Steamtown Yard #10636

The Story

Aged and rusting old railroad equipment, like this steam locomotive from long ago, stands in the railroad yard at Steamtown in Scranton, PA. The modern city surrounds it on the neighboring hills.

Steamtown National Historic Site, a national park managed by the National Park Service since 1995, is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on 62+ acres in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

Many locomotives and freight and passenger cars are on display, and tourists can walk alongside and into some of them. Most of the equipment there is in rough shape, awaiting its turn for restoration while standing outside in the year-round weather. As you can imagine, restoration is a very slow process, especially for things that have no other current survivors from back in the day.

However, what restoration work has been done on this old railroad equipment is remarkable and something to see. There are many displays in the restored roundhouse, a place where work is still being done.

Steamtown still contains an active rail line, and regular freight trains do indeed go through the park, off to one side. I’m unsure, but I think Canadian National operates those tracks.

Location: Scranton, Pennsylvania.  © Andrew Dierks