-and-a-half-hour drive from my home here in eastern Pennsylvania.
Wednesday was a trip of great interest to me … heading 75 miles west in the general direction of Altoona by bus to Orbisonia/Rockhill Furnace, the home of the famed historic narrow-gauge railroad, the East Broad Top Railroad. It was founded in 1871 primarily for the purpose of hauling coal, which it did until 1956, when the market for coal had pretty much dried up, hence ceasing operations. The entire property, including rolling stock, equipment, and buildings, was sold to a private owner who was in the salvage business. Rather than dismantling it for salvage, he kept it all pretty much intact.
In 1960, the local communities were preparing for their bicentennial celebration and asked that a steam locomotive be put on display; the owner, Nick Kovalchick, did them one better … he rehabilitated a few miles of track, two locomotives and a couple of passenger cars and operated tourist rides during those summer months. Proving so successful, in one form or another, these operations continued each summer through 2011, following which was another shutdown. Yet, thanks to a skeleton paid staff and volunteers from the Friends of the East Broad Top, equipment and facilities continued to be preserved in the succeeding years until 2020, when the newly formed non-profit, the East Broad Top Foundation – headed by noted rail preservationists and former rail industry executives – acquired ownership from the Kovalchick family.
My wife Alicia, our son Scott, and I first visited the EBT sometime in the early 2000s, driving up from Maryland on a day trip.
I need to note that the “Friends” group was founded in 1984 and continues to this day, very active with dozens of hardworking volunteers and financial supporters. The current major project is acquiring materials and a track rebuilding effort known as the “March to Saltillo”—you can learn more by visiting their website and/or following them on Facebook.
Before leaving the East Broad Top, this is one trolley that is part of the Rockhill Trolley Museum collection, sharing space with the East Broad Top on its headquarters property in Rockhill Furnace. Also, the EBT # 16 steam locomotive has been in the shop with the mechanical team was just finishing up an unexpected major maintenance project, so it was not yet back under steam in time to pull our NRHS tour of the active part of the line – which had been the hope of all for our NRHS visit – this would occur two days after we were there, as this photo by an unknown photographer shows on Friday, August 30th.
As for the NRHS convention, Thursday was devoted to the meetings related to the important business of the Society and its many chapters across the nation. There was also time for walking the few blocks in Harrisburg to visit Harris Tower and the PRR/Amtrak Power Director’s Office … both are no longer in use by the railroads but are being preserved and maintained by the NRHS Harrisburg Chapter. To learn more about both facilities, I invite you to visit the very educational Chapter website!
On Friday, it was on the bus again for a trip to what’s known as the Reading Outer Station, where a set of Budd RDCs operated by the Reading, Blue Mountain, and Northern Railroad awaited us.
The Budd Company of Philadelphia, between 1949 and 1962, built 398 what were known as RDCs or Rail Diesel Cars. Constructed out of stainless steel with each propelled by a diesel engine, they were usually operated in sets of two to four cars. Most were spread across just two dozen railroads in the United States and Canada, yet a few found their way to Cuba, Australia, Brazil, and the oilfields of Saudi Arabia.
As I shared in an earlier Musings, titled Railroad Memories … the Newtown Branch – Part Two:
All of these RDCs were built in the Budd Company’s Red Lion plant … which is not as has been reported at times, located in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. Rather it was in northeastern Philadelphia on Red Lion Road, not many miles from where I lived during my growing-up years!
The plant had a rail line connection to the West Trenton branch of the Reading (Railroad, now SEPTA), connecting at Philmont, just a couple of miles up line from Bethayres. During my high school years in the early 1950s, we would travel by bus from Feasterville to Huntingdon Valley, passing this location. Frequently, sitting in a small yard at this junction would be one or two RDC’s, awaiting pickup by the Reading’s local freight.
Returning to 2024, even though I first laid eyes on these rail cars 70 years ago, this trip in August is the first time I have ever been on board and ridden a Budd RDC!
All the regular departures from here go to Jim Thorpe, the popular tourist town named after the Native American sports legend. Our trip today would head towards Minersville and other branches of the Reading & Northern that seldom see a passenger train.
On the way back south to our starting point, we made a stop at the railroad’s shops in Port Clinton, Pennsylvania … giving us the opportunity to get up close to the Reading and Northern’s large steam locomotive, a Model T-1 4-8-4 Number 2102. This big baby was built in the Reading Company shops in Reading in 1945, so it is very much at home on these rails.
And, would you ever think that a steam locomotive would ever look so complex on the inside?
While we did not see this here in 2024, *Mitch Dakelman did provide a photo of #2102 under steam two years ago, taken two years ago in Jim Thorpe!
On Saturday, the final day of the gathering was an all-day trip south from Harrisburg to visit the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad and the Northern Central Railway of York, two tourist lines filled with lots of history; however, this old guy chose not to take – I’d gotten to return to the EBT to learn about and see what is being accomplished in restoring this truly historic narrow-gauge operation and visit and ride a part of the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern. The R&N is not really a tourist operation, it is a thriving freight railroad which enables them to do a first class job with their passenger excursion operations, which includes trips pulled by two different steam locomotives.
I’ve been impressed with the Reading & Northern operation ever since I began reading about it decades ago … built from scratch beginning in 1983 with just 13 miles of track. It is owned by one man, Andy Muller, and today provides freight service on 400 miles of track running through eastern Pennsylvania.
And that’s one person’s look at the 2024 Convention of the National Railway Historical Society. I invite you to visit the Society’s website to learn more about the organization founded in 1935, to see hundreds of still photos in the NRHS Photo Gallery as well as videos available on our YouTube channel.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures, some of which were taken/provided by the *NRHS Media Librarian Mitch Dakelman.
Image Credits: Marlin R. Taylor, NRHS Media Librarian, Mitch Dakelman
I love the photos. Growing up as a kid, I always wanted to become an engineer. My Dad thought about electronics, I said NO Dad, a train engineer.
He never got over it. Always teased me about it.
Thanks, Dan. It was a good week.
Great job on the article, and my photos looked good, too!
Appreciate your contribution, Mitch, to enhancing my Musings look at railroading in central Pennsylvania!