Thanks to all for your comments. I am not the webmaster for Steamtown's site, but I have gotten the improper English and outdated schedule comments from many sources.
These are being re-worked, so it will soon have fresh content to go with the fresh look.

The NPS is the largest agency of the Department of the Interior, and the DOI began web upgrades about two years ago with the refresh of Fish and Wildlife Services. FWS is the smallest agency. All government agencies need to be https: so they are all getting some form of upgrade.

I wish you all well in the virtual world! Now, back to the trains.

I wish they gave a roster.

I noticed that the site has no information about the collection. Why would anyone what to know that sort of thing?

It looks to me as if there is a 'master' NPS template that the individual content items are written to fit. This makes sense, as it should simplify additional content generation ... like the collections, the history of particular items, etc. that are sure to follow as the Steamtown Web people get the new site fleshed out.

They have the entire collection listed online already. It's very easy to find but here is the link -

https://www.nps.gov/stea/planyourvisit/ ... ection.htm

From that list you can click on any piece of equipment and it will take you to a page with a photo, and the basic info for each piece of equipment.

The site works well with all my browsers. For those that can't view some or all the pages, make sure your browser and all your plugins like Java are up to date. I get asked this question a lot in my business (web and graphics). If you're still on Windows XP, you may be out of luck.

Eric Schlentner

I got a survey when browsing the new site. If anyone else gets one, be sure to fill it in to help NPS get this where it needs to be.

BTW, the 'special history study' of the Steamtown collection is ON LINE here:

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_ ... n/shst.htm

Thanks to them for providing this; the original book from the early Nineties is long out-of-print...

Thanks!

Just today, I noticed the excursion schedule was available. https://www.nps.gov/stea/planyourvisit/trainrides.htm
Before anyone complains too loudly, the folks at NPS.GOV asked us not to give new information until their migration was complete and vetted. So a lot of updates which should have been online awhile ago are just now hitting the web.

I know we live and die by our schedules. We had a good boost of visitors this week due to fee-free days during National Park Week and with Baldwin No. 26 coming back online.
I think this will be a great year for Rail Friends and Steamtown.

The Baldwin is only scheduled for the Limited trips then?

The "10th Annual" Railfest is advertised here: https://www.nps.gov/stea/planyourvisit/railfest-2016.htm

There aren't many details yet.

While last year's visit by 765 would be hard to top - since this year's edition is the 10th annual Railfest - I'm hoping Steamtown can come up with something fantastic to celebrate the 10th year!

That is correct. She is not meant for the distances of the station stops on the Pocono main, and when we had CN 3254 on the excursions, many complained they never saw a steam locomotive. Their stay was too short or not at a time when they could see steam. The reason 26 became the priority is for short term visitors to enjoy the steam experience, too.

I should rephrase my comment; I was hoping that they would do something less taxing than a Moscow run but more than a Limited trip. Caboose rides or some other new way to enjoy what the switcher has to offer. They still may, but not where the current schedule is concerned.