EBT Virtual Tour
EBT: Mount Union to Shirleysburg

This was the first section of the EBT to be built beginning September 16, 1872, with track completed by July 1873. The Rowland and Jones Company of Tamaqua was the contractor. This is the smoothest section of the railroad, topping only the lowest summit on the mainline. The track climbs over the small Morrison's Summit from the Juniata Valley into the Aughwick Creek Valley, which it follows for most of this part of the route.

This section has been officially out of service since 1956, but saw irregular service by the M-1 into the 1960's to deliver custom machining orders from the Rockhill Shops to the refractory plants in Mount Union. Also some trackage in the yard was used into the 1970's to service North American Refractories. Today the line is generally overgrown with vegetation, except in a few areas where the adjacent landowners have kept the line mowed. Two major and several minor washouts have occurred in the fill between Aughwick Mills and Pumping Station. The ROW has been fenced off in at least one location at Pumping Station.

Starting in 1998, the section of the line from a Mount Union to Aughwick Mills was leased to a planned shortline operation, the Mount Union Connecting Railroad. The MTC has cleared the track through the Mount Union Yard and as far as Morrison's Summit and has reconnected the EBT main to the old Pennsylvania Mainline.

Map of EBT: Mount Union to Shirleysburg

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