Says the man whose prized possession is a static advertisement for a failed operation in Virginia. At least Steamtown is making an effort now to have their pieces actually look nice.

Putting personal attacks aside, I think there are areas where Steamtown could be better- it would be nice to have more of the unprotected equipment in the yard fixed outside, and to have their other big steamers running again. But I think they've definitely made strides in the past few years thanks to their volunteers and staff as well. I wasn't planning on going to Railfest at first, but after reading this post of everything being offered I'm thinking about making the trip up this Sunday.

Everyone could be doing it better, but when some dinosaur who's been run out of every respectable operation in the country and hasn't done a damn thing in 20 years decides to take a shit all over someone else's operation, does that even matter? Who TF cares what he thinks? Sorry about your sour grapes you rotten old fart.

Nicely put Tyler H. and glad you're thinking of attending to show your support.

In thinking it over I need to confess that I have been wrong. I've been hanging on to the unrealistic notion that someday a good percentage of the annual federal subsidy ( currently around $ 6M/year) would be devoted to the restoration/operation of mainline steam with regular offerings to the Delaware Water Gap and other destinations reachable on a one day round trip basis out of Scranton ( i.e. Binghamton, Jim Thorpe etc.)

That's never going to happen and I need to get over it.

Truth be told it does a very credible job through its displays of explaining to the average Jane & Joe the critical role steam railroading played in the growth of the nation and that's a good thing. The little 0-6-0 is every bit as effective in demonstrating live steam as a Big Boy to the average person.

Therefore, I applaud all the volunteer efforts that add appeal to the place and wish them every success.

It's also nice to see Mr.Wowak back online. I hadn't seen that name since he ruined the Chaski site via his biased moderating. Hope he learned from that crash & burn incident??

A happy Labor Day to all.

Ross Rowland

Ross does indeed make a valid point. $5.5m to $6m does not go very far in a facility as large as Steamtown. We should all be happy that they get that much. NPS as a whole has been gutted and underfunded for years.

Ross, SNHS did invest heavily in 3713 recently (I'm sure someone can supply the number) but that also means tightening the belt elsewhere. And if Andy Muller gets his wish you WILL see Scranton-Jim Thorpe excursions, although maybe not exactly as you envision. I think the next 5-6 years are going to be very interesting.

Pocono Northeast Regional Railroad Authority is the landlord. They report D-L handled a record amount of freight in 2018, and set another record in the first 6 months of 2019. (17% above 2018)

Here's the article from Progressive Railroading as posted on PNRRA's site on 8-1-2019:

http://pnrra.org/2019/08/01/carloads-on-the-increase/

I know Andy's RBMN is also setting records. Here's RBMN's release:

http://www.rbmnrr.com/happenings/2019/1 ... ic-records

Phil Mulligan

More than likely you will NEVER see a direct to Jim Thorpe excursion from Scranton, if for no other reason (there are several) than the fact that NS owns the line between the DL at Bridge (Steamtown) and the R&N at Minooka Jct. (Taylor).

Just noticed a video in my Facebook feed of a cosmetically restored RDG T1 2124. Looks beautiful--to bad it's only cosmetic. I think this was the only one of the existing T1's with roller bearings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PiE09j ... tkI6yn1XpU

Only the last 10 T-1's had roller bearings on the driving axles; all T-1's had (have) roller bearings on the lead, trail and tender truck axles.

All T-1's have conventional bearings on the side and main rods.

Thus 2100, 2101 and 2102 have conventional bearings on the driving axles and roller bearings on all the other axles while 2124 has roller bearings on all axles.

Phil Mulligan

Anyone yearning for an operable T1 would be wise to help the #2100 effort cross the finish line https://www.fireup2100.org/

RBM&N's T-1 2102 is also undergoing a rebuilding. Haven't heard an update on this one recently.