At the kind invitation of noted steam restoration specialist Mr. Gary Bensman on Wed. 5/5 I accompanied Gary for a tour of his ongoing remediation work at Steamtown.

The tour included a detailed look at my first "big horse" NKP 759 and I am pleased to report that she and the other engines recieving the extensive cosmetic going over that Gary and his capable crew are giving them look better than they have for MANY years!! In addition to the core mission of Asbestos removal they are getting new jackets and a good overall clean-up.

I was also heartened to see that Gary's team includes some very capable young professional steam men like Jason Subchinkski (sp?) who is moonlighting on his days off from the NH&I RR, and Mark St.Aubin of 1225 and 765 fame. I can't emphasise too much how important it is to the future of steam that we pass on the art of keeping these beloved monsters in good shape to a new generation!! Most things in life can be learnt in a classroom...a very few MUST be acquired on the job...and steam locomotive maintenance is surely one of them!!

Anyhow, my thanks to Gary for the kind invitation and to his crew for their good work!!

Ross Rowland

Who are you, and what have you done with Ross? Seriously, they must have made some great strides at Steamtown.....Well Done!

Cheers, Dave

The big question is....would you ever visit again? All in all it's really not a bad place to volunteer. They didn't have to ask me twice when I wanted to volunteer unlike another nearby museum which asked if I had any professional skills and gave me quite a hard time when I said no but I'd be willing to learn.

Steamtown has the potential to be a word class tourist destination. It's good to hear progress is being made.

I have very great respect for Ross Rowland and his contributions to steam operation and preservation. To read his recent review of Steamtown swells the heart. Thanks for giving us sucha positive report through such a critical eyes.

The good stuff happening at Steamtown is not just limited to the NPS making progress. I am biased, but I would say it is the epicenter of the rail preservation "movement" in the east.

Between the NPS, the Electric City Trolley museum (which has one of the nicest restoration shops I have seen), the ARHS, a few NRHS Chapters and the local shortline Delaware-Lackawanna there are an incredible amount of projects happening.

If you look beyond the Steamtown clean-up/paint program, B&M #3713, the volunteer work on DL&W #565 and the final lap of finishing Baldwin 0-6-0 #26 you will find...

multiple trolleys in service or under restoration
the two BAR F-3A's coming back to life as DL&W units
a CNJ RS-3 coming back to life as... a CNJ RS-3
a trio of D&H RS-3's (often working together)
a veritable ALCo museum in service or on the property at the D-L
the serviceable RDG FP-7's are staying in town
(hopefully) the CNJ freight has a stable future
and of course, a CN 2-8-2 to add some coal smoke to the scene

And don't forget the City of Lima/DL&W diner guys...

There's more that will be added to the list in the future, but I am not at liberty to say.

Steve S's announcement tomorrow may be the BIG news of preservation, but give Scranton its due as a hub of some tremendous activity.

Rob

I think anyone who comes to Scranton for the NRHS Convention will be pleased with what they find. Both groups are working to get the F3's done in time. On a longer time frame the DL has acquired a couple of important vintage freight cars as well.