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t SOCIETY W@~ J:N":OU"STB,J:AL .AB,CH:EOLOGY ~ Ifil \SIYl ~ IL Ifil urr1 urr1 Ifil IB1 Volume 25 Spring 1996 Number 1 ,g Range Plan Unveiled for ast Broad Top Rpilrfad / l -------- ----- // / ~/# he future of Pennsylvania's nationally yards, as well as the repair and rebuilding of the significant East Broad Top RR (EBT), line and rolling·stock. the last narrow gauge railroad east of the Under the plan, the Trust would undertake Rockies, is considerably brighter, but still shop stabilization and redevelop the nine-mile uncertain, as the 1996 tourism season approach "Valley Line" between Orbisonia and the es. An ambitious 10-year plan would reopen northern terminus at Mt. Union. Operations the railroad's 33-mile-long main line and pre would be leased to a private operator, who serve the pristine shops in Orbisonia-Rockhill would offer daily round trips during tourist sea and many of the towns along the line. son, as well as tours of the shops. The Titled Full Steam Ahead!, the plan presents a "Mountain Line" between Orbisonia and the blueprint "to restore the railroad as an unparal southern terminus at Robertsdale and Wood, leled living history museum and engine for eco which includes two tunnels and a number of nomic development." Prepared under the aus bridges, would reopen in sections, with full pices of the Southwestern Pa. Heritage Comm., operations in place by year ten. the plan calls for the establishment of a new The plan recommends that the revamped nonprofit entity, the EBT Trust, to conserve ABOVE: Narrow-gauge railroad trucks EBT become a partner organization in the the Natl. Hist. Landmark and develop it as a outside of the EBT machine shop. Allegheny Ridge State Heritage Park, estab tourist and cultural attraction. The Trust would lished in 1992 to preserve and interpret the TOP CENTER: The turntable and acquire the line and associated lands from the heritage of iron- and steel-making, transporta blacksmith shop, Machine shop and current owner and operate the railroad, oversee tion, and coal mining. Currently centered storehouse (L to R), viewed from the the immediate stabilization and eventual reha around Johnstown and Altoona, the addition roundhouse. bilitation of the Orbisonia-Rockhill shops and of the EBT would extend the park's boundaries (continued on page 9) Published by the Society for Industrial Archeology - Editor: Patrick Harshbarger Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan 49931-1295 1996 Annual Conference in Sacramento, May 30-June 2 Heads West '\ is year the SIA Annual Conf. will head west of the not received a conference packet with registration materials, one Rockies for the first time in the Society's 25 year history. can be arranged by contacting, the Calif. State RR Museum, 1JThe Calif. State RR Museum and the Historic Knight Attention SIA '96, 111 "I" Street, Sacramento CA 95814 (916- Foundry are co-hosting the Sacramento conference May 30 445-7387, fax 327 5655, e-mail: csrmf@ns .net). through June 2. The conference hotel is the Capital Plaza There will be an "early bird" tour on Thur., May 30 to Holiday Inn, located at 300 "J" Street, Sacramento. If you have Jamestown to visit Railtown 1897 and the Sierra Railroad Shops. The tour will include a five-mile round trip on the Sierra Railroad, tour of the shop buildings and stops in Jackson and Sutter Creek. Also on May 30 will be an afternoon tour of his toric sites in the Sacramento area including the State Capitol, Stanford Mansion, and Sutter's Fort. The day will end with a welcoming reception at the California State Library. The library has installed a special exhibit on California's industrial history for the conference. Industrial process and historic site tours will be conducted Fri., May 31. Participants will have a choice of seven tours with each having a focus on a different industrial theme. Friday evening will conclude with the traditional "show and tell." Slide projectors and sound system will be available at the Calif. State RR Museum, so bring your slides and materials to share. On Friday the Hydraulic Power and Mining Tour features stops in "Gold Country" including the Empire Mine, North Star Powerhouse and Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park. The Building Materials Tour visits Gladding McBean decorative terra ABOVE: Sierra RR roundhouse and shops at Railtown 1897 cotta shops, Burnett and Sons wood planing company, Cal Sierra will be part of the Thursday, May 30 early bird tour. Recently and Rocklin Granite. machined drivers await installation. The Industrial Agriculture Tour highlights Heidrick's Agricul BELOW: Southern Pacific RR shops, Sacramento. Although tural Equipment, Spreckel's beet sugar processing plant, the Hays this portion of the locomotive erection shop is retired, SIA Truck Museum, and the Towe Ford Museum. The Hops and tourgoers will see other sections of this huge com- plex in operation. The Sobon Estate and Shenandoah Valley Museum in Amador County are stops on the Hops and Vines Tour. The building in the center is the home and wine cellar originally constructed by Adam Uhlinger in about 1860. The large building to the right houses the museum including equipment, tools, and other items of interest from the farms, vineyards and wineries. 2 SIA Newsletter, Vol.ZS, No 1, 1996 c0 c0 -" -" "'- ""'- § :g :g"'0 a" a"' 1 ~ a" a"' The 1910 Case Steam Tractor and the 1926 Tractor Powered Shovel are among the more than 200 pieces in the personal collection of Mr. Fred Heidrick of Heidrick Farms, Woodland, Calif: The collection will be open to conference participants who select the Industrial Agriculture Tour. Most of the mechanized agricultural equipment in the collection is more than 75 years old, and much of it has been restored to full working condition. There are steam powered threshers and tractors, and some of the earliest Holt and Best track-driven tractors that preceded the Caterpillar brand when it was founded in Stockton. Vines Tour goes to wine making at Sobon Estate, the remnants of Paper sessions will be conducted all day Saturday. The annual hop barns at Sloughouse and the Shenandoah Valley Museum of meeting will be held over lunch in the afternoon. There will be a antique tools and barrels. The Moving Experience: Transportation dinner Saturday evening in the roundhouse of the Calif. State RR Past and Present Tour will look at over 100 years of transportation Museum. On Sunday the Hydraulic Power and Mining tour will in Sacramento including tours of the Southern Pacific Shops, be repeated for those who did not attend the tour on Friday. Sieman's Duewag for modern manufacture of light rail cars, and We hope you will join SIA for the conference. See you in a ride of Sacramento's light rail system. The Bridges of Sacramento! • Sacramento County Tour will feature the area's historic bridges. From the President: ~~!- A Note to SIA Members he past several years have been eventful ones for Cayton. Addresses were stamped on metal plates that were SIA. As you've probably noticed from recent mail fed through a clattering Addressograph machine to produce ings, we have a new institutional home at Mich. mailing labels. Routinely, on the Friday afternoon before Tech. Univ., a new editor for the journal IA in the person of quarterly board meetings, SIA officers, Washington area Patrick Martin, and beginning with this issue, a new editor members, Smithsonian staffers, and anyone else we could ial team, headed by Patrick Harshbarger, in charge of the SIA rope in, would gather at Rm. 5020 to collate newsletters, Newsletter. meeting notices, calls for nominations, and what have you, We owe a great deal of gratitude to the institution and stuff envelopes, and stick labels. individuals who served these roles before - the Smithsonian's Changes at the Smithsonian made it necessary for SIA to National Museum of American History (NMAH), and edi find another home. We were not alone - the Society for the tors David Starbuck and Bob Frame. History of Technology (SHOT) and Association for Living The Div. of Civ. and Mech. Eng. at NMAH had been History Farms and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) had home to the SIA since the Society was founded in 1971. to move out at about the same time. Room 5020, across the hall from Bob Vogel's office, was a SIA's headquarters operations moved to Mich. Tech. workroom that opened into a warren of windowless offices, Univ. in the fall of 1993 (for details see SIAN 23:1), but we storage areas, and a cubby that SIA called home. Our head have not severed ties with our original home and refuge. In quarters consisted of a desk, three sets of steel shelving, three May, 1994, we signed an agreement designating the Smith file cabinets, a section of map drawers, and piles of boxes. For sonian Archives as official repository for SIA records. Rm. many years, membership information was kept on cards, 5020 has been part of our identity for nearly a quarter centu faithfully maintained by volunteers Claire Smith and Howard ry. Mail still goes there, despite our best efforts to inform (continued on /Jage 5) SIA Newsletter, Vol.25, No 1, 1996 3 1996 SIA Fall Tour, Sept. 26-28 Oh, Ohio! wide range of industrial archeology experiences await ing laboratory. Nearby is American Whistle, which produces those attending the 1996 SIA Fall Tour in Columbus, high quality police and sports whistles from sheet brass. Anthony A Oh. Current plans for Sept. 26-28, with an optional Thomas Candy, a producer of fine chocolates, has agreed to an Sunday tour on the 29th, include food processing, brass stamping, SIA visit, as has a 1915 machine shop with intact line shafting.