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Trains News Wire EXCLUSIVE: Standard gauge boxcars scrapped, EBT hoppers safe for now
Outside of Mt. Union yard and the Colo RR Museum, is there any dual gauge trackage left in the USA? Possibly Antonito, or maybe where the New Orleans Public Belt intersets with the Riverfront NORTA streetcar line. But there isn’t much, if anything left of dual gauge reailway.
Where else is there dual gauge trackage in the USA?
I was disappointed by the article; here is a copy-edited version that does not contradict itself:
Trains News Wire Standard gauge boxcars scrapped, 140 EBT hoppers to follow
MOUNT UNION, Pa. – Although 14 standard-gauge wooden boxcars, sitting for half a century in the dual-gauge Mount Union yard of the narrow-gauge East Broad Top Railroad, were scrapped earlier this month, the narrow gauge hopper cars stored nearby will follow, eventually.
Joseph Kovalchick, president of Kovalchick Co., long-time owner of the East Broad Top, says he has plans to scrap the hoppers parked in the yard since the railroad shut down in April 1956. Kovalchick says he will remove the cars from the site soon and will scrap the bodies later, while retaining the trucks for possible overseas sale.
Last spring, Kovalchick offered the hopper cars for sale in a trade publication at $7,500 each. The cars are still available for purchase.
When word of the scrapping of the boxcars was noted in a local newspaper last week, a number of online discussion sites ACCURATELY REPORTED that the hoppers will be scrapped.
The U.S. Army Transportation Corps had used the World War I-era boxcars during World War II. They had cast-iron wheels in their trucks, which have been banned from interchange for many years. Kovalchick acquired them around 1960.
Kovalchick recently sold the yard area to the East Broad Top Preservation Association. Association President Larry Salone declined to comment for this story.
The cars in the yard are in deplorable shape as would any metal object exposed to the elements for 57 years. It would be nice if the money from the scrapping could be used to help bring the EBT back to life but since I’m not the owner, it’s not my call. The Kovalchicks have spent a huge amount of money to keep things going for many years. You can’t blame them for wanting to move on.
The EBT NG trucks, frames, axles, and bolsters are probably worth their weight in (select your fav) precious metal.
Steel wheels…can’t be ignored…necessary for safety…compared to using century old cast iron Wheels.
But from the Black Hills and Michigan to the Cumbres and Toltec, the Durango and Silverton, to a line southwest of Yosemite, Knott’s Berry Farm to Carcross and Skagway, there’s so much salivation, SCUBA requirements apply to wander there.
So much for preservation. Maybe East Broad Top Preservation Association should remove “Preservation” from its name.
I thought the EBT was noted for being a narrow-gauge line. Mr. Kovalchick has demonstrated extreme patience in preserving the railroad.
First, I noticed the contradictory reporting when I read the article. This site needs to be accurate.
Second, I feel some concern about the role of NRHS in preservation should come into play here, too. I declined to renew my membership in NRHS because I believe it has been, to paraphrase Al Capp, “What is good for G.M. is good for NRHS” policy for too long.
The narrow gauge hopper cars could be sold to a narrow gauge museum. I don’t know what they would use them for, but they could have them on display.
One would think some the trucks – at a fair price – would be of interest to museum collections and tourist pikes that already have 3-foot equipment. Wouldn’t the owner rather sell domestically than overseas?
We rode in the parlor observation car on the EBT in the late 1950s. President Grover Cleveland had ridden in that car as I recall. Those freight cars must have been there in good condition when we were there.
At a time when the NRHS is beginning to take a much more activist role in rail artifact preservation, it is thus, in my opinion, deplorable for someone to choose to withdraw support. The dues renewal form allows a member to allocate funds toward preservation efforts.
Full disclosure: I am a former National Director, from a Chapter that has benefited from the NRHS preservation fund, and have witnessed in recent years the growth of the national organization’s efforts toward more preservation and restoration of rail history.
I have also witnessed, over more than 45 years, the deterioration of idle EBT hoppers, and in my opinion they are pretty much collectively beyond restoration, though perhaps not individually (need much new side metal, for example, since many cars are now transversely transparent). Just like everything else, all it takes is labor and $$$, more or less of either.
The Kovalchik family is to be commended for keeping things going all these years (decades !! )despite suffering operating losses. And they’re also still paying for capital improvements, such as their helping to fund the recent restoration (righting) of the EBT Blacksmith Shop. They don’t deserve to be painted as the bad guy here.
Perhaps one of the wooden box cars should have been donated to the US Army transportation corp. Museum at Ft. Eustis, Va.
I would hope that some of the Money the Kovalchick co.received for the cars that sat around for a half a century was donated to the East Broad top preservation society.
Jim
The next time you travel to the Durango and Silverton, and the Cumbres and Toltec Railroads, look for the ballast hoppers that they are using. The bodies have been substantially rebuilt, but the giveaway is the trucks. Cast in to the sides of the truck frames, you will find the following: “EBTRR&CCO.”
There are probably at least a dozen of these hoppers in use on the two properties. They have been in Colorado and New Mexico for a number of years. I wonder if any others have made it to the other 3 foot gauge operations.
I took a look at the old US Army cars in Mount Union five years ago. Here are a few photos.
http://s382.photobucket.com/user/RedRam331/library/US%20Army%20Boxcars%20at%20EBT
The Army basically abandoned them there after the war, and they’ve been sitting outside, untouched for 60 years. We’re talking about wood bodied cars with metal bracing. Word was they were offered for sale a couple years ago, but I’m not surprised there were no takers. Any attempt to move them and they would have turned to dust.
As for the hoppers, apparently they we not included in the sale? I’m a member of the FEBT, and that surprised even me.