Preparation
East Broad Top Railroad No. 16 getting prepared for the next day’s run.
After 67 years, the 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive began operating again in 2023.
No. 16 was one of the last engines to operate for the EBT when it was closed in 1956. It’s one of the three largest and heaviest engines on the roster (Nos. 16-18), all of which use superheated steam and piston valves. Three earlier, lighter engines, Nos. 12, 14 and 15 used older slide-valve technology.
The East Broad Top Railroad is the oldest operating narrow-gauge railroad in the United States. Built in 1872, the EBT survives today as a monument to early American industry and has been described by the Smithsonian as an "incomparable national treasure" and is the most intact late 19th/early 20th century railroads in existence.