BGuthrie Photos: PA -- Scranton -- Steamtown NHS -- Interior Exhibits

PA -- Scranton -- Steamtown NHS -- Interior Exhibits:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. STEAIX_180421_007.JPG: 1850-1880
2. STEAIX_180421_008.JPG: The anthracite producers of eastern Pennsylvania, eager to ship coal to New York and New England, built some of the earliest and most successful railroads in American history. These railroads soon made the canals obsolete. During the middle of the nineteenth century, railroads were constructed at a remarkable speed and scale. No longer limited to connecting navigable bodies of water or serving purely local needs, the railroads were becoming the basis for a national transportation network.
3. STEAIX_180421_014.JPG: Scranton Becomes a Rail Town In 1849, the Scranton Company purchased the charter of the long dormant Liggett's Gap Railroad, the first proposed rail line in the Lackawanna Valley. Although chartered in 1832, construction on the route over the Moosic Mountains via Clark's Summit to Great Bend had not yet started. Ground was broken in May 1850 with a track gauge of six feet to facilitate interchange with the Erie Railroad at Great Bend. In April 1851, the company's name was changed to the Lackawanna & Western Railroad and by mid-October a fifty-six-and-a-half mile line was opened to traffic.
4. STEAIX_180421_051.JPG: The Civil War The Civil War was fought not only with guns but industry. The North, superior in manufacturing, shipping, and banking, controlled three-quarters of the United States' wealth and possessed nearly seventy-five percent of the nation's 30,000 miles of railroad track. Not only was the Union's track better and longer, it also had better facilities for the repair and replacement of track and rolling stock. Both the North and South did everything in their power to destroy the other's ability to move men and equipment; each became expert in repair, construction, and destruction of bridges and railroads.
5. STEAIX_180421_080.JPG: The Gilded Age The period between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the twentieth century -- the Gilded Age -- was an era of enormous industrial growth and extremes in both wealth and poverty. Shady deals, corruption and thievery ruled the day. Railroads were a potent economic factor and their owners frequently and flagrantly abused their wealth and power to make fortunes for themselves and their stock holders.
6. STEAIX_180421_083.JPG: The Granger Movement
7. STEAIX_180421_094.JPG: Strike!
8. STEAIX_180421_100.JPG: Standard Time
9. STEAIX_180421_102.JPG: 1880-1930
10. STEAIX_180421_106.JPG: North and South finally united!
11. STEAIX_180421_119.JPG: The Day with Two Noons
12. STEAIX_180421_128.JPG: The Struggle for Railway Safety
13. STEAIX_180421_141.JPG: "If it takes the entire army and navy of the United States to deliver a postcard to Chicago, that card will be delivered." -- President Grover Cleveland, 1894
14. STEAIX_180421_144.JPG: 1894, The Great Railway Strike
15. STEAIX_180421_157.JPG: Dawn of the Twentieth Century
16. STEAIX_180421_160.JPG: 1902, Coal
17. STEAIX_180421_170.JPG: World War I
18. STEAIX_180421_172.JPG: In 1916, railroads recorded their greatest mileage of 254,037. The following year, the railroads and mileage began their long decline.
19. STEAIX_180421_179.JPG: The Roaring 20s
20. STEAIX_180421_189.JPG: America on the move
21. STEAIX_180421_190.JPG: General Orders No. 6-7/8 -- "Private Jerry Flannigan to continue guarding the station and report all unusual happenings -- signed Major Portion I gotcha major. I guess I'm some important guy to get a responsible job like reporting all unusual doings. Oh major! Gosh! Talk about unusual stuff!!! The 5:15 is on time. [Walter] Hoban
22. STEAIX_180421_206.JPG: 1930-1960
23. STEAIX_180421_210.JPG: 1948
24. STEAIX_180421_218.JPG: World War II
25. STEAIX_180421_221.JPG: A Farewell to Steam
26. STEAIX_180421_238.JPG: Rise of the Railroad Brotherhoods
27. STEAIX_180421_250.JPG: During the post-war Eisenhower years, massive federal spending supported the railroads' competition -- roads, automobiles, trucks, pipelines, waterways, airports, and airlines -- edging the railroads to the brink of economic collapse.
28. STEAIX_180421_258.JPG: World War II
29. STEAIX_180421_265.JPG: The Great Depression
30. STEAIX_180421_278.JPG: The golden age of anthracite, fire and steam that had brought prosperity to Northeastern Pennsylvania drew to a close.
31. STEAIX_180421_282.JPG: In 1960, Steamtown USA was founded by F. Nelson Blount at North Walpole, New Hampshire. By 1983, Blount's collection was relocated to the deserted DL&W railroad yard in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1986, Congress created Steamtown National Historic Site as a unit of the National Park System.
32. STEAIX_180421_297.JPG: Hobo
33. STEAIX_180421_315.JPG: The brakeman's club was designed to help pull coupling pins, turn difficult brake wheels, and stop the wheels of a rolling car. But at times, it was used by irate trainmen against the hoboes who rode the rails for free.
34. STEAIX_180421_372.JPG: Rutland Caboose #28
35. STEAIX_180421_389.JPG: Boxcar #43651
36. STEAIX_180421_402.JPG: Are you hurt, madam? I'm awfully sorry it happened! Thorry, huh! You thould be. It wath all your fault! My huthband had hith hand out!
37. STEAIX_180421_409.JPG: Stewardesses and Nurses A Helping Hand
38. STEAIX_180421_412.JPG: Women of War Rosie the Riveter
39. STEAIX_180421_415.JPG: The Harvey Girls Precision and Style
40. STEAIX_180421_418.JPG: December 9, 1914 This mixed media relief is based on the Diamond Mine disaster in Scranton on December 9, 1914. The elevator that carried miners up and down the Tripp Shaft had a rotten floor and that day the floor collapsed with 13 miners on board. Only one survived. It is considered one of the worst disasters in Scranton's long mining history. Artist Denis Yanashot, 2015-2016
41. STEAIX_180421_424.JPG: The Changing Room Miner's changing room where work clothing was suspended from the ceiling. Why? Because the miners wanted their clothes to dry overnight. Since warm air is less dense than cold air, the warmest air in the building was near the ceiling. This relief was based on a photograph, Hogan, date unknown, Marvine Colliery folder, archives of the Lackawanna Historical Society. Artist Denis Yanashot, 2015-2016
42. STEAIX_180421_430.JPG: Kate Shelley Hometown Hero Saves the Midnight Express
43. STEAIX_180421_432.JPG: Mary Colter Architect and Designer
44. STEAIX_180421_452.JPG: Railways before 1825: The Industrial Revolution and the Birth of the Railways
45. STEAIX_180421_454.JPG: Steam Railroading first developed in Great Britain, where engineering and industrialization were years ahead of the United States.
46. STEAIX_180421_483.JPG: From Coal and Iron to Railroads: The Birth of the DL & W
47. STEAIX_180421_486.JPG: A Bold Gamble
48. STEAIX_180421_495.JPG: Building a Railway
49. STEAIX_180421_506.JPG: Nicholson Viaduct
50. STEAIX_180421_523.JPG: General Herman Haupt
51. STEAIX_180421_530.JPG: Construction Corps of the Military Railroads
52. STEAIX_180421_534.JPG: Experimental Trusses
53. STEAIX_180421_543.JPG: Bridge Demolition
54. STEAIX_180421_552.JPG: U.S. Military Railroad Photographic Train
55. STEAIX_180421_575.JPG: Signals and Switches
56. STEAIX_180421_588.JPG: 1902 Roundhouse Office
57. STEAIX_180421_620.JPG: Making Tracks
58. STEAIX_180421_654.JPG: Generating and Using Steam
59. STEAIX_180421_657.JPG: Steamtown National Historic Site
60. STEAIX_180421_666.JPG: 1850-1860
61. STEAIX_180421_677.JPG: 1860-1900
62. STEAIX_180421_685.JPG: 1900-1907
63. STEAIX_180421_691.JPG: 1907-1912
64. STEAIX_180421_697.JPG: 1912-1920
65. STEAIX_180421_702.JPG: 1920-1940
66. STEAIX_180421_710.JPG: 1940-1960
67. STEAIX_180421_720.JPG: 1960-1995
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Steamtown National Historic Site
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on 62 acres (0.25 km�) 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.

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 archaeological 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 #15 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. One of these includes Canadian Pacific Railway 4-6-4 Hudson engine #2816 which has been restored to working order and hauls trips for her original owner.

Engines CPR 2317, CN 3254, and Baldwin #26 are considered operable, although as of winter 2008, both 2317 is down for repairs and 3254 for inspection, and #26 is entering the final stages of a long rebuild. B&M #3713 is under restoration. When this is complete this will be the first American engine at either Steamtown USA or Steamtown NHS to be restored to working order. Engines NKP #759, CN #47, Trap Rock #43, Rahway Valley #17 have operated at Steamtown before, but not since the move to Pennsylvania.

The following engines have visited the site before: NYS&W 142, BM&R 425, a Lowville & Beaver River Shay, former 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 km� (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 or on the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Steamtown also plays host to RailCamp, 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.
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