Returning from a family vacation I was able to schedule a quick stop-over in Scranton.

On Saturday evening I had the strange experience of re-creating, step for step, a walk I first took 25 years ago as a teenager.

Back then I wheedled my parents into a stopover in Scranton to see the very-recently-arrived Steamtown Foundation collection. My parents let me off at the Lackawanna Depot to explore. I walked through the weeds down to the deadline of Steamtown engines--don't recall if it was on the passenger bypass or freight main or even in the yard.

Now bear in mind that I was a teenager then, and it was the pre-Interent age--so I had no way of knowing that behind the scenes the likes of J. David Conrad and Frederick Bailey were on the job and that the hospital train I saw was not a total picture of the Steamtown story. What I did see, all by myself that summer night, was like a page from Twilight of the Steam Locomotives come to life--with many of the self-same engines present and accounted for, if not all well. The air of neglect, the deserted and defunct-looking yards, the engines with their rods up on the running boards and jewlery and parts tossed in the tenders, and the weeds up to my knees as I walked along the line visiting each engine, caused me to feel--very, very intensely--the same sense of loss I felt reading Ziel's book. I cried like there was no tomorrow.

So anyway, 25 or so years later. Very interesting to see all that has been achieved, and all that has been lost as well, around the DL&W yards. There is a spectacular roundhouse, backshop and museum. A wonderful and long-overdue stabilization project is underway for the core steam engine collection. Coaches--the economic breadwinners--are also getting deserved TLC. And of course there is now an equally spectacular trolley museum sharing the property, not to mention a fleet of really handsome privately-owned Alcos earning their keep in real for-profit freight service.

And yet there is also more than a touch still of the decay that moved me as a teen. A lot of old and fascinating wooden rolling stock now present in theory but pretty much gone, unless used as a pattern for replication. And Scranton itself has lost many more of its old buildings to join the Chinese Wall and other vanished parts of the built environment--though other survivors are getting a welcome rehab and new lease on life.

So it was a big mixed bag--and thus I think a very good metaphor for US rail preservation. Much to be proud of, much achieved, through hard effort and dedication. Much lost, often probably inevitable but sometimes through bad luck, bad blood or bad judgment. In short, very typical, maybe archetypal. The DL&W yard at Scranton may be the most honest snapshot of the soul of US railroad heritage--triumphs and warts and all.

Took a ride with my family on the Electric City excursion the next morning. Wonderful crew, spectacular 8-mile ride--a real taste of interurban railroading from its heyday. I cannot recommend it highly enough, and I thank the motorman and conductor (whose names, I am sorry to say, I did not retain) for their very great kindnesses to my family and our fellow passengers.

Thank you, Erik. Wonderful posting!

Stephen

And a personal milestone - when events you have experienced yourself start to become nostalgic. Prepare for more of the same.........and welcome.

dave

Rather quietly, the ECTM has developed a very nice indoor museum, a brand new restoration shop and a world-class excursion line... ad it is county run!

Rob

Agree 100%, but I'm biased as a longtime member. It's so country I've often seen bears by the tracks- which always thrills the groups of school children riding.

Erik

Wish I'd know, could have met you in person and given you the nickel DL tour...

It is amazing how much has changed (some for the better, some not) in the nearly 30 years both myself and Steamtown have resided in Scranton.

Dave Crosby

Nothing I would have liked more, Dave, but I was with the family and it was very much spur of the moment. Another time perhaps, with thanks. I'd really enjoy meeting you.