Pennsylvania. Remembering the Era of Steam Locomotives
Of more than 3,000 “roundhouses” that were once scattered across the U.S., only about two hundred exist today. What is a roundhouse? Designed with a circular or semi-circular layout, roundhouses were constructed around a turntable and used to service and store locomotives. Locomotives were first driven onto a turntable that was subsequently rotated to deliver the engine to a service bay within the roundhouse. One of the most impressive examples of a roundhouse is at Steamtown National Historical Site (SNHS). Located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Steamtown is on the site of a former Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western (DL&W) railroad maintenance yard. With a mission to interpret the era of steam locomotives, SNHS features a reconstructed turntable and roundhouse as well as original buildings dating from 1899. There is also a diverse collection of locomotives and railroad cars.
The DL&W Railroad was founded in the mid-1800s when iron company executives were searching for ways to move products to market. Soon after its establishment, DL&W trains were hauling iron, coal, and passengers on rail lines between Scranton and Buffalo and east to Hoboken, New Jersey. Constructed in 1860, Scranton’s railyard ceased operations in 1980 and soon after fell into disrepair.
In the mid-1980s, a railroad museum founded by F. Nelson Blount was moved to Scranton. Blount was a millionaire and businessman who assembled one of the world’s largest collections of steam locomotives. In 1986, his museum and locomotive collection were acquired by the federal government to establish a national historic site focused on the era of steam powered trains. Today, SNHS operates as a working railyard featuring twenty locomotives and seventy-five pieces of “rolling stock” (rail cars that are pulled).
Our tour began at the reconstructed roundhouse. Inside are interpretive displays including the cutaway of a steam engine and a mock train station. In the central yard we found a specialized snowplow designed to clear track ahead of a locomotive. Identified as Claremont & Concord #60, the plow was built by Boston & Maine circa 1910. Other cars included a ninety-ton open (roofless) coal hopper (No. 82209). The term “hopper” is generic and can describe any type of car that carries commodities. One of the largest locomotives on the site (No. 4012) is nicknamed “Big Boy.” Built by American Locomotive Works of Schenectady, Big Boy had a unique articulated “4-8, 8-4-wheel set” with a four-wheel leading truck followed by a pair of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck.
SNHS also has an impressive array of passenger cars including a suburban coach built by American Car and Foundry. We climbed up into a sleeper car assembled by the famous Pullman Car and Manufacturing Company. Built between 1867 and 1968, Pullman sleepers were configured in a variety of arrangements including single bed compartments that featured a sink, seat/toilet, and bed. When George Pullman died in 1897, his company operated 90% (2,490) of the sleeping cars used in North America. Under Robert Todd Lincoln (President Abraham Lincoln’s son) the company continued to grow and by the 1920s, it operated 9,800 cars and employed 28,000 conductors and 12,000 porters.
Before departing we visited a nineteenth century mill building that houses the Electric City Trolly Museum. The museum features trolleys and interurban cars that once operated on the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad. The museum is owned by the government of Lackawanna County. Among cars that on display in the museum is Car No. 401 that was built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1907. Used in Upper Darby, near Philadelphia, the car was retired in 1990.
