The MOST ORIGINAL and complete RAILROAD SHOP EVER? | EBT Shop Tour Part 2

[@The_Smith]

"worked hard to make it look like they did nothing at all" what a great way to describe that place.

[@Spook_Boi]

sometimes a job well done involves no one noticing you were even there in the first place

[@retr0bits545]

My thought is can I actually make some stuff using their machine shop as I am training to be a machinist myself to show how it’s done…

[@leightonmoreland]

I still think its crazy that they needed a new panel piece on a hopper and they just pulled one out of inventory and fired up the punch and lo, a hopper was fixed like it was 1956

[@DaltonCypherUSATC5019]

And we hot riveted it with a forge and rivets we pulled from the shops

[@leightonmoreland]

@@DaltonCypherUSATC5019 like absolute legends

[@Roboticus_Prime_RC]

There's a museum near me for an old farm. They have several working steam tractors, and an old machine shop that still has the machines powered by the belts. Not nearly as big as this one, but still really cool to see.

[@angryrailfan5711]

A cool story about the south end of the railroad. In the 60’s the county built a high school near pogue and the driveway crosses the track. The school threatened to take the rails out but the railroad said no it’s still in use and ran the m1 down past there despite the track not having been maintained in 14 years

[@LamhirhAbriel]

I understood that story as they made M-1 stuggle as far as Three Springs because the school district wanted to be closer to the road (which would have severed the right of way), and claimed the track was abandoned. That little adventure with the M-1 was the railroad's reminder that they had funded at least one school along the line in the past, and weren't having any of it.

[@Formulabruce]

WoW1 ! Excellent. I saw this place in 1964 as a wee lad with my Grandfather.. Really Impressive, Thanks Hyce!

[@paulcarboneNY]

Oh man this warms my heart. I was there as a kid in the late 80's and rode a few of the trains (including the M1). I remember being sad seeing the shop in such a state of disrepair, hoping that someday it would get restored. I'm so excited to see it all being cared for and brought back to life!

[@tedmiles2110]

The only other Railroad Shop that comes close is the Sierra Roundhouse and belt-drive Shops at Jamestown, California. This short line was similar to the EBT but carried lumber as it main product. TM Friends of the EBT Member

[@peregrina7701]

Very cool! One hears people talk about cool machine tools from the fifties, built like armored tanks, and very capable to this day. And yes, they're awesome. However. This shop has tools you hook up with a big belt to a shaft from a stationary steam engine, and beautiful, highly precise pieces of mechanical ingenuity were made here. "Wow" is the right word although I imagine there's a lot of unprintable things said too! Major props to Brad and the organization for getting the railroad into shape as a museum, a living slice of history, while creatively hiding both their restoration work (13:05 a very specific formula of black crud paint!!) and the necessary modern conveniences! Thanks for the video! Worth the wait!

[@brillbusbootcamp2320]

Wow, great comments and editing guys! Even having seen the EBT for years, it’s a whole new and fascinating viewpoint to consider the shop complex as a series of interconnecting processes. Or, to describe it in a way younger viewers will recognize, to look at each crafting recipe the shop can make, and what tools and items you need to make all that stuff. Thinking of it that way just gives the place a whole new life. It’s insights like this that really make this channel so special!

[@Jopsyduck]

The EBT knows how to do it correctly (regardless of what "it" is).

[@patricksheary2219]

Hi Mark, after watching this episode, I’m still processing in my mind just how fabulous are the shops at the E.B.T. So many wow moments throughout your video, but to see that many surviving early machine shop tools blows my mind. AND that they also still work from the belt line system is just OMG!!! Such beautiful examples too. Like you said Mark so few machine shops like this survive. I could smell in my mind the oil and metal and all that your senses take in when visiting such a place. The high quality of the building conservation is impressive. I loved it when Brad talked about doing the restoration so that visitors would not notice any new work, was music to my ears. And the all important details too. From the candy wrappers to the paint brush splotches was not only great to hear about and see but also tells the story that people worked there and makes the place come alive. It’s always so nice to observe the human touch at an historic site. I could so go on but must end by saying many thanks to Brad for an excellent tour. And of course Professor always thanks to you and double cheers for another amazing video!

[@fastflyingcarolinian2]

as soon as he said "and apparently he had a thing for Hershey candy bars" I was in the middle of eating one

[@Wandering_4ever]

My hats off to the all the folk s preserving and rebuilding the E.B.T !!! I hope to get out there some day and see it all in person ...

[@yuyuhaio]

What a time capsule! Thank you for taking the time to film all this and share it with us!

[@daniellewis1789]

They've gotta get you (and Lawry) to help fire an excursion. See how it feels compared to the locomotives you're used to.

[@kittty2005]

Boyne City Rail Road had a shop like this. When I was 16 it was reduced in size because of progress. They had one steamer an 0-6-0 and a 600 HP center cab GE a 3 stall round house and a 15,000 sq.ft,. shop with a myriad of old belt driven power tools antiques because they no longer had a stationary boiler. This was on the shore of Lake Charlevoix the shop was razed rails torn up the engines and machines were made into manhole covers, by a local foundry. Now there's a restaurant and condos and shops , a huge marina .

[@pontushaggstrom6261]

I really enjoy these deep dives into different railraods and railroad history you're doing at different locations! More stuff like this! You'd fit great into a railroad history show on the Discovery Channel

[@TheOneTrueDragonKing]

Oh hell yes. Discovery Channel, History Channel, PBS or Pentrex would all be lucky to have him. If History decided to reboot Trains Unlimited or Extreme Trains, Mark could be a very good host.

[@wesbrackmanthercenthusiast4695]

14:26 there is a Amish owned modern metal shop I know of that runs its facility off a line shaft hickory lane welding of salt creek road here in Ohio

[@PennsyPappas]

Hyce happy face at the end thwre in the Doodlebug says it all, what an absolute awesome place to be and experiencing the epitome of what we think of railroading of the past. So darn cool.

[@larryduttry9400]

Glad to see a “local” place covered. Thank you for visiting The East Broad Top!

[@nickdecker2350]

Would have been cool to see more of a close-up of the machines and tools in the machine shop. Great video !! Really enjoyed watching it and hearing about the history and dedication to preserving it

[@larrycurran8036]

Thank you to you and Brad for the best video that I have seen yet on the EBT! 😺

[@steamgent4592]

Not only the ability to maintain their own stuff but EBT could become a contract parts maker and repair shop it’s so well equipped. The friends have done so much since I was a kid when they started out it’s amazing So glad they were able to preserve what they have. Being a narrow gauge guy yourself I’m sure you enjoyed this trip a lot. EBT is a great place that time didn’t get a chance to totally destroy. Long way from home for you but I’m sure you definitely enjoyed it once you were there. For me it’s great to see the concentration of effort to reuse the southern portion of the railroad. It truly is the best part with mountain grades and tunnels. Tunnels that sadly will take a lot of work to reopen but well worth the effort to see 16, 12, or 15 climb the grade to robertsdale again.

[@SierraRailway]

This place is incredible! I’ve been involved with the Sierra Railway Shops at Jamestown since 2011, but as great as it is, I think the EBT is a bit more impressive. A steam powered belt shop! 😲

[@railwayjade]

Love this - the more I hear, the more I love it

[@JuneNafziger]

This tour reminds me of the above ground tour I took at the Soudan underground iron mine in northern Minnesota. The tour group was just me, my dad, and one of his best friends from Colorado. The guy we were with was extremely knowledgeable and was able to give us a lot of personal anecdotes, and my dad and his friend were able to ask a lot of great questions because they had worked with process machinery before (met working at Hammond’s candy, which you might know, one of the grinding machines was actually made by the same company that made some of the stuff at the candy factory). It’s great to be able to take a tour with people who have general knowledge because you can ask good questions meaning you can learn things you never would have if you just followed the tour guide.

[@timothybockhoff1075]

Love hearing that the original Babcock & Wilcox Boilers are there. I currently work for this coming on the BWXT side of things. Our company is still located in the same place also.

[@SteamfanScott]

Enjoying this series and such a great look behind the curtain of the EBT and it’s history and great job of bringing it to life! So amazing that it has been preserved as it has, and hope that it will continue on for generations to come.

[@stevenhughes4614]

A fascinating tour of a fascinating place. This place is on my "Bucket List." Thank you Brad Esposito for this great video tour. I can't wait to actually be there!!

[@Surkai25]

Man.... Really makes me wish I lived in Pennsylvania. I'd try to volunteer as much as I could there! Absolutely amazing.

[@Austin-cn8vh]

So one could call this episode, inside the East Broad Shop.

[@TheOneTrueDragonKing]

LIMES!

[@Austin-cn8vh]

@@TheOneTrueDragonKing Two part series, one terrible joke per. :)

[@TheOneTrueDragonKing]

@@Austin-cn8vh Indeed.

[@Lindenify1010]

Incredible video mark

[@TheServeris]

I've been waiting for this video. Nice.

[@paulafranceschi]

The General Manager guy is so impressive!

[@hallkbrdz]

Enjoying the videos. One suggestion is to pan around to see what you are talking about, such as in the wood track shop. Seeing the big reduction wheel as it was being talked about would have been nice.

[@forgegamer3118]

you should go back sometime and do another one of these to see the progress they have made

[@jkp41978]

I love the EBT videos. I went there as a kid. Was able to ride in the caboose. Such a cool place. Need to make it back up soon.

[@shawnwarneke5536]

Another cool virtual tour! While I have been aware of the EBT through various forms of media and such, I've never seen the EBT in such up-close detail. You really do a great job of capturing the spirit of a place, and then articulating what their functions were. You really do ask some very good questions that also help to help us, the viewer, gain a clearer picture of what life might have been like when these things were built and used. Looking forward to future virtual adventures!

[@Lazarus7000]

Is there enough railroad left that there will be opportunities to use the trains to make money moving things around, as that one other preserved railroad whose name slips my mind does? I love to see old equipment still in service like that, still doing what it's meant to do. Perhaps the question is more, is there anything near the railroad wot wants stuff moved anymore?

[@LamhirhAbriel]

As of this week (8/23/23), the main south of of the coal dock has been rebuilt and the beginnings of the turnout to Track 3 is being laid (the ramp track to the coal dock diverges from Track 3 about 300 feet north of this swiitch). I would fully expect Friar Tuck (the FEBT's track crew is lead by a minister, Gene Tucker) and his crew to be approaching Jordan Summit (about a mile south of the yard) by late fall provided PennDOT approves reopening the PA 475 crossing (currently the end of track for speeder rides) about 3/8th of a mile south of the coal dock. 6 years ago, things were looking so grim that I fully believed that anything south of Rockhill would never happen even if the railroad reopened. That, obviously, has aged like milk, but I can't be happier to have been wrong about something.

[@mason7024]

I’d imagine they’re just waiting on supplies to rebuild the crossings. Someone had commented on a post and had said they’re going to be asphalt with rubber seals between the rails. They’ve already been in talks with Penn DOT about detouring traffic, etc.

[@CMDRSweeper]

I didn't expect the central belt driven setup to be a thing, but when he mentioned it, I was instantly taken back to industrial Minecraft and mods like RotaryCraft and the better Create mod. And I guess it sort of makes sense to power tools, when you do not have electricity that can do the same thing. Latter is probably the closest you get to assembling a crazy contraption like this shop to run various things. Really wish we could have gotten to see it run, would have made me chuckle that is for sure.

[@15nyonker]

Thanks for sharing this with us Hyce. These shops in particular, are just stunning and priceless to me. So much is happening out at EBT, I need to get out there at some point.

[@Dan_Gyros]

Absolutely incredible! The stories, and the history, and the passions! Fantastic!

[@tthesurvivalist7737]

Itd be amazing to see all those line shafts and belts going.

[@tabithagorrell4446]

I want to Vista this now so bad lol

[@awildjared1396]

guess I'll add visiting the EBT to the list next time I'm visiting my brother in NJ

[@bluescrew3124]

This is so great.

[@robingphillips]

No idea of you have the chance to do more historic site tours, but this was a great addition to the channels programming

[@Demon_Outlaw]

Awesome

[@andrewholmes8337]

Beauty 😢

[@patrickorr2256]

Cool

[@wesbrackmanthercenthusiast4695]

I wonder if someone needed traction engine boiler work done and wanted to learn how to do it if one could learn on the job at this facility I also need to know how to set up lineshaft powered equipment for my sawmill and horse drawn equipment shop

[@lightningwingdragon973]

Hey Hyce. I already left a comment on the new Studio vid, but I'll leave one here too. Can you relay to the dev team if they could Please PLEASE PLEEEEEZZZEEE make sure there's a way to turn off post processing and motion blur on the game! Otherwise I won't be able to play, (and I really wanna) Thanks, love all that you do!

[@gianstyle7131]

Its amazing

[@erikunderbar4265]

great

[@kadenwike1679]

Go to altoona Pennsylvania and horse shoe curve

[@OutbackCatgirl]

it'd be great if you could get b-roll of, eg, the speed increasing pulleys and gears for when saying "this is an x" so instead of being static talking you Show us what you two are actually referring to, it'd be way less confusing

[@TheOneTrueDragonKing]

So question - the shop complex, is it functional? Like, if one had the parts, could one build a brand-new passenger or freight car to an old design, from scratch, in that shop?

[@Hyce777]

They're working on that. Much of it sunk into the ground and hasn't been used, so they've been overhauling. but that's the goal.

[@TheOneTrueDragonKing]

@@Hyce777 WOW. So eventually they're going to be the Strasburg of Narrow Gauge. That's pretty cool. And bonus: If you ever get your replica Montezuma design completed, that shop would probably be the place to build it, full-scale.

[@toymachine2328]

Start organising funding, we need to build a Rio Grande Garratt engine

[@NW-gi1cp]

Imagine they get 16 to pull all of her siblings on the main line together

[@cameroncashatt692]

Awsome

[@QuorkQTar]

Really nice documentary, both parts. Thanks Hyce! Should I ever cross the pond, I guess that'd be one station I'd go. What the heck is a "pattern shop" though?

[@Hyce777]

It's the place they make wooden patterns for casting things in metal.

[@QuorkQTar]

@@Hyce777 oh okay! I didn't know that's called a pattern, too in English. I only knew "mold", I think. Thanks 😊

[@Hyce777]

@@QuorkQTar I think the nuance of it is that, the pattern, along with core boxes that allow hollow spaces, when packed full of sand, becomes the mold. The pattern is reusable, so it gets rammed full of the special sand that holds the shape, the pattern is removed, and then the metal is poured into the mold that results. It's a fascinating process. I'm not surprised that a lot of the words don't necessarily translate well though! Haha

[@QuorkQTar]

@@Hyce777 oh of course. It's the positive. So pattern is the correct word. Thanks for the education 😄

[@Nareimooncatt]

What's the pattern shop? I tried to Google it, but all the results were about railroad themed patterned fabric from craft suppliers.

[@Hyce777]

Where they made patterns for castings - the actual wooden boxes and molds that would end up forming the space to be filled with sand, then metal poured into. Pretty specific and skilled craft.

[@Nareimooncatt]

@@Hyce777 thanks!

[@gbwdude]

It's like that place is the NNRY of the East

[@maxwellwalcher6420]

Would you Fire Southern 630 Please.

[@NullReference119]

Overall a good video. A tiny bit of feedback: I would have like to have seen some B-roll while you were talking illustrating the specific thing you were talking about.

[@nittygrittygarage5497]

B is for broadtop

[@2peaseinapod486]

yay 5th comment. Great video as always, Hyce.

[@amyreynolds3619]

David R 400 top 35 below

[@valeriemcharrie7416]

Play Steam and steel

[@foellerd]

Hating on modern day Industrial engineering pretty hard, I see ya 😂 they win some they lose some. That’s unfortunate the didn’t win the day for you.

[@schwarzermoritz]

Do wonder where they'll build the shops to maintain this railroad, since all of this equipment is way too historically valuable in its own right to actually operate for production. Especially with todays health and safety standards in mind. Pulleys, belts, big cast iron spoked wheels: everything is open, no guards or protection anywhere 😅

[@inotsmarty5700]

sus

[@bow-tiedengineer4453]

@Hyce You were talking about the sound of a steam powered shop, I'd strongly recommend giving this guy's videos a watch. www.youtube.com/@davidrichards5594 His shop is mostly backdated to 1925, though he has a couple of newer machines, and by his reckoning it's the only active commercial steam powered machine shop in the US. The sound of the belts and drive shafts and the stationary engine is honestly incredibly soothing to me. You can tell why they call it a heartbeat of steam. Building my own shop like that is honestly one of my big life goals, though I'd probably have a large electric motor as well, for when you just want to make something right now without firing up the boiler.

[@DaltonCypherUSATC5019]

Dave Richard's is actually on of the folks who helped us level the line shafts in the shop

[@bow-tiedengineer4453]

Cool! Do you know how he's doing? I realized today that he hasn't posted anything all summer, and this is usually when he comes out with the most videos. That sort of radio silence always gets me a little worried something's happened.@@DaltonCypherUSATC5019