The B&SGE's equipment roster reflects the trajectory of my involvement in narrow gauge modeling, as well as my temperament. I started without a real vision as to what it was I was going to do and bought what was available within my skill level. Thus, the B&SGE's first motive power was the MDC outside frame Colorado-esque 2-8-0 and the small "train set" was distinctly western, too. Soon, however, the advent of East Broad Top brass locos and the large selection of cast resin kits marketed by Friends of the EBT caused me to set my sights on my one true love (in the railroad arena, that is). As the concept for a freelance pike -- based in the same region as the EBT -- evolved, I decided to develop an equipment roster that both justified the existence of the few pieces I'd already accumulated and focused future acquisitions on operational requirements.
Freelance modeling allows a certain degree of license in motive power selection and I took advantage of this. Rather than copy the EBT's sleek Mikados, B&SGE management went for heavier motive power with smaller drivers for the heavy coal and iron ore traffic on its Path Valley Division, which is the portion of the imagined larger system that I model. By the 1930s, the B&SGE's motive power on the Path Valley division consists of big outside-framed 2-8-0s, numbered 6-8 and Baldwin 2-8-2s built according to the erection drawings for the D&RGW's K-27 Class, numbered 9 & 10. Unlike the original D&RGW configuration, B&SGE's K-27s arrived with inboard pistons. With the advent of heavy power, the lighter engines, Ten-wheeler No. 1 and inside-framed Consolidations 2-5, were relegated to the Shade Valley Division (EBT's actual Shade Gap Branch), which is not modeled.
B&SGE also holds a long-term lease on EBT 2-6-2 No. 11 and frequently leases one of EBT's lighter 2-8-2's during the colder months when fuel traffic is at peak. So, railfans at trackside between Spring Run and Richmond Furnace will see a nice variety of motive power. To date, the actual model motive power stable (aside from 5 EBT engines) stands at 1 MDC Consol. and 1 Sunset K-27, which is where it will stand unless brass prices return to reasonable levels.
The B&SGE's rolling stock fleet is listed in the table that follows. It reflects what the actual system would have required to sustain the level of operations that I've developed for it. The actual number of freight cars modeled will be significantly less than the "real" roster, numbered not consecutively, but within the series of the class as it appears on the roster.
| CLASS | No.'s | Qty. | Constr. | Cap'y | Blt. | Origin | Remarks |
| Freight | |||||||
| Box | 100-109 | 10 | Wood/Steel | 50,000 | Reblt 1925 | D&RGW | Railline |
| 110-119 | 20 | Wood/Steel | 50,000 | 1930 | B&SGE | Grandt Line | |
| 130-134 | 5 | Wood | 40,000 | Reblt 1934 | EBT | F&C for FEBT | |
| Refrigerator | 120-124 | 5 | Wood/Steel | 50,000 | 1930 | B&SGE | Grandt LIne |
| Hopper | 200-249 | 50 | Wood | 70,000 | Reblt 1930 | CM&St.P | Tichy |
| 400-499 | 100 | Wood | 22,400 | Reblt 1908-20 | EBT | F&C for FEBT | |
| Gondola | 12 | 1 | Wood | 50,000 | Reblt 1925 | D&RGW | |
| Dump | X1 | 1 | Wood | 50,000 | Reblt 1925 | D&RGW | MOW Svc |
| Flat | 11 | 1 | Wood/Steel | 50,000 | 1915 | B&SGE | |
| 17 | 1 | Steel | 70,000 | 1930 | B&SGE | Scratch Blt | |
| Cabin | 20-22 | 3 | Wood/Steel | Reblt 1930 | D&RGW | E&B Valley | |
| Passenger | |||||||
| Combination | 6-7 | 2 | Wood | 12 Seats | 1910 | B&SGE | MDC Kitbash |
| Coach | 1-5 | 5 | Wood | 46 Seats | 1884 (1920) | D&RGW | E&B Valley |
Note that the roster is for B&SGE rolling stock only. There will be a significant amount of EBT rolling stock operating on the layout, as well. For example, B&SGE's aging, wooden hopper fleet is for iron ore and limestone service only; coal for domestic and industrial fuel moves in EBT 3-bay steel hoppers that B&SGE interchanges via its connection with Deane Mellander's Cumberland & Susquehanna. I will have a fleet of 35 of those cars, when they're all built, some painted and lettered for the EBT and some for the C&S. A lot of general freight will move onto and off of the layout in standard gauge cars set on narrow gauge trucks, copying the EBT practice, which reduces the number of narrow gauge box cars that the B&SGE needs to roster. The B&SGE owns only two flat cars. At this point in "history," the EBT has many idle steel underframe flat cars and the B&SGE makes extensive use of these, to the mutual advantage of the sister lines. Interchange traffic between the narrow gauge lines also flows in EBT steel boxcars, as well as in the B&SGE's steel underframe cars purchased from the Colorado & Southern and in ex-EBT truss-rod boxcars.
The B&SGE's equipment roster reflects a railroad that is in the process of modernizing within the limited budget of a late-Depression Era narrow gauge common carrier. Business is picking up, but pennies must still be pinched where possible. By choosing to model a "peripheral" EBT, I have been able to justify running Mudhens and long cabooses (rebuilt with steel underframes), 19th-Century EBT wooden hoppers (long gone from the EBT by 1938), reasonably freelanced selected rolling stock, and other "foreign road" prototypes, as well as frequent "visitors" from the prototype EBT. I believe that the careful planning I've put into developing the B&SGE's equipment roster will result in a nice blend of equipment without creating the atmosphere of a hodge-podge antique train museum.
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