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Huntingdon borough, Smithfield township

Turning Engines On The Broad Top

Did you know? The Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad's report for 1857 records that turntables had been put in at Huntingdon and at Hopewell, along with the water stations needed on the route.

Myer Souders has a photograph of an H&BTM engine on the turntable which, he tells us, was taken at Smithfield between 1947 and 1949, looking northeast, with the Route 22 bridge over Fairground Road under construction.

The railroad did not run much longer. The Huntingdon and Broad Top closed in 1954, and a National Register study of the county's industries ties the closing directly to the decline of the coal industry.

Checked and confirmed. CONFIRMED 2026-10-03 against the sources listed: every factual sentence was tied to a verbatim passage and a script confirmed each passage is in its source. Where sources disagreed on a number, the number was left out. Information shared with us by readers is given as theirs, not as fact: Myer Souders.

Sources

  1. Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad and Coal Company, Annual Report (1857)
  2. National Register of Historic Places: Industrial Resources of Huntingdon County, 1780-1939 (multiple property submission) (1990)
  3. Nancy S. Shedd, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (HABS/HAER, 1991)

Checked 2026-10-03 · County histories and primary sources, read in full

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Photographs from Huntingdon borough

Hunt Tower, Fifth & Allegheny Streets, HuntingdonHunt Tower, Fifth & Allegheny Streets, HuntingdonLibrary of Congress · pa2736
Stone Creek Bridge II, South of Penn Street between First & Second Streets, HuntingdonStone Creek Bridge II, South of Penn Street between First & Second Streets, HuntingdonLibrary of Congress · pa2738
Huntingdon Station, Fourth & Allegheny Streets, HuntingdonHuntingdon Station, Fourth & Allegheny Streets, HuntingdonLibrary of Congress · pa2735
1947 Tucker '48 Prototype, Huntingdon1947 Tucker '48 Prototype, HuntingdonLibrary of Congress · pa4156
The Huntingdon County courthouse in 1905, the building the grand jury's report of 1882 led to.The Huntingdon County courthouse in 1905, the building the grand jury's report of 1882 led to.Unknown authorUnknown author · stg09
Airplane view of Huntingdon looking west, a linen-texture postcard published by W. A. Grimison and Son of Huntingdon, between about 1930 and about 1945Airplane view of Huntingdon looking west, a linen-texture postcard published by W. A. Grimison and Son of Huntingdon, between about 1930 and about 1945Boston Public Library, Tichnor Brothers collection no. 80546. Published by W. A. Grimison and Son, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Tichnor Brothers collection 80546

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