the EBT Foundation
Preserving the East Broad Top Railroad for Future Generations
Restoring a Railroad, Reviving a Legacy
Who We Are
The EBT Foundation protects and preserves the historic East Broad Top Railroad, a significant piece of America’s industrial heritage, and shares it as a living window into our region’s history. Since acquiring the railroad in 2020, we have maintained the operational mainline and begun restoring sections that have been inactive for nearly seventy years. We safeguard the original facilities, equipment, archives, and landscape, and share the EBT’s story and its impact on local and national industrial history through excursions, tours, and educational programs.
How It All Began
Learn more about how this all began and explore all the latest news coverage surrounding the East Broad Top and our restoration efforts
Learn MoreEBT In The NewsRestoring A Legacy
Discover the groundbreaking projects the EBT Foundation is working on and see how your support is helping shape the future of East Broad Top.
The ProjectGive NowBuilding Together
From federal grants to local volunteers, every connection moves our historic mission forward.
Our PartnersGet Involvedtoday’s tourists are looking for more than a train ride
They are seeking authentic, immersive connections to the past that show how communities, technology, and landscapes have evolved. Heritage railroading preserves the stories, skills, and experiences that once drove local economies, transforming historic railroads into living classrooms where visitors can see, hear, and feel history in motion. By maintaining historic equipment, infrastructure, and operating practices, these railroads protect rare artifacts and crafts while creating powerful opportunities for education, hands-on learning, and community pride.
Our Mission
The EBT Foundation’s mission is to preserve and operate the East Broad Top as a steam-powered railroad; to educate visitors about the role of railroads in local and national history, and to promote local and regional tourism and economic growth.
Contribute to a vibrant future for our communities by honoring and sharing their past.
Preserve historic structures, landscapes, equipment, and records
Create educational & interpretive experiences
On a chilly October day in 2019, we met in Rockhill Furnace with Henry Posner III, Bennett Levin, and Brad Esposito to visit the East Broad Top facilities. The visit was the culmination of several ongoing conversations among the four of us about the railroad and what might be done to revive it. All of you who have visited the East Broad Top (and if you haven’t it needs to be at the top of your list!) know what a truly remarkable place it is. From the 6 steam locomotives, which seem to be just dozing in the brick roundhouse, to the main shop with the belts to drive all of the machinery still hanging from the rods in the ceiling to the old coaling facility sitting by the track at the south end of the yard, it is the industrial age of our country somehow still remarkably intact. After walking around amazed at what we were seeing, we quickly agreed that this was a project which had to be pursued and that would provide the time and resources to pursue it.
With that, we then entered into the dialogue which Brad had already started with the real hero of the East Broad Top Story, Joe Kovalchick, the owner of the company. That the railroad and shops are so remarkably preserved is a tribute to Joe, his parents who purchased the company in 1956, and all of the Kovalchick family. Joe’s abiding interest in the property and his strong desire to see it operational again, along with his belief that we have the right team to accomplish that the right way, allowed us all to reach an agreement to purchase the company. To do so, we set up a non-profit organization to acquire the railroad and begin the restoration process. We closed the deal officially in February 2020.
Since then, the progress we have made has also been remarkable!
- Wick Moorman
Our Impact
The EBT Foundation has long stood at the intersection of community empowerment and economic transformation, turning charitable investment into measurable, lasting change. Through the generosity of our donors and the dedication of our partners, the Foundation has been able to address one of the most pressing challenges facing underserved communities: access to stable, meaningful employment.
Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission (SAP&DC)
Developed the following projected economic impacts that may be realized when the project be completed
Projected Impact from the Construction of the Railroad
- 149 Direct Construction jobs created
- 24 Indirect Jobs
- 26 Induced jobs
- $21.4 million of dollars spent in Huntingdon County on related projects
- $873,177 new state and local tax revenue
- $1.65 million new federal tax revenue
Indirect jobs and payroll will be created by the railroad’s suppliers.
Induced jobs and payroll will be created as railroad employees buy additional goods and services in the community.
Projected Impact from the Annual Payroll and Operations for the Railroad
- 45 Direct railroad jobs created
- 3 Indirect jobs created annually
- 3 Induced jobs created annually
- $1 million of additional payroll in Huntingdon County will be influenced by the direct payroll paid each year by the railroad.
- $102,793 new annual state and local tax revenue
- $194,916 new annual federal tax revenue