Cliff, Right of way always remained with the Kovalchic, until transferred to the Foundation, never state owned.
Al P.
OK, thanks Al. I thought the Foundation was a state-owned thing. Guess I need to look up Kovalchic.
The state never took over EBT. Kovalchick bought it for scrap in 1956, and decided not to scrap it in case the coal business improved.
The ROW was bought from various landowners when the railroad was built in the late 1800s. So the track has been sitting in the ROW since 1956. Part of the rebuild involves digging out the rails and moving them to one side, then sending in the earth-movers to re-grade the ROW. Once that is done, the ties can be laid and the rails put back.
And to add to this Iâm pretty sure that as long as it is still owned and the track is down the ROW stands as RR property. Almost everything is there to work with which pretty much brings in the donations and grants. Ainât my cup of tea but it sure is badass especially on the preserving history part. The foundation and friends have done an amazing job in a very short time IMO if it matters!
Just got an earful from WikiP:
The Kovalchick family still owns thousands of acres of land in and around Huntingdon county, including four lots directly behind my house. Much of it is still in the name of East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Co. The operating railroad land is deeded to the East Broad Top Foundation. The foundation purchased a very small part of the Kovalchick holdings in this area.
The railroad was never abandoned, although they had filed for abandonment, that filing was withdrawn when Nick Kovalchick purchased it. The railroad had to prove that it was still a railroad when the Southern Huintingdon County High School was built. They did so by running the M1 self propelled car to the proposed school site. Also, PennDOT was required to replace track when they severed the railroad north of Shirleysburg to upgrade US 522, and had to rebuild the dual gauge crossing of 522 in Mt. Union.
Back to track work: We laid out another 500 feet of track today in Saltillo and much of it was spiked up. Tomorrow afternoon, the first speeders to run in Saltillo since the early 1960âs will happen on the rebuilt track.
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Today we finished up a 7 day track marathon (I only participated the last 4 days). When we called it quits around noon, over 500 feet of siding and 300 feet of main line were spiked and gauged.
To celebrate, the EBTF Track Foreman brought down the âFlying Devilâ speeder for track rides. I was on the first speeder to run at Saltillo since the early seventies/ Train service ended in 1956.
Henry and Zane, the EBTF track crew assisted by Al of the FEBT unload the speeder from the EBTâs Prentice truckâŚ
As part of the crew that built this track I was fortunate to get the first ride on the new track. Here is another group of volunteers taking a rideâŚ
A short videoâŚ
The speeder parked in front of the recreated station. FEBT Volunteers have made great progress finishing the interior as close as possible to the original. Here volunteers are building the mount for the original , to be functional, order signalâŚ
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One of the âperksâ of doing track work is the ability to collect rusty junk from the old roadbed. Iâve collected old short pikes and lots of nuts and bolts. Last week, we cut off the damaged end of a rail and I was given the cut-off for my rust garden. I also found this unidentified piece of hardwareâŚ
No one I showed it to knows what it is. It at one time had at least two holes on the ends. The square center indentation may have gone through, but is now rusted solid. I donât think it is from any âmodernâ Siebert era steel cars, but could be something from the earlier wooden cars.
Speculation welcome!
P.S. for Rooster: I havenât found my Conrail rulers yet 
Jon,
Just put the Conrail ruler to me in your will! 
As for that piece with the square cutout it looks like a handle that went on top of a crank valve. (only an example) like the stem valve on top of a fire hydrant or perhaps a brake lever or something of that nature. Could also possibly be a Pennsyltucky backwoods boomerang.
Very cool. Maybe related to a switch stand?
Pretty small for that, but who knows!
I attempted to break the rust out of the holes, but after at least 70 years basting in coal dust, it wouldnât budge.
A blacksmith told me once that soaking in molasses solution removes caked up rust. Tried it once on an old pin and it cleaned up really nice. Took a month - well, thatâs how long I left itâŚ
Might be worth a try?
Cheers
N
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Were you painting your toenails 3.75" in ?
Cool. Itâs going to end up in the garden. I donât really need to open the holes for that.
For fun, I uploaded the picture to Gemini and asked for identification. At first it thought it was probably a part of a farm implement, but when I explained it had been found on an old railroad grade with rails first laid just after the civil war it changed itâs opinion. Now it thinks it is a rail component from an early switch.
Perhaps, but I stole the ruler from Marilyn. She had it with her painting tools.
This was supposed to be a reply to Rooster, not Niel. Oops. Blame it on the Troegs Pils.
We were back at it today. This time in the Rockhill yard restoring the coal dock lead. Once ballasted and tamped the engine service facility will once again be fully operational.
Next week on Thursday we will be back in Saltillo to build another kit switch.
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This week we were back in Saltillo building another âkitâ switch. This time for the NARCO siding. We didnât quite finish in an 8 hour shift.
After stettig out ties we start with the two stock rails and the pointsâŚ
Henry Long, the FEBT Track Foreman, scopes out the alignment as rails are joinedâŚ
Daniel Lane cuts the bolts attaching the guard rail while Zane Esposito (EBTF Track Crew) supervisesâŚ
What we had accomplished by days end. Beyond that pile of ties is the main leading to Saltillo station. It will be connected on our next session in SaltilloâŚ
Tomorrow we do boring work, replacing ties on Track 6 in Rockhill. Once track 6 is in service, the railroad will retrieve several boxcars slated for stabilization and future restoration.
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Jon, I seem to recall there are 3 sidings connected at both ends. (In the UK any storage track is a siding, and I seem to recall a long argument about âturnoutsâ versus âsidingsâ.)
Thereâs the mainline, presumably the center track, then a station/stopping track. Saltillo also had the NARCO siding, where the ganister cars were stacked until they were dragged to Mt Union. The NARCO spur came off the mainline north of Saltillo and headed west into the hill.
Pete, for the most part that is correct. Two sidings and the main.
When operations ceased, there were three tracks crossing Route 655 in Saltillo. Closest to the station was the station siding, in the center was the main line and then the NARCO siding.
There is currently a debate as to where to locate the switches near the station. Purists say they should stay on the far side of the crossing. Others think there is no reason for more than two to cross the road, the station siding and the main. I believe the NARCO siding was extended across the road in the Siebert years (1940âs) when much of the line was upgraded, so only two tracks crossing would be historically accurate for the earlier time frame.
The property that the NARCO spur was built on was never owned by the railroad, but by North American Refractory Company. Much of the grade is still visible. The spur branched off of the NARCO siding, not the main, just RR south of the main line /NARCO siding switch we just built.