STEAMTOWN NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

'Steamtown National Historic Site' (NHS) is a heritage railway and museum located on 62 acres (0.25 km²) in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The museum is built around and incorporates a working replica turntable and roundhouse, which includes two original roundhouse sections built in 1902 and 1937.

Contents

History

Museum and collection

Demonstrations, tours, and excursions

Criticisms

Nearby attractions

See also

References

History

Established by an act of the United States Congress on October 30, 1986, Steamtown officially opened to the public in the summer of 1995, and celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2005. Congress established Steamtown to interpret the story of main line steam railroading between 1850 and 1950.
Much of the collection of steam (and a few diesel) locomotives and freight and passenger cars was originally part of 'Steamtown USA'. That collection was originally assembled by the late F. Nelson Blount and was located in several places in the northeast United States before moving from Bellows Falls, Vermont, to Scranton in 1984. Blount's death in an airplane accident in 1967 had cut off the main financial support for 'Steamtown USA', but much of his original dream to have a museum in a working railroad yard with excursions on steam trains and a functional locomotive shop has been realized at Steamtown NHS.

Museum and collection

Steamtown NHS is located within a working railroad yard and incorporates the surviving elements of the DL&W Scranton roundhouse and locomotive repair shops. The new Visitor Center, Theater, Technology and History Museums are built in the style of and on the site of the missing portions of the original roundhouse, giving the impression of what the complete structure was like. (The 1902 roundhouse was originally a complete circle).
Visitors can see museum exhibits about the history and technology of steam railroads in the United States and Pennsylvania, as well as see many locomotives and freight and passenger cars on display. Some locomotives on display are open so that visitors can climb in and see the controls. A mail car, railroad executives' passenger car (with dining room and sleeping / lounge areas), a boxcar, two cabooses, and a recreated DL&W station with ticket window are also open to walk through. A steam locomotive with cutaway sections helps visitors understand the operation of steam engines better. Part of one of the 1865 roundhouse inspection pits uncovered in archeological excavations is also preserved ''in situ'', under glass.
Other exhibits include the history of early railroads, life on the railroad, the relationship between railroads in terms of business, labor, and government, and the history of the Lackawanna Railroad. There is a short film shown throughout the day in the theater.
The museum has a very interesting mix of rolling stock, with only a few pieces that are historically significant to the site. Some of those are a DL&W caboose, steam engine, boxcar, a former WWII troop sleeper that the DL&W converted to maintenance of way service, and numerous passenger cars. Former Oneida & Western/Rahaway Valley 2-8-0 engine #17 was overhauled by the DL&W during the steam era. Other noteworthy pieces are the popular Union Pacific Big Boy #4012, CPR #2929, a rare Jubilee 4-4-4, and Reading Company T-1 #2124. Other engines were owned by Steamtown NHS/Steamtown USA Foundation but have been traded or sold over the years.
Engines CPR 2317, CN 3254, and Baldwin #26 are considered operable, although as of summer 2007, both 2317 and 3254 are down for repairs, and #26 is entering the final stages of a long rebuild. B&M #3713 is under restoration. Engines NKP #759, CN #47, Trap Rock #43, Rahway Valley #17 have operated at Steamtown before, but not since the move to Pennsylvania.
Former visiting engines include NYS&W 142, BM&R 425, a Lowville & Beaver River Shay, Reading Company T-1 #2102 (not operable) and MILW 261.

Demonstrations, tours, and excursions

Steamtown NHS offers a variety of demonstrations, tours, and excursions that show how railroads functioned in the age of steam. Park rangers give guided tours of the locomotive shop (where you can see work being done on the steam engines in the original roundhouse area), talks on the history of Steamtown, the Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive on display, and demonstrations of the turntable on a regular basis. The Scranton yard occupies about 0.16 km² (40 acres).
Several working locomotives take visitors on short excursions through the Scranton yard in the spring, summer, and fall. Most are on passenger coaches, but there are also caboose and hand car rides offered. These rides are included in the admission, although reservations may be required.
Longer excursions are scheduled with separate tickets. These include a ride on a Pullman coach and longer trips to several nearby towns, including the Lackawanna River valley and Carbondale, Tobyhanna and Moscow, Pennsylvania. On rare occasions, excursions are run to the Delaware Water Gap.
Steamtown also plays host to RailCamp[1], a program put on by the National Park Service and National Railway Historical Society to train future railroad employees and fans of the industry in railroad operation and preservation.

Criticisms

Allegations had been made, especially within the mass media, that Steamtown was a "pork barrel" project prior to its building. Some criticized the United States National Park Service, which runs Steamtown, for using mostly Canadian locomotives (inherited from the Steamtown USA operation in Bellows Falls, VT) as working locomotives, although many American locomotives and cars are on display. While the collection within the museum and the rolling stock for excursions have been restored, many pieces of rolling stock that are quite visible to the public are in deplorable condition and face an uncertain future. Some of the most significant pieces of rolling stock (i.e. DL&W 565, one of two surviving Lackawanna Railroad steam engines) have not been restored.

Nearby attractions

The Electric City Trolley Museum is located at the other end of the Steamtown parking lot and offers trolley excursions. 'Electric City' is a nickname for Scranton, as it was the first city in the United States to have a completely electric streetcar system in 1886.
There is a walkway over the rail yard to the Mall at Steamtown, but this closes when Steamtown NHS does.
Also within walking distance is the 1908 Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station, now a Radisson hotel. This is on the National Register of Historic Places, listed on October 30, 1986 (the date of its establishment), as are several other sites associated with railroads in Scranton.

See also

★ List of heritage railways

★ Lackawanna Cutoff

References

Steamtown sites:

★ Official NPS website: Steamtown National Historic Site

★ Northeast Rails Unofficial Steamtown NHS site

★ A List of Locomotives at Steamtown NHS

★ Stan's Railpix : Steamtown National Historic Site Photo Pages

★ Steamtown Photos - includes CN 3254 and CP 2317 with excursions to Moscow, Tobyhanna, and East Stroudsburg
Nearby Attractions:

★ Electric City Trolley Museum Association site

★ The Mall at Steamtown

★ Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel Scranton