East Broad Top Mikados

[nickco201]

  I was wondering if the drawings for the EBT 14,15 or 16-18 series mikados are available anywhere?
             
Thanks

[Wade Colyer]

Hi:

The November 1975 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman had plans for 14/15 and the September 1961 issue of Model Railroader had plans for 16 along with the 28 caboose, 10 coach, 805 30-ton hopper and 170 wood box car. These show up on E-BAY sometimes or at train meets.

Wade

[armorsmith]

Now that you know which issues you need, they can also be ordered from the NMRA (if you are a member) for about $0.25 per page.  I did that a year or so ago and it was far cheaper than I could purchase the mags for.

Bob C.

[Wade Colyer]

Hi Again:

September 1961 Model Railroader pages 42 & 43, November 1975 Railroad Model Craftsman pages 54 & 55. The RMC is a centerfold so try to get a scan of the middle.

Wade

[glennk28]

I think that RMC also had drawings for the 16    possibly  in the early 1980's--
Glenn Joesten

[Bruce Chandler]

If you're going to make one, the Aristo Pacific motor block makes a pretty good starting point.   The drivers are a bit too big (50" vs 48") and a bit too far apart, but it's close enough for me.   The rest was scratch built.

[charon]

Bruce, the master,
Another great job.
Thanks for the pix.
Chuck

[jsmvmd]

Dear Bruce,

Bee-you-tee-full ! 

Not being adept at this stuff, do you think a 2-8-0 from Barry would work for this kind of project ?

Best Wishes,

Jack, Altoona, PA

[Kevin Strong]

Not in 1:20.3. Barry offers the 2-8-0 chassis with two diameters of drivers - 36" and 40". The EBT mikes had 48" drivers. They would, however, work very well for a 1:24 model. I've seen pics of two 1:24 EBT mikado models built either on BBT chassis or from scratch chassis using B'mann 4-6-0 wheels.

The BBT chassis does make a pretty decent EBT #3 in 1:20.3 though.





Later,

K

[J3a-614]

While on the subject of the EBT, I thought it might be interesting to let outsiders who are not too familiar with it to see what the fuss is about for a railroad only 33 miles long with but 6 steam engines in its last days.

Photos from the recent fall specials, earlier this month, courtesy of a link from Railway Preservation News:

http://mfmalk.zenfolio.com/p47324941

Coal train reenactment from 2007:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFC_9szfA5c

And from 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5dNa7K9aUY&feature=related

And a ride on the "Flying Devil,"one of its motor cars.  It's an adventure to ride one of these things; the Flying Devil has no springs, and no handholds, either.  The flywheel of its hit-and-miss engine is right in front of your knees.  Guess how I know this. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8kpj53hWg4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsiNEUHYRFY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrGtkOcC5-A&feature=related

Official site:

http://www.ebtrr.com/index.php

Good railfan site:

http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/

Have fun with eastern narrow gauge. . .

[jonathan]

Those videos could tempt one to become an EBT fan!

Regards,

Jonathan

[J3a-614]

Who says you can't be an EBT fan, as well as one of the B&O?  As I recall, the late Charles Roberts (Barnhart, Roberts & Company, publisher) once commented that everyone had two favorite railroads, the B&O and another one. . .

One of the things that intrigues me about the EBT is how it looks and feels like a minature branch of the B&O, or a smaller and earlier C&O: classic Baldwin 2-8-2s on coal trains, complete with high headlight (like the PRR and the B&O)--steel hopper cars of classic pattern on plain-bearing trucks, including cast jobs--bright red cabooses that look like a smaller version of the USRA cab that in turn looked like a wooden version of the Northeastern caboose as used by Reading, Lehigh Valley, Western Maryland, and others--cast oval grade crossing signs that might have been designed by the PRR--green passenger cars--

It's interesting to recall that some early railfans of the 1930s found the EBT a little disappointing.  To find a narrow gauge road in that time often meant a real trip back in time, as one often found on the narrow gauges that survived that late examples of 19th century railroading that were still clinging to life; ancient locomotives, wooden passenger and freight cars, sometimes link and pin couplers, sometimes manual braking (no air), or even in a couple of cases, Eames vacuum brakes (Waynesburg & Washington in Pa., Ohio River & Western in Ohio).  The EBT--modern shortline steam that was less than 20 years old, possibly newer than what the Pennsy had on its main line train that dropped you off in Mount Union, a mostly steel freight car fleet, with a handful of wood-sheathed boxcars that were steel-framed, as were those cabooses--why, you could see that on the Reading, why did you bother coming out here?  Interestingly, the one 19th century part that was still around on the EBT was the passenger car fleet.  When the road was going through its modernization program starting about 1910, it was decided not to purchase new cars, but to purchase second hand cars; the fleet that's there now was mostly purchased around 1916.

I'll mention one advantage of modeling a road like the EBT--you don't need a whole lot of equipment.  Six Mikes, a Prairie if modeling prior to 1942, two standard-gauge 0-6-0s, two cabooses, enough hoppers in trains of 22 cars or so to represent the coal traffic (the road's roster of 250 hoppers would be a bit over one train on the C&O), six flats, two tank cars, maybe a dozen passenger cars (if that many), perhaps two dozen box cars, one doodlebug--that's a nice roster, a classic-looking one, too, and your railroad won't look like somthing running along a weed patch, either, while you don't put yourself in bankruptcy needing 50 or 100 diesel units.

A shortline, particularly if it's a fairly heavy traffic line like the coal-hauling EBT, can be a great modeling subject.  And at one time, it was proposed to extend the EBT south to Hancock, Md., and a connection with the Western Maryland--and a bridge across the Potomac to connect with the B&O. . .

Something to contemplate now and then. . .