Steamtown PA

Scranton Pennsylvania is a place, I'm sad to say, I've avoided all my life, happily driving past it on so many trips through New York State, thinking "Who would want to stop there?" Well recently friends told us about Steamtown which is in Scranton. Part of the National Park system, Steamtown was established in 1986 "to further public understanding and appreciation of the role steam railroading played in the development of the United States" and Peter and I decided we had to see it, and we're glad we did.

Who doesn't like trains and all the romantic images they conjure of new landscapes passing by the windows and far away destinations? Romantic images indeed because it was the train's workhorse characteristics that contributed to the growth of the U.S. during the last half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. "Between the Civil War and World War I, the United States was transformed from an agricultural to a manufacturing nation, thanks largely to the railroads" and people like George and Seldon Scranton, ironmakers who founded the DL&W (Delaware, Lackawanna & Western) Railroad. Trains "brought raw materials like coal, oil, iron ore, and cotton to factories and carried away steel, machines, cloth, and other finished products. They moved livestock, grain, and produce from farms to the cities. And they carried people everywhere." In 1812, they say a trip from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia took six days by stage coach. In 1854, the same journey took 15 hours by train, and by 1920 the trip was down to 5 hours! Now that's progress! After WWI, cars and trucks began to eat away at the train's monopoly on transportation and in 1925, the introduction of the cleaner, more efficient diesel-electric engine began the retirement of the steam locomotive altogether.

But in Steamtown in Scranton PA the age of steam is alive and well. The Steamtown collection consists of locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, a mail car, and a Pullman. You can take rides on one of the restored trains and tour the inside of the roundhouse where restoration work is still underway. You can also watch the steam engine on the 90 foot-long turntable in the center of the roundhouse, being turned to enter its bay at the end of the day. And if you're in town, as the train to Moscow is pulling out of the station, run to the bridge that crosses the tracks - the perspective is incredible. The picturesque town of Scranton is the backdrop for this Norman Rockwell sight, as the train releases steam, clangs it's bell, sounds its whistle, and slowly gains speed, heading directly for the bridge. The whistle sounds ever more alarming and the black and white smoke clouds become larger and larger as the train approaches and finally envelops you as the train passes under the bridge. It's quite a thrill and certainly underscores the power of these magnificent machines.