National Parks:
Steamtown National Historical Site
Scranton, Pennsylvania -- A steam locomotive excites the senses: you can feel the heat from the firebox, hear the bell and whistle, smell the hot steam and oil, feel the ground vibrate beneath your feet, see the one-ton drive rod push the drive wheels around, hear the chuff-chuff-chuff, letting the past rush at you though the train may not be moving.
Steamtown National Historic Site preserves an era that slipped from public consciousness virtually unnoticed. Today, you can relive that era as the fire-breathing behemoths lumber back to life. The cinders, grease, oil, steam and people of railroading have returned.
Here you can step back in time to the days of steam railroading. This park, created to preserve and interpret the history of steam railroading is located in the former Scranton Yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (DL&W) Railroad. The National Park Service tells the story of railroading through living history and interpretive programs, outreach programs and seasonal excursions to destinations around Northeastern Pennsylvania.
DON'T MISS STEAMTOWN'S MUSEUMS
Steamtown National Historic Site offers world-class museum facilities that tell the story of steam railroading. Both the nuts-and-bolts side and the personal side are offered with the warm affection of a railroad buff, and the clear vision of meticulous historical research.
When Steamtown was created, the National Park Service decided to use the existing portions of the Roundhouse (dating from 1902, 1917 and 1937) as a part of the Museum Complex, while adding a Visitor Center, Theater, Technology Museum and History Museum.
The theater at Steamtown shows an 18-minute film called 'Steel and Steam.' This short film follows one man's career on the railroad, and illustrates the rapid, progressive changes railroads underwent during a fairly brief period of the early 20th century.
Inside the History Museum, there is a timeline of railroading, from the earliest days of rails to the 1980s, with a special focus on anthracite mining and the DL&W's president, William Truesdale. Also inside the History Museum is "Life on the Railroad." an exhbit focusing on the people who kept the railroad running - railroad stations, and a Railway Post Office Car and Business car.
The Roundhouse has been adaptively rehabilitated to allow Steamtown's mechanics to care for the locomotives in full view of the visitor.
The Technology Museum includes a sectioned steam locomotive, a caboose and a boxcar that may be entered, and exhibits covering such technical aspects of railroading as Making and Using Steam, Signals, Disasters, Railroad Jargon, Architecture, Maintenance of Way, and others.
The combination of a working railroad yard and a world-class railroad museum gives visitors a chance to do more than just step back in time. Visitors to Steamtown can and do recapture a sense of a bygone era in a setting that is unique in America.
MAJOR PROGRESS AT MATTES STREET TOWER
The Mattes Street Signal Tower, on the east edge of Steamtown, is currently undergoing some much needed stabilization work. Entering into service on December 11, 1911, the tower was originally constructed as part of William Truesdale's early twentieth century modernization plan for the DL&W. It served as an integral element of an extensive traffic management system, consisting of nearly one hundred signal towers, stretching from Hoboken, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York.
Work on the tower over the past two years has included extensive cleaning, an archeological survey, replicating windows, removing hazardous materials, fabricating and installing a spiral staircase and connecting floors. With the landscaping this summer, the rare tower demonstrates the daily risk taken by railroad employees keeping the trains on track - and on schedule.
