The East Broad Top reached the future coal company town of Robertsdale in 1874. Construction had started at Mount Union two years earlier after a long delay. The line’s narrow gauge tracks connected coal mines and company communities to a wider transport system. The route and the buildings at Robertsdale preserve evidence of how mining, railway operations and life in a company town depended on one another.
The Friends of the East Broad Top maintain a museum in historic buildings in Robertsdale’s former company square. The old station and post office provide settings for railway artifacts, maps and interpretation. They also point to the different roles a company town needed. A station handled passengers, freight and railway information, while a post office connected residents with people beyond the mining district. Look at where the buildings sit in relation to the railway and the rest of the square.
The railway’s original common-carrier operation ended in 1956 after the coal business dwindled. The Kovalchick Salvage Company bought the railroad and coal company assets, and remarkably little of the railway was scrapped. The survival of so many related structures, machines and vehicles allows visitors to consider the railroad as a whole industrial system. A coal car is more informative when its route from the mines and its connection with the shops can still be traced.
The railway’s main visitor operation at Rockhill Furnace and the Friends’ museum at Robertsdale are separate stops. At Rockhill Furnace, the shops and operating equipment explain what it took to keep the line running. At Robertsdale, exhibits connect the railway with the mines and families at the other end of the work. Give the company square enough time to see how the buildings fit together. The station’s location makes its role in the coal town visible even when the museum is closed.
Visitor information
Researched November 2026.
Sources
More railroad museums in Pennsylvania
- Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site — Gallitzin: Railroad engineering and transport historic site
- Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark — Altoona: Railroad engineering landmark and visitor site
- Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania — Strasburg: Major railroad museum
- Steamtown National Historic Site — Scranton: Major railroad museum and national historic site
- Colebrookdale Railroad — Preservation Collection — Boyertown: Operating railroad preservation collection
- Gallitzin Tunnels Park & Museum — Gallitzin: Railroad engineering site, caboose and community museum
- Harris Tower Railroad Museum — Harrisburg: Railroad signal-tower museum
- Lake Shore Railway Museum — North East: Railroad museum and equipment collection
- All 12 railroad museums and sites in Pennsylvania
Keep exploring
- East Broad Top Railroad — ride a train in Rockhill Furnace, PA
- All heritage sites — museums, stations and landmarks
- Northeast — the trains you can ride in the region