Take your bike to Scranton “Steamtown” Pennsylvania and discover a number of marvelous sites, including the Scranton train museum. Steam locomotive train aficionados and novices alike can appreciate Big Boy No. 4012, a restored roundtable, and more.
- What: Steamtown National Historic Site, 150 South Washington Avenue, Scranton, Pennsylvania 18503, (570) 340-5200. Admission is free.
- How to Get There: From the East Coast of the U.S., take I-80 west to I-81 to Scranton. From western Pennsylvania, it’s I-80 east. In Scranton, take I-81’s Exit 185, go left on Mifflin Ave., then right on Lackawanna Ave., and then left on Cliff St. to the entrance.
- Best Kept Secrets: Vincenzo’s for pizza in downtown Scranton (it was awesome).
- Don’t Miss: Wandering around in the adjacent rail yard and seeing older, unrestored steam locomotives.
- Avoid: Deer. They are plentiful and have a knack for jumping onto the road in front of you (don’t ask me how I know).
- More Info: National Parks Service
- More Photos: Exhaust Notes
Steamtown National Historic Site is a marvelous destination focused on steam locomotives and rail transportation from 1850 to 1950. Most of us love steam locomotives, no doubt due to their size and mechanical presence, their historical significance, and our early life experiences with Lionel trains. If you have stood near a steam locomotive, you know the power and mechanical mystique they emanate. We never miss opportunities to visit steam museums like this, or the one in Sacramento.
F. Nelson Blount started Steamtown U.S.A. in New Hampshire in 1964. Blount was a wealthy seafood industry heir who owned 25 vintage steam locomotives. After Blount’s death, the collection moved to Vermont. When the National Park Service developed an interest, competition between Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania led to the mid-1990s establishment of Steamtown National Historic Site. An extensive rail history, the city’s prominence as a center of the Industrial Revolution, nearby coal mining, and the remnants of a working locomotive maintenance shop and rail station made Scranton a logical choice.
What’s at the Scranton Train Museum?
Steamtown National Historic Site’s layout took us on a logical route through the 40-acre site, starting with a movie on early American rail travel that included a segment on the role railroads had in early American mail routes. The very next exhibit is a fully restored mail car. The exhibits continued with a dazzling locomotive repair shop. Everything on steam locomotives is enormous, as amply displayed in the maintenance facility. The tour path led outside again to the roundtable, a revolving platform locomotive repair facilities used for aligning locomotives to the right tracks.
Steamtown displays several steam locomotives, including those inside the maintenance shop, an impeccably restored example on the roundtable, more in the Museum courtyard, and others within and outside the buildings. Some are restored; others are in their original condition with patina that can only be described as magnificent. As one arrives at Steamtown National Historic Site, a pristine Big Boy locomotive dominates the entrance. After a two-year restoration, a Steamtown team delivered Big Boy No. 4012 to the site. The Big Boy locomotives are the largest steam locomotives ever created, built for the Union Pacific Railroad by the American Locomotive Works. The monstrously-long 4-8-8-4 Big Boy locomotives (4 small wheels and 8 big drive wheels on the forward segment, and then 8 more big drive wheels and 4 small wheels on the rear segment) are articulated to allow the locomotive to negotiate curves. The Big Boys were created to pull long Union Pacific freight trains up and over the Rocky Mountains. American Locomotive only made 25 Big Boys, only 8 exist today, and No. 4012 is proudly displayed at Steamtown. If you are quick, you can park your motorcycle next to it for a photo.
Pennsylvania is a beautiful state that offers great riding (even the Interstate Highways are scenic). For a special treat, the Grand Army of the Republic Highway (State Route 6) runs east and west through northern Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River Valley. Passing just north of Scranton, you can pick up SR 6 for a great ride either east or west across Pennsylvania.
