You can't make this up. I'm hearing that Steamtown has no heat. They knew this problem was coming for years and dropped the ball on repairs. Some exhibits closed and events cancelled/modified. Can anyone confirm?

The announcement:

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

But, hey face diapers are optional (again).

There was a time in the late Terry Gess days when the topic of money came up in an SVA Board meeting and we were informed that the big problem with operating was due to a bill from a municipal steam operator which was several hundred thousand dollars. I think at the time the annual operating budget was about $4.5M. It was pretty clear that Steamtown was meant to be an "anchor" customer.

I thought that contract was eventually terminated.

Last year, visitation was 54,433; 252nd out of 380 units reporting. Less visitors than Herbert Hoover NHS.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscie ... lights.htm

In 2003, the Comprehensive Interpretative Plan

"Those proposed actions rated highest in priority to future development at Steamtown NHS include:"

·"Increasing visitation and revenues"

http://npshistory.com/publications/stea ... m-2003.pdf


This should help.


https://irma.nps.gov/STATS/SSRSReports/ ... ?Park=STEA


Note overall, the NPS has modest increases over the past 18 years; not a drop.

It's almost hilarious that it was once speculated that annual visitation would be several hundred thousand.

And this folks, brings us to another example of how you can't divorce politics from preservation. While the federal government has BILLIONS to spend on a proxy war that seems only to immiserate its putative beneficiaries; and we're now talking about pallets of cash to restore Scranton-NY passenger service (note this was mentioned as a possibility in the 2003 CIP)-maintaining existing commitments in working order doesn't seem to be an expenditure that benefits the ruling class, so they are neglected.

Of course, this has gone on a long time; many paid staff lived with the specter of an annual furlough of unknown duration-that was once used to close budget gaps.

I look forward to someone explaining what’s going on without the political drivel which has no place on RYPN.

Superheater... I'm sure you've got tickets for the next tour at Mar-A-Lardo...no face diaper required there, just a closed mind.

The Trolley Museum is also closed.

November 18, 2022 Notice: The Electric City Trolley Museum is temporally closed due to no heat in the park. The Elf on the Shelf excursion and Santa on the Trolley will both take place as scheduled. Trim a tree participants will be able to decorate their tree as scheduled. Thank you.

http://www.ectma.org/

The Elf on the Shelf excursion and Santa on the Trolley do not begin until the Friday after Thanksgiving. The trolley draws its power from a substation OFF the Steamtown property and has its own electric heat. The shop in Moosic is on County land and has both heat and plumbing.

Phil Mulligan

Tough to hear about preservation destinations such as STEA and the Electric City Trolley Museum having to shut down. Hopefully they are not turning too many visitors away at this time of the year. Are one or both of these closures some how related to the steam heating system and, if so, are they due to lack of payment to the provider of the steam or a mechanical malfunction of the system? Thanks in advance for the clarification.

1) It doesn't matter one iota how much you may wish otherwise:
The operation and administration of ANY government-owned park, historic site, or museum involves political machinations of the sort touched upon by "superheater." Be it L&A 503 in Texas, the California State RR Museum, or Steamtown and the Grand Canyon. The "normal" rules of accounting and business administration don't apply.

2) There are NUMEROUS excursion lines and rail museums that have made themselves heavily dependent upon the annual Christmas rides/events as a source of income/revenue, both professional and volunteer/nonprofit. Even the Grand Canyon Railway has said that about half their annual ridership numbers come from their shorter, commuter-style-packed Polar Express operations from Mid-November to January.

No, I have an open mind. You have an empty head. And of course you missed the obvious; the parts of the site that are open are all outdoors. So unless you are so devoted to stupid as to leave a mask on outdoors in Scranton in NOVEMBER,
because you are fond of a mucous basin constricting your breathing as your airway lubes up to protect itself against cold dry air..

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/mathias-g ... empty-head


https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/2022011 ... -effective

https://mynbc15.com/news/nation-world/s ... neffective

Even the NPR implicitly tells you surgical masks are ineffective.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... contagious

But being as my wife (a wife is a woman who not only doesn't react to you with instant and complete revulsion, she agrees to enter into a publicly witnessed agreement to share her life with you, you wouldn't understand) is a currently practicing RN with past experience in virology, and I have a fantastic physician-so this wasn't especially newsworthy to me NINE MONTHS AGO.


https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/heal ... d-cdc.html

You will note the insertion of the gratuitous political ad hominem

Now tell me Leanna Wen (the former head of Planned Parenthood) is a right-wing fanatic.

Bad Order, indeed.



Here's some sound personal advice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y3FzVQi-R8

They have a broken heating system and no way to have it fixed in short order.

Here's the Scranton weather forecast:

This Afternoon Partly sunny, with a high near 33. West wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 19. Southwest wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.
Monday Increasing clouds, with a high near 41. Southwest wind 6 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Monday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 25. West wind 5 to 9 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 45. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the morning.
Tuesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 27.

Here's an article on the problem:
https://sports.yahoo.com/lack-heat-limi ... 00217.html

I think the article speaks for itself and I shall not comment further.

Phil Mulligan

It sounds like management has known about the problem for a while and has done nothing to address it. I seem to recall the new super was selected because she had an engineering background? How many failures does it take?

The only thing that seems to have been a priority during her tenure is the ten mile per hour speed limit in the park. Speed bumps, signs, I believe lights, and a digital display - all for what, 15 cars per day?

Every time in RYPN topic about steamtown

Steamtown< National Park Service< Federal Public service< tax and duties = US Politics....

Steamtown is a railway museum..... if you think a railway museum is a money making machine you dream

Phil Mulligan - Thanks for posting the article which explains the situation in a clear and straightforward manner. It's been almost nine years and yet the early passing of Kip Hagen seems to loom larger and larger over the site as time goes on.

The 2018 Foundation Document on the Steamtown NPS website has two recommendations that would be relevant:

1) Update operations and maintenance manuals

The operations and maintenance manuals were last
updated in 1994 and play a critical role in the park’s ability
to maintain facilities and provide reference materials to new
staff members.

and 2) Update manufacturer’s literature manuals

The manufacturer’s manuals were last updated in 1994 and
play a critical role in the park’s ability to maintain facilities
and provide reference materials to new staff members

Given this information, can we assume that the primary heating system is nearly 30 years old? If the recommendations in the Foundation Document were followed, one would have to expect that the physical plant was evaluated, and any issues should have come to light.

The Foundation Document also states, "There are 88 projects related to the railroad yard in the Project Management Information System (PMIS)." The way the document reads, this would also encompass the roundhouse complex, and by default, the heating system.

The 'welcome' statement for Superintendent Cherie Shepherd in May of 2019 states, "Shepherd has served as the regional chief of facility management for the National Park Service’s National Capital Region (NCR). In this role she oversees cyclic, repair/rehabilitation needs and provides project, facility, and maintenance support of parks in and around Washington, D.C. Before working at NCR, she was a project manager in the design and construction division of the Denver Service Center, where she worked with multiple parks within three different National Park Service regions, including the Northeast Region. Shepherd is a 2016 graduate of the Facility Manager Leadership Program. She also has experience in private sector construction and engineering."

The article linked by EJ Berry has a quote stating, "Steamtown has faced heating and cooling systems problems for several years, including leaky underground pipes." I found an additional article from Jan 2022 about the trolley museum closing temporarily due to a ruptured pipe (heat related?).

To wrap this all up, park management should have been well aware of issues with the heating system following the release of the 2018 Foundation Document. Superintendent Shepherd was specifically chosen to oversee "cyclic, repair/rehabilitation needs" in May of 2019. Yet here we are, more than three years later, and the park service is curtailing services while wasting tax dollars to provide temporary heating.

From the article, installation of the temporary system began November 17th. When will the permanent system be installed and complete? Why wasn't any of this handled when the park was closed during the pandemic? This just seems like yet another total lack of competency and effectiveness on behalf of the superintendent.

Precisely. I generally don't read posts with "Steamtown" in the subject line because there isn't likely to be anything but anti-government tropes contained in them.