Tucked into the pocket of a pair of hundred-year-old railroad engineer coveralls, you are instantly returned to an era of vintage rail transportation here.  Like triumphantly raised arms, two silver smokestacks proclaim their victory over time, which otherwise seems suspended by the sprawling, wooden, red-painted shop complex surrounding it, modified by not a single nail since it first rose from the ground.  A cobweb of tracks, imbedded in the artery which divides the twin boroughs of Rockhill Furnace and Orbisonia, merges into three in front of the depot, which bears the latter’s name, departure point for one of three daily, narrow-gauge, steam locomotive-pulled trains operating as the East Broad Top Railroad.  The clang of a bell, rung across the street, indicates the arrival of a bright red trolley car from the opposite direction.  Tourists ride the rails today; coal miners rode them yesterday.

Cradled by Blacklog Mountain and both Saddleback and Sandy Ridges, the area, then undeveloped, beckoned prospectors with its natural resources, consisting of agricultural land, water, timber, coal, and iron, the Blacklog Creek both feeding and leading them to what would become its twin boroughs.

Initially serving as a Native American campsite and hunting ground, as evidenced by archeological traces found at Sandy Ridge, the area first took root in 1754 when land was purchased from Six Nations, and the first road, mimicking the original Indian path and fostering westward expansion of settlers, was created 33 yeas later, stretching between Burnt Cabins in the south and Huntingdon in the north.

Bedford Furnace, the area’s first village, evolved from a trading post in 1760.  Providing both a sense of location and permanence, it attracted the first white settler, George Erwin, who established a trading post in a log cabin, shipping goods over narrow, wilderness-tunneling trails and exchanging them with travelers and Native Americans alike.

Placing the initial pin into the map, the Bedford Furnace Company established a charcoal furnace in order to be able to produce iron in 1785, sparking growth in the Juniata Valley and serving as the first of many to eventually characterize it.

Rockhill Furnace Number 1, built in 1831 by Thomas Diven and William Morrison south of the town in Blacklog Narrows, replaced the smaller, original plant, while Winchester Furnace, the third such ironworks, rose a few hundred yards away.

Abandoned in 1850 after a less-than-prosperous reign, it was joined seven years later by furnace Number 1 when area deforestation depleted the timber necessary for iron smelting charcoal, although the Civil War once again—albeit temporarily—re-lit its fires.

A mortgage foreclosure preceded its purchase in 1867, but its resurrection now hinged upon a fuel source to feed it.  The needed pot of gold at the end of the rainbow—or, in this case, on top of the rainbow—came in the form of coal discovered on Broad Top Mountain.  What was now required was a method to transport it from its summit-located mines to the iron furnaces in the east.

East Broad Top Railroad

During the early-1850s, Pennsylvania’s Juniata Valley began to sprout rails.

The single track of Pennsylvania Central Railways, thread through the narrow mountain passes and along the Juniata River, connected Lewistown and Huntingdon, for the first time offering a non-aquatic, intrastate transportation alternative to the Public Work’s Main Line Canal.  The Pennsylvania Railroad’s own all-rail line soon grew branches throughout the Allegheny Mountains, allowing it to penetrate hills and valleys in order to collect and haul the region’s riches in the form of lumber and coal.  Track laid between 1853 and 1854 enabled the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railway to surmount its very namesaked incline on the west side.  But rail access remained a void on its east.

Although the necessary charter for such a rail line had been granted on April 16, 1856, several proposals—and 14 years—ensued before a group of Philadelphia businessmen, spurred by the Civil War’s cry for additional track to move troops and supplies, collected the required capital to construct one, forming, with the aid of the still-born charter, the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company on July 3, 1871.  It was decided, from the outset, to employ three-foot, narrow gauge track in order to reduce construction and operating costs and facilitate tighter turns.

The first track was put to bed on September 16 of the following year and its first locomotive, a 17.5-ton, wood-burning, narrow-gauge 2-6-0 built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia and named the “Edward Roberts,” was delivered a year after that.

Like a journey of time, track-laying could be measured by the calendar, the first 11 miles of it reaching Rockhill Furnace on August 30, 1873, ascending Sideling and Wrays Hills before arriving in Robertsdale the following year—all for the purpose of transporting coal and forestry products from Broad Top Mountain to Mount Union, its southern terminus, for transfer to standard-gauge Pennsylvania Railroad trains.

The original village of Rockhill Furnace, taking shape round the iron furnaces a half-mile from the current depot on the banks of Blacklog Creek, progressively expanded.

The fleet equally multiplied when three 26-ton Baldwin Consolidation engines were acquired between late-1873 and early-1874, the same year that the Robertsdale-mined coal was first rail-transported to Rockhill Furnace to fuel the blast furnaces now taken over by the newly-formed Rockhill Iron and Coal Company to ultimately produce pig iron.

As a town, Rockhill Furnace took initial form as a dual-stack iron furnace and collection of coke ovens, which expanded into the East Broad Top Railroad shop complex lining the Jordan Creek—a veritable pocket of self-sufficiency.

Occupying the farmland purchased for the complex and employing the original, still-existent stone farmhouse for its administrative offices, the soon-sprawling plant’s gears were turned by means of its steam-powered overhead shafts and belts, with additional electricity and compressed air generated by its boiler plant, pumping current, like flowing blood, to its foundry and machine, car, and blacksmith shops.  Its brick roundhouse, eventually encompassing eight stalls, facilitated alignment with the needed track, provided light locomotive maintenance, and served as a storage shed, while heavy repairs occurred in the machine shop.  Commodities necessary for steam engine operation, including water, coal, and sand, were stored throughout the complex, which itself was capable of the locomotive repair and maintenance functions themselves, as well as rolling stock manufacture and the production of forgings, castings, and machine parts for both the railroad and the mines it accessed.

The yard’s wye, formed by track from Mount Union and crossing Meadow Street (Pennsylvania Route 994) just past the Orbisonia depot, facilitated intra-complex car movement, storage positioning, and train configuration, providing access to either Alvan or the Shade Gap Branch, depending upon car orientation.

Indeed, the shop complex served as one of many links in a chain, none of which could have existed without the other, inclusive of the area’s natural resources giving rise to the iron smelting industry, the railroad needed to transport the coal to fuel it, the shops to manufacture and maintain its equipment, and the town arising to support the workforce which turned its gears.

Its fleet initially encompassed two passenger coaches, two baggage cars, and 176 freight and coal hopper cars.

From the mainline, which extended from Robertsdale to Woodvale in 1891 and Alvan in 1916, spur tracks spread like arteries from a central vein as additional mines were bored, resulting in the Shade Gap, Shade Valley, Booher Mine, Rocky Ridge, Number 7 and Number 8, Coles Valley, and NARCO branches, and the Shirleysburg clay spur.

With progressive expansion and prosperity, the East Broad Top Railroad began to carry passengers over and above the standard miners, coal, and freight for whom and for which it had been conceived.

The beginning of the 20th century signaled the railroad’s infrastructure modernization program.  Iron rails, for example, were replaced by steel ones.  Wood was equally swapped for steel on trestles and bridges, and the durable metal for the first time formed its freight cars.

In 1926, coal—in addition to iron ore, quartzite ganister rock, forest products, and other miscellany—constituted 80 percent of its freight, exceeding 26 million ton-miles alone.

According to East Broad Top Railroad Timetable Number 53, effective Monday, September 29, 1930, it covered the 33-mile main line route from Mount Union to Alvan in one hour, 45 minutes, one southbound run departing at 0920 and arriving at 1105 via Allenton, Adams, Aughwick, Pump Station, Shirleysburg, Orbisonia, Pogue, Three Springs, Saltillo, Fairview, Kimmel, Coles, Rocky Ridge, Wrays Hill, Cooks, Robertsdale, and Woodvale.

Like everything in life, however, the railroad experienced both peaks and troughs.  When the depression sunk its teeth into its profits, it was reorganized, simply, as the Rockhill Coal Company, and J. William Wetter assumed the presidency of both the iron furnace and the railroad which fed it.

Exerting its demands for commodities, however, World War II temporarily re-lit the fires in its furnaces, and strip-mining joined its list of coal and ganister rock extractions for the first time.

Inevitably, with the iron supply dwindling and coal the only commodity left to haul, the end of the line—literally—loomed ahead.  Passenger rail services from Mount Union to Woodvale, initially curtailed from the two daily, Monday-to-Saturday round-trips, to a single one, were altogether discontinued on August 15, 1954, leaving coal as its sole, and increasingly unprofitable, type of freight.  Mount Union brick plants, converting from coal to natural gas, no longer needed it for their own viability, while the proliferation of rail-replacing roads hammered the final anvil into the line.  Mail, now transferred to truck transport, obviated the need for the post office contract.

The Rockhill Coal Company terminated its coal shipment requirements on March 31 and the East Broad Top Railroad’s raison d’être essentially ended.

The last service, a round-trip from Rockhill Furnace to Mount Union via Saltillo and operated by 161,000-pound locomotive Number 17—a Baldwin 2-8-2 built in 1918—occurred on April 6, 1956, while all common carrier operations mimicked the event a little less than a month later, on May 1.

Stretching throughout the area, from Mount Union and climbing Broad Top Mountain on its east side, its mainline track network, along with its numerous, initially-intact branch lines, appeared like the cobwebs clinging to once-useful pieces of history, but now relegated to relics, their only associated movement, albeit in painstakingly slow form, being the weeds and grasses which sprouted between their cross-ties until they camouflaged them.

Not far behind was a second onslaught—in the form of the Kovalchick Salvage Company of Indiana, Pennsylvania–which had purchased the entire system, including its locomotives, cars, stations, shops, buildings, company houses, rights-of-way, and the land from which the once-precious coal commodity had been removed.

]]>

Four years passed.  A few branch lines were uprooted.  A handful of cars was sold to rail fans who insisted on owning a tangible piece of history.  The weeds continued to aggressively attack and conquer the tracks.  But, strangely, the dismantling company did not. 

Indeed, instead of eradicating this piece of narrow gauge, steam railroad and coal mining history from the stage where it had been enacted, Nick Kovalchick, president of his company, became preservationist of it, rising from salvager to savior.

The East Broad Top Railroad’s first re-purposed spark was lit by Orbisonia’s one-week bicentennial celebration, whose cornerstone was the very rail line which had given birth to it, perhaps reflecting an act of creation, in which nothing truly dies.

Replacing tourists with coal, the trains would once again ply the tracks, offering return-to-history excursions.  Cleared of underbrush, and given the necessary repairs, they once again supported railroad life when locomotive Number 12, a 1911 2-8-2 Baldwin, was christened with ginger ale by Kovalchick’s daughter, Millie, on August 13, 1960. 

Pulling two converted, open-air and four passenger coaches over the hitherto 3.5 miles of resurrected rail, it chugged, belched, and hissed black smoke and white steam, returning to the natural element for which it had been designed, as far as Colgate Grove.  Because a wye had not been remedially installed until later, locomotive Number 15, having followed the proud, narrow gauge chain, pulled it back to the Orbisonia station.

Instead of departing history, the railroad, now under command of new president, Nick Kovalchick, has been returning to it ever since.

Designated a Registered National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of Interior in 1964, it is both the oldest—and oldest still-operating—narrow gauge railroad east of the Rocky Mountains, and today ranks as one of the “top tucks” into the preserved pockets of narrow gauge steam railroad history.

Tourists and locals alike retrace the bicentennial path, now stretching five miles, on one of three round-trip weekend excursion trains during May, June, and September; on Thursday-to-Sunday frequencies from July to mid-August; and during three-day, Friday-to-Sunday periods in October, covering the ten miles during 70-minute runs, ten minutes of which constitute a pause in Colgate Grove.  Special and theme trains are offered on Mother’s Day, Independence Day (accompanied by appropriate fireworks), Civil War weekends, on Labor Day, during the fall foliage season, on Halloween, and on Polar Express trips in December.  Children-applicable trains are pulled by Thomas the Tank engines.

Although some 25 different steam locomotives plied the East Broad Top Railroad’s tracks throughout its history, eight—comprised of six narrow gauge 2-8-2s and two standard gauge 0-6-0s—remain today, one of which is stored at the Whitewater Valley Railroad in Indiana.  Most of the others continue to occupy their original residences—the roundhouse in the Rockhill Furnace shop complex.

The Number 3, a Baldwin standard gauge 0-6-0 built in 1923, was restricted to operations in the Mount Union switching yard and at the coal cleaning plant.  The last and most powerful of the type, it was retired in April of 1956 and is stored in the Mount Union engine house.

The Number 12, a Baldwin 2-8-2 constructed in 1911, was contrastively the first and smallest Mikado to have been acquired, capable of hauling up to 15 loaded hopper cars from the coals mines.  It was last used in 2000.

Of the same class as its Number 12 predecessor, the Number 14, built in 1912, was the second narrow gauge locomotive to be acquired, featuring both increased weight and power.

Still greater capability was offered by the Number 15, constructed in 1914, to satisfy increasing demand, enabling it to pull up to 18 loaded hopper cars.

The first of three large Mikados, the Number 16 of 1916, introduced superheaters, piston valves, and a Southern gear valve.  It was retired a year before the original East Broad Top Railroad discontinued service, in 1955.

The succeeding Number 17 became the only heavy Mikado to be provisioned for tourist train service, while the number 18, the last and largest in the fleet, was retired in 1956.  Like the other two in its class, it could pull 22 loaded hopper cars.

Several passenger cars, all coated in dark green, also encompass its fleet.

Of the coaches the railroad purchased from the Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn, and the Air Sable and Northwestern, a single coach, two combinations, and the president’s car remained after the others were sold at the conclusion of the line’s passenger service.  Six freight cars were converted to this configuration to enable it to write its tourist train chapter.

Coach Number 8, for instance, hails from 1882 and was constructed by the Laconia Car Company before having been acquired by Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn in 1916.

Combine cars 14 and 15 share the same lineage.

Parlor car 20, now serving as the East Broad Top’s first class coach usually appendaged to the end of the train, had been constructed in 1882 by Billmeyer and Smalls and was subsequently acquired from Big Level and Kinzua in September of 1907 for use as Railroad President Robert Seibert’s personal coach.

Several other types make up the fleet, including flat, box, baggage, freight, and track cars, motorcars, cabooses, and diesel locomotives.

Today’s tourist trains continue to depart from the “Orbisonia” station, a wooden, two-story, clapboard depot located on the north side of Meadow Street, just beyond the crossing point from the shop complex.  It served as the railroad’s operating headquarters after it moved from its initial, Marble House residence on a ridge behind the shop buildings.  According to Vagel Keller, of the Friends of East Broad Top—a 501.c.3 historical and preservation society—”the current Orbisonia station (is) located in the borough of Rockhill Furnace, while the namesake is one-forth of a mile east…The station at this place was originally known as ‘Rockhill,’ and in 1888 the village got a post office called ‘Rockhill Furnace.’  Apparently, this caused misrouting of mail intended for an older post office in Pennsylvania named ‘Rockhill,’ and at about the same time that the current station was being built in 1906, the US Postal Service asked the East Broad Top to rename the station to avoid confusion…Paradoxically, the re-named ‘Orbisonia Station’ hosted the Rockhill Furnace post office until shortly after the end of common carrier operations.”

During its heyday, its waiting room was alive with train crews, clerks, and passengers.  Today, it serves as a gift shop still sporting its original wire ticket window, and from here passengers file through the door to a wooden, boardwalk-type porch, serving as a “platform,” to await the train beneath the later-added, full-length trackside canopy.

The actual journey, in a choice of open, coach, or first class cars, plies the original, three-foot-wide, narrow gauge track and passes Orbisonia, farms, and forests before pausing at Colgate Grove after negotiating the wye, location of the East Broad Top’s Shirleysburg clay spur, whose track had been laid in 1918 and had stretched from the grove itself to the base of the fire clay quarry on Sandy Ridge.  Short-lived, its rails were removed in 1927, and the current wye, employing part of its right-of-way and constructed in 1961, resolved the train turn-around obstacle encountered during the bicentennial celebration excursions.

Today’s passengers can remain at the grove either during the two-hour interval until the next run or overnight, but, since it offers little more than a barbecue and a scatter of picnic tables, all food, drink, and gear must be self-provided.

The East Broad Top offers two educational, railroad era-immersive programs.  The first, designated “Engineer for an Hour,” allows the rider to step into the shoes of an engineer and fireman by riding in the cab of a steam locomotive during one of the regularly scheduled trips, operating the throttle, blowing the whistle, and shovel-replenishing the firebox with coal.  The second, “High Iron University/Rail Camp,” is a five-day program offered in conjunction with Altoona’s Railroaders Memorial Museum, and provides an indepth look at operating a steam powered railroad.

Aside from the train trip, rides are also offered in speeder, M-3, and handcars.

Another immersive experience is a tour of the railroad’s shop complex, which served as the heart of its operation.  Seemingly immune to time’s sweep, it appears exactly as it did a century ago.  The silver smokestacks mark the location of the Babcock and Wilcox boilers, which provided the steam needed to run the belt-driven equipment, while the red-painted buildings consist of the blacksmith, car, machine, and carpentry shops, pattern house, foundry, and lumber shed.

According, again, to Vagel Keller, “Another persistent myth holds that the current shops and roundhouse were built to replace earlier structures destroyed by a fire in 1882…The fire myth is based on oral traditions that conflate a cyclonic windstorm in the fall of 1881, which blew down part of the roundhouse (surviving today as the four arched doorways on the eastern half of the present structure), and on a fire in the early 1900s, which destroyed the paint shop and adjacent boiler shop.  The roundhouse you see today originated with the four eastern stalls in 1874, was expanded to six stalls by 1895, and to its present form after 1911.  The current shop complex originated in 1882 after the superintendent of the railroad prevailed on the Board of Directors to authorize the purchase of machine tools.  Like the roundhouse, the shops were expanded over the years, taking their present form by 1911.”

Rockhill Trolley Museum

Sharing the dual-gauge portion of the rails in the yard across from the East Broad Top depot, the Rockhill Trolley Museum, billing itself as “Pennsylvania’s first operating” one, affords the visitor a second opportunity to sink himself into vintage transportation history, plying the track to cover distance while distancing himself from time.

Powered by 600 volts of direct current collected by a continuous, overhead copper wire by means of a sliding shoe positioned at the end of a pole, electric trolleys, like trains, run on tracks, each of their under-floor motors usually powering a pair of wheels.  An electric motor-driven air compressor channels pressure to their brakes.  Internally, conductors check tickets and collect fares.

Tracing their origins to horse-drawn cars, trolleys, in their earliest forms, were small, wooden, four-wheeled vehicles, providing inter-city transportation.  Demand, paralleling metropolis growth, soon necessitated larger cars, later constructed of steel, for passenger, freight, and mail transport, and by 1918, the trolley transportation industry had become the country’s fifth-largest.  Pennsylvania alone was served by 116 such trolley lines, which covered more than 4,600 miles of track.

But, as cities stretched, like taffy, into suburbs and were increasingly accessed by roadways, need for this transportation system declined, leaving only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to run their lines after 1960, when Johnstown became the last small urban area to cease using its own.

Because it offers an inexpensive, pollution-free alternative to inner-city transportation, some existing track and related system components have been restored, which could be considered a budding stage of resurgence, modern cars or light-rail vehicles once again crisscrossing streets, intermixed with individual car and bus traffic.

This important trolley history can be experienced at the Rockhill Trolley Museum, which thus offers a second, rail-based transportation focus to Rockhill Furnace.  Established in 1960, it acquired its first trolley car, the “Johnstown” Number 311, from its namesaked city.  Built by the Wason Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1922, it initially served in Bangor, Maine, before being sold to the Johnstown Traction Company, with which it performed a similar role in the Flood City until it was retired 19 years later, on June 11.  As the first such car to operate within any Pennsylvania trolley museum track network, it continues to do so more than four decades later.

It is now one of many in the collection emanating form such Pennsylvania cities as Johnstown itself, York, Harrisburg, Scranton, and Philadelphia, and is part of its larger fleet of 35 in-service and under-restoration city and suburban, interurban, rapid transit, and maintenance-of-way cars.

York Car Number 163 is one of them.  Constructed in 1924 by the J. G. Brill Car Company of Philadelphia, and constituting the museum’s most extensively restored example, the trolley was one of five with curved sides operated by York Railways.  Subsequently used as a summer home positioned just north of the city on the Conewago Creek, before being thrust from its foundation by  Hurricane Agnes in 1972, it was subsequently donated to the museum.  Now a collection of hybrid parts, including wheels and motors from Japan, seats from Chicago, and cane coverings from China, it became the world’s only-operable example from York after the equivalent of 17 years of volunteer restoration.

Oporto Car Number 172 is an example of a smaller, single-axle car.  Built and used by the Sociedades do Transportes Colectivos do Porto, or S.T.C.P., in 1929, the extensively brake-equipped vehicle, comprised of air, hand, and dynamic systems, was well suited to the Portuguese hilly city.

Ship-transported across the Atlantic and then road-conveyed from Philadelphia on a highway trailer, it immediately operated tourist excursion runs at the museum.  Carved wood trim, brass fittings, sliding end doors, storable windows in roof pockets, and a three-abreast configuration constitute its ornate interior features.

The ,539 New Jersey Transit PCC Car Number 6, first ordered in 1945 as part of a 40-strong fleet by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company from the St. Louis Car Company, connected Minneapolis with St. Paul two years later, operating on the Interurban Line, for which it was ideally suited with its northern winter-combative galvanized steel body; significant, nine-foot width for interior volume; two-person conductor booths; and electric horns.

Its “PCC” designation, an abbreviation of “President’s Conference Committee,” stems from the fact that it was the result of the new trolley standards it created in an attempt to increase street car ridership, which had increasingly migrated to individual automobiles. 

Car Number 6, one of 30 acquired by Newark, New Jersey-based Public Service Coordinated Transport in 1953 after the Minnesota system had substituted its own trolleys with diesel buses, plied the short, 4.5-mile, municipally-owned Newark City Subway.  But the late-1990s signaled its own end when the trolley line was converted to a light rail one.

Having been the second of the last to operate over the network before it was withdrawn from service, it hibernated in storage for a decade until it was purchased by the Rockhill Trolley Museum in 2011.

Philadelphia Transportation Company Car Number 2743 is another product of the President’s Conference Committee.  Sporting a line of small, “standee windows” above the standard-sized ones, it offered increased acceleration and decreased interior noise levels over the older cars it replaced, operating with the Philadelphia Transportation Company from 1947 to 1993, a year after which it was acquired by the museum–although its five-foot, 2 1/4-inch wheel trucks had to be replaced with four-foot, 8 ½-inch ones before it could run on its tracks.

Capable of sustaining 70-mph speeds, and sporting contoured, bullet-shaped ends, Philadelphia and Western Railroad Car Number 205 is the “bullet car” in the collection.  Manufactured by Brill in 1931, the aerodynamic-appearing vehicle employed lightweight aluminum, reducing structure weight, fostering increased speed, and requiring reduced power to propel, siphoning its electricity to run from a third rail and therefore not sporting the otherwise traditional trolley pole.  Secondarily acquired by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, or SEPTA, it provided 59 years of service before nudged into the museum’s growing collection.

Its largest car is the “Independence Hall” Liberty liner.  Spanning 156 feet in length, the permanently-attached, quad-car interurban, designed by the St. Louis Car Company in 1941, features eight, 125-hp articulated traction motors, and served the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad’s North Shore Line along with its identical twin, attaining 90-mph speeds on the windy city-Milwaukee sector.  Both were designated “Electroliners.”

Subsequently bought by the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company after the twin city link had been discontinued in 1963, the refurbished interurbans, named “Independence Hall” and “Valley Forge” Liberty Liners, entered service on its relatively short, 14-mile Norristown Line, for whose curves and hills it was less than optimal, although its passenger-popular tavern car sold alcoholic beverages, snacks, and meals during the trip.

Acquired by the Rockhill Trolley Museum after it was offered for sale in 1981, it appears similar, although for larger, then the only rapid transit car in its collection, Philadelphia Subway Number 1009.

Manufactured itself by the J. G. Brill Car Company in 1936, it saw initial deployment on the Delaware River Bridge Commission’s Benjamin Franklin Bridge Line, shuttling passengers between Philadelphia and Camden.  Its City of Brotherly Love service was retained with the Broad Street Subway, which subsequently purchased it and operated it until 1984, at which time it was replaced by state-of-the-art Japanese cars and donated to the museum.

Track-plying maintenance vehicles also take their place in the collection.  Philadelphia and Western Railroad plow Number 10, for instance, a “sheer plow” produced by the Wason Manufacturing Company in 1915, canted snow to either side of the track.  Bought from SEPTA in 1988, it is the last snowplow trolley to have been used by any US transit system, although it is employed by the museum for the same track-clearing purposes.

Actual car maintenance and restoration can be viewed on shop and car barn tours, while six departures offer trolley ride opportunities on the 1.5-mile Shade Gap Branch of the East Broad Top Railroad, with which it closely coordinates, to Blacklog Narrows, passing the remains of the original iron furnaces, which are now reduced to skeletal brick walls and coke oven ruins.  A single ticket accesses unlimited rides for the day, which take about an hour for the three-mile round-trip.  Like the East Broad Top Railroad itself, which the trolleys usually meet upon return, the Rockhill Trolley Museum, open on weekends between June and October, schedules several seasonal trips, including those highlighting trolley equipment, fall spectaculars, and Pumpkin Patch, Polar Bear Express, and Santa runs.  Its gift shop features a rail-related photographic collection.

Other Rockhill Furnace and Orbisonia Sights

“Frame architecture,” characterized by two-room-wide by single-room-deep houses with stylized porches and eaves, is evident by the one-frame structures the Rockhill Iron and Coal Company built in its Rockhill Furnace company town in the 1870s.  Located at the junction of Pennsylvania State Route 994 and US Route 522 in Huntingdon County, and sprinkled with antique shops and bed-and-breakfasts, it offers an opportunity to view some of these historic structures.

Aside from the East Broad Top Railroad National Historic Landmark, its shop complex, and its 1906 station depot themselves, there are several other historic buildings.

The Marble House, for example–perched on a knoll overlooking the latter–served as a first class establishment for railroad dignitaries and tourists alike.  It later became the private home of the railroad and coal company’s superintendent.

The Tarr Hill neighborhood, named after very Superintendent H. G. H. Tarr and located on the street’s west side, sports a row of five identical, front gable houses, most in the single-frame architectural style, and marked the beginnings of the town.

The Brick’s Storeroom and Stable, located on Meadow Street, was converted to a country store by the Workman family in 1912, selling merchandise for the next 80 years.

The side-gable houses on Iron Street are typical of those built by the Rockhill Iron and Coal Company.

Although not as mono-architectural as Rockhill Furnace, the twin borough of Orbisonia, sporting Queen Anne, Georgian, Colonial and Greek Revival, Folk-Victorian, and Bungalow Craftsman styles, also offers several historically-significant buildings.

Tracing its origins to the land tracts William Orbisonia, a prominent, Huntingdon lawyer had acquired in Cromwell Township, it first took root as a mercantile, and then a post office, after his son, arriving from Bedford Furnace in 1830, established them.  When a community plan detailing property parcels and street layouts had been devised 20 years later, it was officially incorporated as the borough of “Orbisonia” on November 23, 1855.

Today, the four-story Orbisonia Roller Mill Barn on Water Street, resting on a bank next to the bridge spanning Blacklog Creek, can be inspected.

Cromwell Street, having evolved from an original Indian path and then the Great Road—which connected the lower Susquehanna Basin with Ohio territory—marks the area’s earliest settlement, as evidenced by the iron furnace-indicative log houses characterizing the street’s east side.

A Bedford Furnace snapshot can be gleaned from the house of the same name, with its bottle-shaped stone chimney.  After it was restored in 1998, it became home to the Orbisonia-Rockhill Furnace Historical Society and Museum.  The Bedford Furnace Company itself first sprang from the soil only 50 yards east of it in 1785.

The Eagle Hotel, constructed by Jonathan Carothers, took its ultimate form as a three-floor facility with a tearoom, tavern, and banquet hall after considerable refurbishment reconfigured it between 1903 and 1908.

Corporate Website Translation – Marketing Consultants Give Us Good Reasons Why You MUST Invest in Corporate Website Translation NOW

It´s no secret. One of the best ways to expand your business is moving towards new markets. And how do you accomplish this? How do you gain market share? One of the best ways, of course, is spend more money in advertising. But, not everyone has the advertising budget that big companies have. So, what can you do if you don´t have the funds for major-league advertising? Consider corporate website translation as the solution for you.

Recent marketing reports revealed very interesting statistics. Over 100 million people access the Internet in a language other than English. Moreover, over 50% of these users speak a native language other than English. So, if you want to reach new customers in new markets, it makes sense to approach them in their native language.

]]>

It is a good idea that you translate your entire site. Nevertheless, consider the option of partially translating your web page, such as product or service details, graphics, client portfolio, and other important facts. Think of how delighted your potential customers will be to access this information in their own language. You´ll definitely gain the competitive edge.

Experts acknowledge the value of corporate website translation. You may think most users are able to understand the information they read in English on the Web. But they may miss important details, misunderstand key issues, just because, since English is not their native tongue, misinterpret the subtle differences. This is even more important when dealing with industry-specific terms.
Your corporate website translation project will be assigned to a translator, or team of translators, who have experience and are qualified to work in your specific area of expertise. They will be able to clearly convey your marketing message to your foreign clients, ensuring a high quality translation. Editors will then carefully proofread and review the translation to detect any errors or inconsistencies. They will make sure they deliver a website that is suitably adapted to the new customers you wish to reach.

You can´t afford to ignore these important findings. Your business growth and expansion might depend on it. What you fail to do, might give your competitors the competitive edge, and they will take the lead while you lag behind. Corporate website translation is the strategy that goes hand in hand with global growth strategy. It will definitely help you capture a bigger piece of the market.

www.TranslationsLCI.com – Corporate Website Translation

Find More Portuguese Language Statistics Articles

Learn Portuguese in Brazil and experience the quality of education offered by ESL languages. There are numerous differences offered by ESL language courses and other language study centers. The quality offered by ESL is incomparable to any other language study center. Let’s have a look at few differences which you can consider while taking admission in such language schools. ESL language courses are available at very reasonable prices: all programs are offered exclusively at their original price. You can also approach all the available language schools in order to check the difference between ESL and any other language school.   

ESL languages are actually preferred by most people mainly due to the number of destinations along with renowned schools. It is true that language study abroad programs can become more exciting if done at a preferred location or destination. There are five continents where ESL has partner schools. It is only for the convenience and ease of students so that they can choose destination which impresses them the most. Brazil is one of the most beautiful places in the world and you can experience everything from small towns to large cities. You will indulge in the unique and diverse culture of Brazil in a short span of time.   

If someone is searching for a language school in Brazil, you cannot find a better language study center than ESL’s partner schools. ESL Languages is gaining the attention of people worldwide due to its reputation for world class education and service. The entire staff of each and every ESL partner school in Brazil is well versed in Portuguese language. They are also often fluent in the English language, so that students from other countries can easily communicate. The team of ESL Languages always tries to deliver the proposed results and thus it is essential to gain recognition from the students. There are many languages which can be learned at ESL partner schools and one can choose any one depending upon the choice, budget and preferences.

Only at ESL study centers are you guaranteed to get a personalized and competent advice. The ESL study centers usually appoint teachers or staff from the tourism and linguistic sectors. You can also choose a language school in Portugal in case you want to learn Portuguese language perfectly. The entire staff of ESL Languages will give you personalized and supportive study environment.

One major advantage of choosing ESL languages is that it has over 15 years of experience and the organization is delivering quality students. So, make up your mind and choose a language school in Brazil to get quality education and flair in the Portuguese language. 

There are a lot of citizenry around the world who will find their soul mate is not really of their own kind, in regards to the language it speaks. If you have met your significant other on the internet and he or he is from another country, then you will most certainly want to discover the culture his country has and get to comprehend the language as soon as possible. So if you are stuck with Portuguese Translation and you don’t know where to turn to, so that you can be taught it as soon as you can, then you will not have to worry about it too much. There are so many ways you can do this, that you will have trouble picking the most desirable one.
First of all you can go on the internet and look for the courses that are convenient there. Just type the keyword “Portuguese Translation” in Google’s translation bar, and you will see a lot of results appearing. Just go over through all of them and see which courses will fit your finances best. Note that these courses will all have a distinct way of teaching you the language, so if you still have confusions, then the online community forums can help you decide on the best one. There you will find a lot of citizens who have already used them and they will tell you how good they are and how fast you can expect to latch onto Portuguese.
But if you feel that you need more than just an online course, you can pair it with private tutoring lessons. Depending on the country where you are living in, you will have an easier or a harder time finding such services. And above all, you should be inclined to pay for them.
The key to learning any language is to keep at it. You must train daily and practice whenever you can. If possible, practice with native speakers, either online via chat or friends. You can also look around ethnic community centers that will also provide insight into not only the language, but also the customs. Immersing yourself into the language is the fastest way -forcing yourself to read and even watching TV programs in Portuguese (with subtitling helps!) will give you an edge up.
Portuguese is a rather simple language at heart; it does not have all the nuances of English, but there are a number of tongue twisting sounds that are not used in the English language, so that will take some practice!
All in all, it will be worth the effort; that certain person will melt when you come out with some ordinary phases!!

More Portuguese Immersion Programs Articles

A number of software tools have been developed to represent and manipulate objects it geographical space or in some other information space via spatiahration. In the geospatial context, there are eight sets of tools: GIS and remote-sensing analysis systems; geoscience analytical systems; CAD systems; mathematical and statistical analysis systems; production graphics environments; animation environments; information visualization systems; and concept mapping tools (see Appendix E for web addresses that provide details of these tools). (There are also high-tech systems for spatial thinking in fields as diverse as protein analysis, medical imaging, and mapping star systems.)

Each one of the eight tools offers different capabilities. Forexample, GIS and related satellite-based systems, such as GPS, have revolutionized geospatial data collection, analysis, and display. Box 7.1 provides a description and assessment of these tools, which are divided into four groups. Table 7.1 compares these eight high-tech tools in relation to their abiIity to spatialize, visualize, and perform functions (see Chapter 6.7). Currently, none of the tools listed in Box 7.1 and Table 7.1 meet all of the necessary requirements to support spatial thinking. Instead, each system meets some of the requirements. For example, information visualization systems offer great flexibility in the way data are displayed, but provide limited analytical capability. Concept graphing tools support the spatialization and visual exploration of data, but do not reference objects in geographic space. Although animation environments deal well with time, they are cartographically and analytically weak. GIS support a wide variety of data types, integrate and geo-register data, provide high-quality cartographic output, and support spatial analysis. However, they offer poor support for time, the vertical dimension, and multimedia. At best, GIS provide limited support for spatializing nonspatial data. However, when set in the context of alternative this systems, GIS fares as well as, if rot better than, other high-tech systems (see Table 7.1) as a tool for the support of spatial thinking.

All of the high-tech systems in Table 7.1 are becoming more powerful by (I) adding analytical capabilities; (2) providing flexible and visually appealing graphic and cartographic presentations; (3) supporting multimediaand multiformat data; (4) supporting tools such as APIs that can generate specialized but easy-to-use applications; (5) providing easier-to-use functionality, supported by context-sensitive help and software wizards; and (6) offering better integration with other information system products via emerging middleware standards, possibly leading to the embedding of explicitly geographic data handling and processing capacities in many of the systems. Although software vendors seem to have no coordinated plan, systems are converging toward common goals because of the needs of business, industry, and government.

Users want flexible systems to handle data sets that come from multiple sources, at different scales, and with different accuracies. As these systems become functionally more powerful and converge toward common goals, their capabilities will offer greater support for spatial thinking. Because of the diverse forms spatial thinking can take and the diverse contexts in which spatial thinking can occur, it is unlikely that a single system will be able to accommodate spatial thinking in all of its forms and contexts. Even though spatial thinking may be too complex, challenging, and powerful for a single system to offer universal support, most current GIS software systems provide more support for spatial thinking than K-12 students will probably ever need. Indeed, estimates suggest that the range of functions available in GIS products is so extensive that even most professional GIS users access only 10 percent of their software’s functionality (Tomlinson, 2003). Learning things is not limited to the scentific area. Instead it also has relations with some other things like speaking a language or using software, including Rosetta Stone Polish and Rosetta Stone Portuguese. If you have a creative mind, you will make all your own differences in the end!

Find More Portuguese Language Statistics Articles

If you have been putting off learning the English language, I wanted to share three reasons why you should learn English as quickly as possible.

* English is the standard language
The English language has become a common language throughout the world. Take for example, India where there are hundreds of dialects. Instead of learning to speak the  hundreds of variations, its a growing trend is to learn English.

Once you know English, the cultural barriers disappear. You can communicate not only with the Western world, but most of the rest of the world.

* Work is much better for English Speaking people

If you can speak English work options will increase dramatically. Without doubt, this is a requirement for any job in the United States.

]]>

The importance of being able to speak English has grown dramatically in recent years as people in countries like India, Brazil and Russia have established call centers and other service companies to support offshore U.S. companies.

Anyone who can speak several languages is at a lot better positiuon than one person who can speak one language. This is more so when one of the languages is English.

* Expand opportunities

When you can speak English, it will open many more opportunities for you.

You can access higher education officially available only for Westerners. You will be able to take advantage of travel agencies and indeed the entire infrastructure established by the Western English-speaking world.

I hope this article has been effective in helping to understand how important it is for you to learn to speak English.

There is a website that contains great information on learning English, the website is for anyone who currently speak Spanish, Dutch, German, Italian, Portuguese and French. The website is called: easy to speak English, and can be found at: http://www.easytospeakenglish.com

By Robert W. Benjamin

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter, or Website as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

Related Portuguese Language Trends Articles

Spanish is one of the two most popular languages in South America, the other being Portuguese. Almost 90% of South American population speaks Spanish and it is the official language of many South American countries. Spanish is a popular language mostly because of South America’s historic connection with Spain. Besides South America, Spanish is spoken in all the leading continents. It is also spoken in Philippines in Asia, in Africa and of course in Europe.

The Spanish language is one of the most popular and simple foreign languages for those who already know English. The phonetics of the Spanish language is same as English, which makes it comparatively simpler to learn. With economic growth and expansion of South American countries, Spanish language schools are becoming increasingly popular.  Enrolment in Spanish language schools increased with many South American countries signing the North America Free Trade Economy (NAFTA). The signing of this treaty leads to better trade relations between these countries and the Spanish language schools have thus become very important to the business world.

Knowing a foreign language can give people an edge over their peers in the work place and people realise that learning Spanish can be of great advantage in their professions. People are queuing up for Spanish schools in their own countries but the best way to learn this language would be by enrolling in Spanish language schools situated in a Spanish speaking country. One can learn Spanish in South American countries like Argentina, Peru, Chile or Patagonia through the Spanish school ‘Latin Immersion’. Latin Immersion is a Spanish language school that provides you with the opportunity to study Spanish while experiencing the South American culture.

]]>

The initial eight levels concentrate on the basic elements of the Spanish language like vocabulary, pronunciation, conversation skills and grammar. These eight levels can teach you adequate Spanish for practical purpose. The next four levels concentrate on advanced reading, conversation and writing. One must pass a written test to attend the next level.

Unlike other Spanish schools, this school also provides the facility of individual instruction for a student if they so desire. Classes are held in two batches, morning and afternoon, and a person may join any of them. At times people need to learn Spanish for their specific profession. For instance, a doctor who wants to practise in a Spanish speaking country must know more about medical terms. This Spanish language school provides special courses for their students with specific interests. Private courses are offered in law, business, social services, and other fields.

A single course consists of 20 hours of class time, which provides one with enough lessons and at the same time leaves enough time for practice. Since, you will be in a Spanish speaking country you can practise your language skills with the local people. Communicating with the local people in cafes, shops and restaurants can help you improve your spoken Spanish as well as your Spanish listening and understanding skills. Studying at this Spanish language school will result in a wholesome learning of the language.

Spanish is spoken with different accents in different places if you choose the Argentina-Chile combination special Spanish learning programme, you can study in Buenos Aires as well as Santiago. You can experience different cultures and accents through the change of place but your studies shall not be affected. You can also choose to study in Chile, Peru and Argentina together if you enjoy travelling and want to experience a wide variety of cultures along with studying Spanish.

Latin Immersion has many activities planned for their students, which result in a rich Latin American experience. It would be unfortunate for a person to travel all the way to Latin America and not experience their culture. There are varieties of experiences one can enjoy while studying in South America like white-water rafting, salsa, festivals and many more such events. It would be a pity if a student studying in Buenos Aires left without watching their amazing theatres. Most Spanish schools do not plan outings and social events for their students but Latin Immersion does.

Latin Immersion makes your visit to South America worthwhile by taking responsibility of coordinating various activities and social events. They organise a great variety of outings like football matches in Argentina, Pablo Neruda’s house in Chile, Tango shows in Buenos Aires, Vineyard tours in Santiago, Salsa practice and regional cooking lessons. Weekend excursions to villages and coasts help the students in understanding and gaining knowledge on South American lifestyle. It is also very easy to improve fluency in Spanish while travelling. Travelling is a better way to improve fluency as compared to classroom lessons in Spanish language schools.

ESL is a reputable and established organization for language study abroad programs. In partnership with schools all around the world, students can study languages in superb destinations. All of the schools meet the same high standard of services and education that has been set by the agency.

Among the Romance languages, Portuguese is one of the most beautiful. Make a decision whether to learn Portuguese in Brazil or Portugal. Every place and school has its own unique charms, so choose carefully! Brazil, for example, is one of the world’s largest and most diverse countries. There are so many outstanding places to visit like rainforest, sandy beaches and pulsating cities.

Language school in Brazil, Salvador da Bahia is running for last fifteen years and was one of the earliest language schools in the country. The school infrastructure is good and the centre is equipped with modern facilities. Every room is air conditioned, with facilities like audiovisual centre, sports field, kitchen for culinary classes and free internet access. Study is conducted in small groups. This is the best way to learn Portuguese in Brazil as each student gets more direct contact with the teacher. Students also learn about Brazilian culture. The options for accommodation include host family and student residences. They are located at a short distance from the school campus.

In Portugal, CIAL language school in Lisbon is a perfect place for Portuguese language study. The teaching staff is highly qualified and consists of native speakers who keep full acquaintance with the language. Twenty classrooms located in three buildings are a short distance of less than five minutes from one another. This language school in Portugal provides every facility such as internet, library, multimedia room, language lab for practice and much more. During free time, students enjoy relaxing on the open terraces and sitting with their friends sipping drinks and eating tasty Portuguese treats. With thirty years of rich experience the school provides course study for all levels. There are numerous choices for the courses that include standard, intensive as well as an option for surfing along with the classes.

A language trip is incomplete without some exploration of the local culture. For this ESL language schools organize numerous leisure activities. During these activities students interact with each other and also with the native people. The activities include guided tours to the museums, monuments, sport events and chances to live the nightlife of the city. The price charged is suitable for every pocket and thus anyone can afford these language courses. If all this sounds good then why not find out more about ESL languages schools.  Take advantage of this golden chance to visit world’s most popular places in the company of new friends from all over the world!

More Portuguese Abroad Articles

With the right combination of accuracy and features, Whitesmoke Translator swept past the competition and took the top spot in our review of translation software. Whitesmoke Translator is the best translator which also has the best compatibility with other programs.

WhiteSmoke Translator is an all-new translation software product from WhiteSmoke. Translator enables you to take any text from any text-based application, and automatically translate it into a destination language. Based on Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) technology, the translation quality of WhiteSmoke Translator is very high, surpassing competing products on the market. WhiteSmoke Translator aims to be the last word in quality machine-based translation tools for the desktop and the web.

The interface would be useless though if whitesmoke translator didn’t translate correctly. Fortunately, whitesmoke translator gets it right when it comes to translation. In fact, it performed the best out of all the programs in our translation tests. That accuracy is really what cinches the deal, whitesmoke translator is the best translation software that we could find.

Try the free download of Whitesmoke Translator.

Effectiveness

Whitesmoke Translator is the most effective translation program out there because it offers the most accurate translations. Based on Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) technology, the translation quality of WhiteSmoke Translator is very high, surpassing competing products on the market.

Features

Whitesmoke Translator integrates well with programs; all you have to do is press Control and right-click on any word and whitesmoke translator will automatically look up the word in its dictionaries and offer several different sources for additional information. If you need to translate more than one word, you simply highlight the text before pressing Control and right-clicking. You can also copy and paste text directly into whitesmoke translator.

]]>

Whitesmoke also offers integrated spell check and grammar check capabilities so you can make sure your own translations are accurate.

WhiteSmoke Translator is a powerful solution for word-to-word and full text translation:

Full text translation in one click
55 language pairs for word-to-word translation
10 language pairs for full text translation
Translation for more than 1 million words
Works with all text-based applications
Easy-to-use graphical interface

Full text translation for the following language pairs:

English-Spanish-English
English-German-English
English-French-English
English-Italian-English
English-Russian-English

Word-to-word translation for the following languages:

English
Arabic
Chinese
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Turkish
Ease of Use

Whitesmoke Translator remains a small window, out of the way until you Control+Right-Click on some text. Then Whitesmoke Translator swings into action, translates, looks up definitions and offers other resources automatically. Whitesmoke Translator’s smooth integration makes it the perfect tool to use with other programs.

Who Uses WhiteSmoke Translator?

Language translation software has a wide variety of applications. WhiteSmoke Translator is used by children at school, adults in the workplace, by people learning English as a second language, and by corporate professionals and professional translators. In this global world, translation solutions are becoming a vital part of communication, and an accurate translation tool such as Whitesmoke Translator aids business and social relationships.

Where Can I Use WhiteSmoke Translator?

Social Media

Are you making friends from around the globe? The wonder of social media is that it is a world with no borders. With WhiteSmoke Translator, you can even talk to people in a different language, by translating their messages or your messages in real time!

International Business

English is the global language, but WhiteSmoke translator can help you reach out to even more partners and clients by facilitating communication across languages.

Blogs

If you are a blogger who writes in English, use WhiteSmoke Translator to make multilingual versions of your content, or to translate foreign language comments on your posts.

Professional Translation Services

If you are a professional translator, WhiteSmoke Translator will make your work a whole lot easier. By automating some of the initial draft translations, you have more time to concentrate on small details.

School and Academic Research

Access more content from foreign language publications with the aid of WhiteSmoke Translator, and reference sources that your colleagues can only dream about!

Summary of Whitesmoke Translator

Whitesmoke Translator simply does it better than other translation software. It has greater accuracy, more languages, better features, numerous references and dictionaries and a simple, compact interface. Whitesmoke Translator will be able to do anything you need it to.

please excuse my rude ass brother =P

More Portuguese Language Statistics Articles

In today increasingly global economy, knowing another language or two has become very important. Foreign languages surrounds most people daily, and people desire to learn other languages to increase their brain power, grow as people, or for job requirements.

While these apply to any language, the growing importance of the Chinese economy, Brazil, Latin America and the growing importance of African French speaking countries is especially noteworthy.

Five top tips and bits of advice when it comes to mastering another language are noted below. Employ them, and I guarantee you will be seeing some results in no time.

To start, do not forget that acquiring an additional speech takes lots of active listening. It is in this same manner that a baby learns to talk by using his ears and studying his world.

There are many ways to learn a language by ear: via CDs, computer programs, text books and more.

]]>

Even if you have only just begun, use, use, use what you have learned so far! If you practice what you pick up, you will cement it to your memory. Your studies and all of your hard work will not be forgotten if used often.

Give yourself permission to mess up! We humans gain knowledge of things far more speedily when we allow ourselves to make mistakes. Do not criticize or beat yourself up when you make flubs in studying another tongue; the more you make the more they will set you right and such permits you to immerse yourself more rapidly. Everybody makes some mistakes in the beginning!

Study up on the lifestyle. Each land has its unique behaviors, traditions, and methods — learn about their customs. Page through books on the subject to become aware and bash any stereotypes you might have had prior to researching a language and its nation.

Prepare yourself for bad things to happen. You should not wait until a crisis situation to comprehend why you should know the language of a land you might visit.

While this is an extreme example, if you are touring China, for example, and see a horrible but secluded accident, how do you expect to get the victims help when the Chinese speak limited English?

Some individuals learn a lingo effortlessly and without lots of instruction. They pick it up on the job or were raised mostly bilingually, so a second lingo comes fairly naturally for these elite.

For the rest of us, though, tips like the ones listed in this writing are necessary to stay encouraged and reach your foreign language learning aspirations.

At the Southern California Language Immersion Symposium opening panel in Culver City, moderator Magaly Lavadenz (LMU) and panelists Andrew Cohen (University of Minnesota), Tara Fortune (CARLA), Alice Horiba (Culver City Unified), James Orihuela (Long Beach Unified) and Tracy Pumilia (Culver City Unified) discuss successes, challenges and critical issues of immersion programs. To learn more about dual language education, visit LanguageImmersionToday.com

More Portuguese Immersion Programs Articles