Now I have read and looked through the history of Steamtown and the move from VT to PA they shrunk the collection down a bit. but not for scrap.

CP 1246, 1278, 1293, 2816

CN, 89, 1551, 1395

British locomotives British Southern 926, LSWR 30053

N&W 1218

UP 737

several others that I can't name right now. for the record I haven't been to steamtown in maybe 20yrs. Knowing the collection and what I hear from here I believe it's time to find new homes for these steamers if they want them to be saved from the weather. I hate to say maybe their 2truck shay is probably only value scrap metal steamtown could take whatever money they could for it. find a new home for the CP 2929, NKP 44 and I know there's others that could use a new home. F. Nelson Blount created his collection to save as many steam locomotives from scrap as possible and he did and we owe him a thank you for that. Like perhaps it's time to downsize the collection again.

as I said before I haven't been steamtown in maybe 20yrs so I don't know exactly what to say to those who just went there. this is only my opinion so don't hate me

That is a very valid point and one we have discussed before. I wish they would do the same. Everything you saw 20 years ago that was in bad shape, especially the engines you mentioned, has only gotten worse during that time.

John

Well 5288 was brought to TVRM - but then new management decided it didn’t fit the collection so it was neglected by them too. Did the steamtown collection get a curse or something? Haha.

It wasn't "cursed", but more or less a "gut reaction" by the NPS after they acquired the collection and likely did an inventory of sorts. A lot of the engines were de-accessioned because they were deemed "unnecessary" for the collection.

The NPS was always taking heavy flak from railfans for the collection's heavy Canadian influence - going so far as to call it "The Finest Canadian Railway Museum in the United States". Those fans and the NPS simply didn't realize that F. Nelson Blount was simply working with the hand he had been dealt back in the late '50s/early '60s.

I think some get too caught up in what ran where - and don’t see the bigger picture. Not only at Steamtown.

5288 for example - Robert Soule knew that it represented something that TVRM didn’t have - an example of a passenger steam locomotive, the type that ran through the area. That’s big picture thinking. Small picture thinking is “it’s not southern it’s Canadian we don’t want it”

Same with the larger steamtown collection - it’s about having a fleet of steam locomotives - Canadian and US engines are pretty much the same - it all fits the bigger picture.

Now of course it’s great if something has local history as well. The 722 that will soon be on the Murphy Branch is a great example of a truly perfect fit. See also the 168 at Cumbres. But we also need to see the bigger picture!

The late Bob Patterson (SLE) was a persistent and vocal advocate of an operational restoration of the 5288, based on what he believed to be its good mechanical condition with some supporting documentation that the engine was retired shortly after a major shopping and might still have relatively good components. Unfortunately, his pleas fell on deaf ears and it was never even evaluated for feasibility.

It remained in storage at the Tobyhanna Army Depot for most or all of the time prior to being shipped to TVRM.

Instead, the park bureaucracy remained committed to the CN3254, something I never quite understood other than they would have to admit it wasn't a terribly good trade. It has frame and alignment issues and it was noticeably more difficult to fire than the 2317 (even, or perhaps especially to a trainee) and in the cab, it rode like an old pickup with a barely adequate single barrel carb straight six with bad shocks. It suffers in comparison the 2317, which is an Oldsmobile with a nice free-revving two barrel V-8. Until it was shuttered, now almost twelve years ago, it consumed an inordinate amount of shop time and often on short notice, pulling staff from other projects.

Ultimately any kind of plans to provide shelter to the engines ran into two problems; friable asbestos and alteration of the site. Never mind that it looks nothing like it did circa 1935, getting the engines and other equipment under cover was a bridge too far.

As an aside:

Applications for the Superintendent's position (still unfilled on a permanent basis since the prior incumbent unceremoniously departed) closed Monday 06/24/24. Five brave souls were applicants. My understanding is the trainmaster that recently came on board has departed.

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/park ... 947958686/

My evaluation remains the same:

There was a significant amount of local pride and interest in Steamtown when it arrived forty years ago and when Joe McDade used legislative sleight-of-hand to become it's knight in shining armor. As time when by, Joe retired, the District changed with PA's ever shrinking Congressional representation, our ever worsening debt situation and the passing of the generations that remembered steam -there's very little reason for a local Congress critter to expend political capital on the place.

Additionally, Steamtown was foisted on an agency that lacked that enthusiasm and has no institutional competence with railroads, steam locomotives and very little with industrial history. The removal of local purchasing authority worsened the acquisition process as shop staff spent time educating the CGCO's that now do most procurement.

Some day, I'll tell the story of how the late Mark Brennan used to shuffle stuff around in the yard to give some visibility to the UP 737 until it departed.

While these posts about Steamtown can be like "beating a dead horse to death", to quote an old baseball player, I think it is important to keep the record straight on their collection.

These de-accessions were not all part of the move to Scranton - most of them weren't - and were done by a variety of management at different times for different reasons.

The CN 89 departed in 1973 for Strasburg, long before moving was considered. The 1551 and 1218 also departed before the move to Scranton. Not sure why the 1551 was sold to Jerry Jacobson, but the 1218 went back to N&W/NS as they wanted to restore it, and there wasn't another A available.

The 1246 was sold (as I recall) at auction as a result of the debts of the Steamtown Foundation after they went broke, not long after the move to Scranton. The 1278 as part of a trade to Gettysburg for the CN 3254 by the Foundation, as I recall, which had good intentions at the time, but had later implications for both groups.

My point is: you could write a story about the divestiture of each one of these engines.

For what's left - I think it is essential they at least build pole barns, such as at Illinois Railway Museum, instead of leaving the equipment outside - the T1 and the Big Boy seem to need repainting every few years. If they can't do that they should consider getting rid of the rest of the noncore collection, otherwise it will all be a pile of rust in a few more years.

Unfortunately, the "non-core" collection IS already a pile of rust. There are at least 10 locomotives that would fit this description and numerous rotting pieces of rolling stock.

John

Not to mention all the historic to New England wood car collection that was allowed to deteriorate till the roofs caved in. supposedly the metal parts were saved but to what end?

the collection is but a shadow of what i knew as a Volunteer in VT in the last few years there.

There's a beautiful wooden car near the overhead walkway that is caving in as you describe and has plants growing out of it. It has no paint whatsoever on it anymore and so it's heritage is basically unrecognizable. But it looks like it had beautiful glass trim in the clerestories, along the roof.

John

The 1551 was traded to Jerry Jacobson for BLW 26. Which makes a certain sense, since they lacked a regular switcher type locomotive and the 26 was more regionally relevant to Scranton than a CN Ten-Wheeler.

That is right - and as I recall the 26 was close to being operational, as was the CN 3254, so Steamtown NPS could have two operating engines by trading for them. Nothing Steamtown had was operational as they sold off the 1246 and the 2317 needed work.

If you think Steamtown is bad read about the “Conservation Issues” of the collection at Effigy Mounds NP.
One Superintendent had 3 million dollars of boardwalks, trails, and structures built with no attention given to the artifacts underneath that would be destroyed. Another Superintendent stole the bones of 40 Native Americans from the park’s collection.

CN 1395, which is privately owned, just recieved a coat of paint and is about to be relocated to a better display location. Still in Coopersville, Mi. There was talks of putting it under a cover as well. We shall see.

Can someone familiar with actual information explain to me the problem(s) with 3254s frame/ alignment? Was the engine damaged? Is the frame severely bent? Seems unlikely as it did operate for a number of years pulling trains up the hill. Also curious about 2317. Why isn’t it an obvious candidate for a return to service?