"Pulling out of the Yard" by U.S. National Park Service , public domain
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The romantic image that
steam railroading evokes
is reflected in George
Inness’s painting entitled
“The Lackawanna Val
ley “ (above), showing
Scranton and the Dela
ware, Lackawanna and
Western railroad yard in
IKS 5. Right: a 1920rail
pass and the corporate
seal of the Leggett's Gap
Railroad, a forerunner
ofthe DL&W. Note the
original spelling of the
rail line's name.
/k Steamtown, engineers
not only help to maintain
their engines in top condi
tion, hut demonstrate for
visitors the knowledge
and skill it took to operate
a steam locomotive.
Welcome to Steamtown
You are about to experience a
part of American railroading that
hasn't existed for nearly half a
century—the era of the steam
locomotive. Steamtown National
Historic Site was established on
October 30.1986, to further pub
lic understanding and apprecia
tion of the role steam railroading
played in the development of
the United States. It is the only
place in the National Park System
where the story of steam rail
roading, and the people who
made it possible, is told.
Steamtown occupies about 40
acres of the Scranton railroad
yard of the Delaware, Lackawan
na and Western Railroad, one of
the earliest rail lines in northeast
ern Pennsylvania. At the heart of
the park is the large collection of
standard-gauge steam locomo
tives and freight and passenger
cars that New England seafood
processor F. Nelson Blount assem
bled in the 1950s and 1960s. In
1984, 17 years after Blount's un
timely death, the Steamtown
Foundation for the Preservation
of Steam and Railroad Americana,
Inc., brought the collection to
Scranton, where it occupied the
former DL&W yard. When Steam
town National Historic Site was
created, the yard and the collec
tion became part of the National
Park System.
The Steamtown Collection con
sists of locomotives, freight cars,
passenger cars, and maintenanceof-way equipment from several
historic railroads. The locomo
tives range in size from a tiny in
dustrial switcher engine built in
1937 by the H.K. Porter Company
for the Bullard Company, to a
huge Union Pacific Big Boy built
in 1941 by the American Locomo
tive Company (Alco). The oldest
locomotive is a freight engine
built by Alco in 1903 for the Chi
cago Union Transfer Railway
Company.
Steamtown National Historic Site
preserves and interprets the lega
cy of steam-era railroading. Expe
rience this era through tours of
the railroad yards and the build
ings. Ride in a restored railroad
car or caboose. Watch Living His
tory characters depict life in the
era of steam. Lectures in the the
ater and the film Steel and
Steam highlight related subjects
and provide glimpses into railroading's past. We encourage
you to explore and contemplate
the site at your leisure.
A conductor and his
passengers, 1930s.
The park includes the following
points of interest, keyed to the il
lustration above. Other points are
labeled on the illustration.
1 Visitor Center Begin your visit
here for orientation to the park,
its facilities, and its attractions.
2 History Museum Exhibits here
highlight the people and the his
tory of steam railroading in the
United States and include displays
on early railroads, life on the rail
road, and the relationship be
tween the railroad and labor, busi
ness, and government. A timeline
presents key moments in the his
tory of railroading and the DL&W
from the early 19th to the mid20th century.
3 Roundhouse This remaining
portion of the 1902/1937 round
house has been rehabilitated and
is used to store, maintain, and dis
play engines from the Steamtown
collection. A raised walkway af
fords opportunities to view work
in progress on the locomotives.
4 Turntable This 90-foot-long
turntable, used for turning en
gines toward the roundhouse, is
the type used here after 1900.
5 1902 Roundhouse Section This
three-bay portion remains from
the second roundhouse, built on
this site in 1902.
6 Technology Museum This muse
um offers a look at the technolog
ical changes and advances in rail
roads through the years. Included
are exhibits on steam locomotive
design, railroad architecture, track
design and engineering, signals,
communications, and railroad
safety. A model of the DL&W’s
Scranton yard is located on the
second floor.
Tours and Excursions Park rang
ers offer tours of the site, round
house, and locomotive repair
shops. On certain days, rail excur
sions are offered, including a main
line train ride to one of several
destinations. Check at the visitor
center for schedules. Fees are
charged for visiting the site, excur
sions, and certain other programs.
For Your Safety
Remember, Steamtown is a
working railroad site, so please
be careful. Look out for moving
trains and other vehicles at all
times. Avoid stepping on the
rails and do not climb on the
locomotives or cars.
For More information
Steamtown National Historic Site
150 South Washington Avenue
Scranton, PA 18503-2018
888-693-9391
www.nps.gov/stea
Visit the National Park Service
website at www.nps.gov.
1804
Richard Trevithick
builds a successful
steam locomotive
in Great Britain.
1829
O&H Canal Company
Railroad tests the
"Stourbridge Lion."
the first real steam
locomotive in the
United States.
The 1857 “Investigator"
(above) was thefirst suc
cessful hard-coal burning
locomotive owned by the
DL&W. Left: A signal
man tells an engineer to
move his train forward.
Right: Iroumakers George
and Seldoii Scranton,
founders ofthe DL&W,
believed that railroads
were going to revolution
ise transportation and
become the primary
mover ofgoods and
people.
The bituminous coal
used to fuel most passen
ger locomotives made
rail travel inherently
dirty. The DL&W, '
The transporting ofT-rails
(right) and anthracite coal
led to the expansion ofthe
Scranton railyardfacilities,
shown here in 1877 when
steam railroading was ex
panding throughout the
country.
however, used anthra
cite coal (right), which
created less smoke, soot,
The DL&W Railroad and the Evolution of the Railroad Yard
Steam town
Railroads in the Age of Steam
Railroading has been called "the biggest busi
ness of 19th-century America." Animal and
gravity-powered rail transport had been used
by quarry companies in Massachusetts and
elsewhere in the Northeast since the early
1800s. The United States quickly adopted the
steam railway once reliable locomotives suit
ed to long-distance public transportation
were available. After 1830 and the creation
of better locomotive types, railroad invest
ment in both Great Britain and the United
States accelerated almost simultaneously.
Britain's first true public steam railway, the
Liverpool & Manchester, began operations in
1830, as did the first such American railway,
the South Carolina Railroad.
New England and Middle Atlantic states. Dur
ing the next decade American railroads grew
into a coordinated iron network of more than
30,000 miles serving all the states east of the
Mississippi River.
Railroad construction slowed during the Civil
War (the first American conflict in which rail
roads played a major role as movers of troops
and supplies) but resumed on a large scale
immediately afterward. By 1880 the United
States had 94,000 miles of track binding the
country together; 20 years later it had
193,000. By the end of World War I in 1918,
the country could boast more than 254,000
miles of track and 65,000 steam locomotives.
In the 1830s and '40s America's railroads
were small private affairs of limited mileage,
scattered along the Atlantic seaboard from
Maine to Georgia, with a few enterprising
companies pushing westward into the Ap
palachians By 1852, thanks to merchants de
manding faster and more reliable means of
transporting their goods, more than 9,000
miles of track had been laid, mostly in the
As the railroads expanded, so did the country.
Between the Civil War and World War I the
United States was transformed from an agri
cultural to a manufacturing nation, thanks
largely to the railroads. They brought raw
materials like coal, oil, iron ore, and cotton
to the factories and carried away steel, ma
chines, cloth, and other finished products.
They moved livestock, grain, and produce
Xw adfor the Dickson
Manufacturing Company
reminds us that Scranton
was once a major locomo
tive builder. Right: William
H. Truesdale, DL&W Presi
dent. 1899-1925.
and cinders. Thefictitious
traveler “Phoebe Snow"
(above), whose “dress
stays whitefrom morn to
nighr," advertised anthra
cite’s clean-burning quali
tiesfor the DL&W.
from farms to the cities. And they carried
people everywhere. Most of the immigrants
who settled in Pennsylvania's Lackawanna
Valley traveled there by train, just like the
emigrants from the East who settled Minne
sota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas in
the 1870s and '80s.
The railroads shortened the time it took to
travel great distances, thus bringing cities
closer together. In 1812, for example, a trip
from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia took six days
by stagecoach. In 1854 the same journey took
15 hours by train. By 1920 the trip was down
to five hours. Rail deliveries of freight and
passengers were generally faster and more
reliable than those by stagecoach, wagon,
steamboat, or canal packet. The railroad
drove many canal companies out of business
and lured away most potential passengers
from riverboats and stagecoach lines.
Until the end of World War I, railroads
carried the bulk of all freight and pas
sengers. After 1918 they faced in
creased competition from automo-
biles and trucks. By the 1950s railroads
were hauling less freight, had reduced
passenger service, and abandoned some
lines altogether. By then the railroads
themselves had undergone dramatic
changes, beginning in 1925 with the in
troduction of the diesel-electric engine.
Within 15 years the diesel locomotive,
with its great reduction in labor needs,
its operational flexibility, and its relative
cleanliness, had replaced the coal-burn
ing steam locomotive. Fortunately, be
cause of places like Steamtown National
Historic Site and other museums, the
contributions of steam railroading to
the development of the United States
wili never be forgotten. And the lives
and duties of the men and women who
labored in the yards, roundhouses, and
stations and on the trains will be pre
served for future generations.
In the last quarter of the 19th century and
the first quarter of the 20th, the Delaware,
Lackawanna & Western Railroad was a major
carrier of anthracite, the hard, dean-burning
coal found in abundance in northeastern
Pennsylvania. The popularity of anthracite
not only spurred the growth and expansion
of the DL&W but also the four other major
railroads that ran through Scranton: the Cen
tral of New Jersey, the Delaware and Hud
son, the Erie, and the New York, Ontario and
Western. The Lackawanna and Wyoming
Valley Railroad, an electric shortline, began
operating in 1903. It served local passenger
and freight needs. Coal and railroads created
a huge industrial complex in the Lackawan
na and Wyoming valleys. Thanks largely to
William H. Truesdale, the DL&Ws president
from 1899 to 1925, the railroad was operat
ed with exceptional success and efficiency
for many years. Many of the structures with
in Steamtown National Historic Site arc lega
cies from the Truesdale administration.
The DL&W, like other early eastern railroads,
was an amalgam of smaller railroad lines
combined through mergers, consolidations,
and leases- It was created in 1853 by George
and Seldon Scranton (for whom the city of
Scranton is named), who were seeking an
economical way of hauling their iron prod
ucts, particularly T rails used in the construc
tion of railroads. The Scrantons formed the
DL&W by joining three railroads—the Cayu
ga & Susquehanna, the Lackawanna & West
ern (formerly the Leggett's Gap Railroad)
and the Delaware & Cobb's Gap. At its
height the DL&W operated on about 1,000
miles of mainline and branch track between
Hoboken, N.J., and Buffalo, N.Y.
Northeastern Pennsylvania was a "melting
pot" for immigrants who chose the Lacka
wanna and Wyoming valleys as the place to
make a better life for themselves and their
families. Those who settled in the Scranton
area—some 30 ethnic groups—sought em
ployment in silk mills, Iron and steel facto
ries, coal mines, and with railroads. At its
peak the railroad yard employed several
thousand workers, mostly immigrants and
the sons and grandsons of immigrants, who
came to the United States during the last half
of the 19th century. The Scranton railroad
yard, now the home of Steamtown National
Historic Site, is representative of 20th-century
steam-era facilities that were used for the
handling of coal, freight, and passenger traf
fic and the service and repair of locomotives.
Scranton's economic fortunes followed those
of the DL&W and began to decline in the
mid-1920s when the demand for anthracite
coal started to subside. By the 1930s and
1940s gas and oil were replacing coal as a
home and industrial fuel. The DL&W began
using diesel locomotives, reducing the need
for coal even further. The steam locomotive
repair shop in Scranton dosed in 1949. Many
functions of the yard were shut down in the
1960s after the DL&W merged with its long
time rival, the Erie Railroad, to become the
Erie-Lackawanna. The yard was finally closed
byConrail in 1980, following its 1976 acquisi
tion of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. Steamera functions have been restored to allow Na
tional Park Service staff to show how it was
when railroads ran on steam.
1849-53
Delaware. Lackawan
na & Western Rail
road is formed by
combining the Cayu
ga & Susquehanna,
the Lackawanna &
Western, and the
Delaware & Cobb's
Gap railroads.
1869
The transcontinental
railroad is completed
between Omaha,
Nebraska, and Sacra
mento, California.
1904
"Phoebe Snow" first
promotes travel on
DL&W Railroad.
1949
The diesel-powered
luxury train Phoebe
Snow is introduced.
Scranton locomotive
shops close.
1960
DL&W and the Erie
railroads merge to
form the Erie-lackawanna Railroad.
M.G. McInnis of the
Erie becomes presi
dent.
1976
Consolidated Rail
Corporation (Conrail)
is formed from the
merging of numerous
railroads. Including
the Erie-Lackawanna
1986
Congress establishes
Steamtown National
Historic Site.
1995
Restored and recreat
ed roundhouse and
museum complex
opens to visitors.