East Broad Top Locomotive Roster
17

Common Carrier Era

The EBT, being pleased with #16 and wanting no major changes, ordered #17 as a near duplicate. Her distinguishing mark from her sisters was her angled headlight number boards, then later a lack of headlight number boards.

#17 had a headlight unique among the mikes. When converted to and electric headlamp she received number boards on the lamp that were angled forward rather than flat. Sometime between August 1941 (AEBT 214) and 1950 (AEBT 60) the number boards were removed completely leaving a smooth cylindrical headlight, unlike the others that still have their flat number boards. Also unusual, during the 1937-38 (EBT 166, AEBT 147) area she did not have the usual E. B. T. lettering on her tender.

#17 along with sister #16, had a welded steel tender tank rather than riveted late in their Common Carrier Era careers. According to reports, both came with riveted tenders and new welded tender tanks were purchased from Baldwin in the late 40's. The same reports say that the boiler is a Baldwin built replacement.

As wither her sisters she was a primary locomotive during the last years of operation. She had the dubious honor of pulling the last two freight trains on the EBT, probably because the she was the favorite of the engineer assigned to the last runs.

Kovalchick Tourist Era

#17 was the last for the four steamer locomotives activated and was the only one of the big mikados (#16-#18) to be operated during the Kovalchick Tourist Era. She was back in service by 1968. She was usually held as reserve since her size was harder on the track and her greater power was not needed. She appeared at most all Spectaculars, but her superheaters were a frequent maintenance issue. Particularly later in her tourist career, #17 only operated during the annual Fall Spectacular or when no other steamer was available.

#17 popped a firebox fusible plug during the 1995 Spectacular. At the 1996 Fall Spectacular she derailed her tender near the roundhouse causing a leak. In her last decade of service she developed a whistle (often misidentified as a squeak) from steam escaping around the bladder sealing the piston valve rod. She had a history of failing superheater tubes and several flues had plugs in them.

#17 last operated during the 2001 Fall Spectacular and was taken out of service before the end of the event due to issues. As of 2002 the EBT fell under Federal Railroad Administration boiler regulations. As such she would need a "form 4" inspection prior to operating again. This requires that the boiler be stripped and a non-destructive testing be conducted and all detected issues corrected. As with #16 and #18, #17 was run hard and had limited maintenance in the last years of common carrier operation, leading to her many ailments. Based on reports, her running gear is in reasonable condition but boiler would need extensive work.

Foundation Tourist Era

With the purchase of the EBT in 2020 by the EBT Foundation, all the Mikados were evaluated as to which were the best candidates for return to service. #17 was found to be overall in worse shape than #16 but better than #18, and was placed near the middle of the list of best candidates to re-operate. If #16, #15 and #14 were re-operated, #17 would be the next best condition for return to service, however the foundation has made no statements regarding a return of #17. Her superheaters make her restoration a more costly and time consuming prospect than a saturated steam locomotive.

General References

• G1 - East Broad Top - Lee Rainey and Frank Kyper - p. 214
• G2 - A Ramble into the Past on the East Broad Top - Frank Kyper - p.60-61