Photo by National Park Service, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Steamtown National Historic Site Home Page
Upcoming Events
About Steamtown National Historic Site Home Page
Watch steam locomotives move under their own power through a working railroad yard in downtown Scranton, where rangers lead locomotive-shop tours and run regular turntable demonstrations. Climb through a mail car, cabooses, and an executives' passenger car, study a cutaway steam engine, see Big Boy #4012 up close, then ride a short yard excursion or book a longer trip to nearby towns.
History
Steamtown grew from the holdings of F. Nelson Blount, a New England seafood-processing millionaire who built up one of the country's largest collections of vintage steam power. In 1964 Blount established the non-profit Steamtown Foundation to operate Steamtown, U.S.A., a steam museum and excursion business in Bellows Falls, Vermont; he died in 1967 when his private airplane went down in Marlborough, New Hampshire. The struggling enterprise relocated in 1984 to the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, conceived as urban redevelopment and partly funded by the city — but only 60,000 visitors came in 1987, and within two years it faced bankruptcy. In 1986 the U.S. House of Representatives, urged by Scranton native Representative Joseph M. McDade, approved $8 million toward converting the museum into a National Historic Site, a move critics derided as pork-barrel politics built around a second-rate collection. By 1995 the National Park Service had acquired and improved the property at a total cost of $66 million, and the new park drew 212,000 visitors in its opening year. The yard's surviving structures, built between 1865 and 1937, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2021 the park completed a two-year, $1.6 million restoration of its largest engine, Union Pacific Big Boy #4012.
The Trains
The site is organized around a working turntable and a roundhouse largely reconstructed from remnants of a 1932 Delaware, Lackawanna and Western structure, with the visitor center, theater, and museums built in the style of the missing portions of the original circle. Headline locomotives include Union Pacific Big Boy #4012, Canadian Pacific #2929 — a rare Jubilee 4-4-4 — Nickel Plate Road S-2 #759, and Reading Company T-1 #2124, alongside rolling stock historically connected to the yard: a DL&W steam engine and diesel, caboose, boxcar, and a World War II troop sleeper the DL&W converted for maintenance-of-way service. Visitors can walk through a mail car, a railroad executives' car with dining and sleeping quarters, a boxcar, and two cabooses, while a steam locomotive with cutaway sections reveals how steam power works. Working engines pull yard excursions in spring, summer, and fall, plus longer separately ticketed trips to towns including Carbondale, Moscow, and Delaware Water Gap.
Nearby
Where to Stay
Bookings made through this map support usatrainrides at no extra cost to you.
More Railroading Nearby
Rent a Car
Most heritage railroads sit well off the interstate. Picking up a rental at the nearest airport is usually the easiest way in.
Compare rentals on Discover Cars →Bookings made through this link support usatrainrides at no extra cost to you.
Book tours & activities nearby
Pre-book guided tours and things to do around the area.
Bookings made through these links support usatrainrides at no extra cost to you.
More in Pennsylvania
All train rides in Pennsylvania →Train Types in Pennsylvania
Reviews
0✍ Write a Review
Get Event Alerts
Never miss an event at Steamtown National Historic Site Home Page.