People fight to restore the East Broad Top R

YOUR DESCRIPTION HAS REACHED THE LIMIT OF CHARACTERS ALLOWED AND WAS CUT. By: Erin Calandra HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Railroads were ‚" and still are ‚" an important part of life in central Pennsylvania. They shaped the history of the state and the country. For many who are interested in historic trains, places like the East Broad Top Railroad in Huntingdon County are critical to preserve that bridge to the past. Huntingdon County houses a historical gem ‚" The East Broad Top Railroad. It's recognized by the National Park Service as a National Historic Landmark, but what was once a bustling industrial rail turned tourist attraction, is now a silent railroad. People came from all across the globe to ride these massive, old steam engines. You can still find a steam engine or two across the country, but experts say you won't find anything like the East Broad Top Railroad, saying it's the last railroad system of its kind still intact. And now, a lot of people are fighting to keep it that way. "I like to think of it as the Humpty Dumpty story," said Joe Kovalchick, owner of the East Broad Top Railroad. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the king's horses and all the king's men, could get Humpty Dumpty together again." Kovalchick, an entrepreneur from Indiana County, feels the nursery rhyme best describes to possible future of the railroad. "If East Broad Top starts to liquidate, it's a one-way show, it's a one-way tour it will never be again," said Kovalchick. Experts say this is a piece of American history that can't be replaced. "The East Broad Top is described by the Smithsonian Institute as the best preserved example of a 1900-era facility anywhere in the country," said Historian Lee Rainey. The operation contains six steam engines, built in the early 1900s, many on site, along with a building that houses forgotten technology. Rainey said this place is a snapshot of what the railroad and coal industry looked like turn of the century. This rail was built in 1859