From the dust jacket:

"The East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company was the last narrow gauge common carrier railroad in the eastern United States. While it was abandoned in 1956 after 80 years of service to the coal and iron industry, Eastie survives today to operate excursion service over five miles of the oldest surviving active slim gauge roadbed in the country."

"This, then, is a history of the East Broad Top Railroad, from the events leading up to its chartering in 1856 through its belated birth in 1871 and its construction over the next several years. Also covered are the development of the affiliated Rockhill Iron & Coal Company and the Broad Top coal field. The text explains how long years of financial default were ended when a local son named Robert S Seibert, pulled the road up to prosperity and thoroughly rebuilt it before the long, and final struggle with costs which rose even faster than the income provided by the bustling steam trains."