ROCKHILL FURNACE — Legends like the East Broad Top railroad are not born, they are built.

It’s historic lore is based on the blood, sweat and tears of laborers who forged the steel and the carpenters who constructed the tracks and bridges. By the barons who saw opportunity and the workers who made it happen.

It was from their vision, strength and hard work that the railroads emerged. During their heyday, engines roamed the land breathing fire and bringing prosperity. In Huntingdon County, the East Broad Top, or EBT, was vital as coal was mostly mined out of the mountains.

As time passed by and industry progressed, many railroads changed or faded into memory. Cars and trucks began to haul people and parcels more than trains. Over time, the EBT’s steam whistle didn’t echo through the valley quite as much.

In 1956, the EBT locomotives came to a grinding halt as they were sent into a slumber, padlocked in a roundhouse. The Kovalchick Salvage Co., of Indiana County, bought the railroad and figured to make a fortune selling the trains for scrap.

However, when founder Nick Kovalchick toured the Rockhill Furnace property for the first time, ghostly voices from the locomotives spoke out, “Here comes the scrap man. Here comes the butcher to tear us apart,” the tale goes.

At that moment, Kovalchick had a change of heart. In 2020, the old railroad was sold to the non-profit EBT Foundation, which has returned the steam and fire to the railyard and restored the priceless history.

The EBT has become a time capsule of a bygone era. The tools, shops, tracks and the steam locomotives all remain, bringing to mind memories of the railroad’s heyday while creating new experiences to visitors.

EBT offers passenger rides on a variety of machines, including steam locomotives, a nearly 100-year-old gasoline motorcar “doodlebug” that’s the only one left in the country and an assortment of trolleys.

Jonathan Smith, director of sales and marketing for the East Broad Top Railroad, will be the guest speaker at the Mifflin County Historical Society’s annual fall banquet at the Penn Valley Christian Retreat, 180 Penn Valley Road, McVeytown, at 6 p.m. Thursday. The announcement was made by the historical society’s program committee, which is chaired by Nancy Aurand.

The menu is a family-style roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Seating starts at 5:45PM. The cost is $25 for historical society members and $30 for non-members.

“The fall gathering is actually an annual anniversary of sorts,” historical society volunteer Forest Fisher said. “This banquet and program is scheduled closest to Sept. 19, the official date in 1789 when Mifflin County became established.

“Our namesake, Thomas Mifflin, was an American merchant, soldier and politician from Pennsylvania and is considered as a Founding Father of the United States for his roles during the American Revolution,” Fisher added. “He is also a signer of the United States Constitution, and was the first governor of Pennsylvania from 1790 to 1799.”

To make a reservation, please call the historical society at (717) 242-1022 or email office@mifflincountyhistory.org by Wednesday.