Steam & Excursion > why is there no steam runing at steamtown.

thinking of going up there next week to chase the dl any hotals around the in to 50 to 75 $ range????? also to see steamtown .

I'll bet it has something to due with the fact that they no longer have any FRA certified & operable steam locomotives.

Oh boy....here it comes again. Ross, wake up. You are good answering this question. I'm still waiting for the Pennsy K-4s to be rebuilt!

I bet if the National Park Service budget was 1/100th that of the military spending budget, we could have a couple steam locomotives operational at Steamtown at all times. But we'd much rather destroy things than build them.

I'm thinking the NPS would be somewhat less than adequate defending us against terrorism. Just sayin.............

kurt765 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I bet if the National Park Service budget was
> 1/100th that of the military spending budget, we
> could have a couple steam locomotives operational
> at Steamtown at all times. But we'd much rather
> destroy things than build them.
Please don't compare what we are spending for our military budget to this. I keep praying that we keep our country safe and so we have to have a strong military. However with this said, we know that a lot of money is wasted for pork projects in the USA. And I have heard from some in the know that Steam Town has not been properly managed through the years. Hopefully with some new folks in charge they will get the Boston & Maine steam engine completed and running shortly. Then let's hope they can begin restoring the famous Reading T-1 #2124 so that there is a properly hard coal steam engine in operation in Anthracite territory once again.

John in White Marsh, Maryland



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/14 08:58 by ClubCar.

Frisco1522 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm thinking the NPS would be somewhat less than
> adequate defending us against terrorism. Just
> sayin.............

Well we all know every single dollar of the military budget is 100% waste-free and necessary. My point is that maybe we should value the NPS a little more than 1/200th as much as the military budget. Perhaps 1/100th as much for a start (which would double the NPS budget btw.)

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kurt765 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------

> Please don't compare what we are spending for our
> military budget to this. I keep praying that we
> keep our country safe and so we have to have a
> strong military.

The essence of your argument is "please don't compare one number to another."

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kurt765 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I bet if the National Park Service budget was
> > 1/100th that of the military spending budget,
> we
> > could have a couple steam locomotives
> operational
> > at Steamtown at all times. But we'd much rather
> > destroy things than build them.
> Please don't compare what we are spending for our
> military budget to this. I keep praying that we
> keep our country safe and so we have to have a
> strong military. However with this said, we know
> that a lot of money is wasted for pork projects in
> the USA. And I have heard from some in the know
> that Steam Town has not been properly managed
> through the years. Hopefully with some new folks
> in charge they will get the Boston & Maine steam
> engine completed and running shortly. Then let's
> hope they can begin restoring the famous Reading
> T-1 #2124 so that there is a properly hard coal
> steam engine in operation in Anthracite territory
> once again.
>
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

Good luck burning anthracite!

Posted from iPhone

kurt765 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I bet if the National Park Service budget was
> 1/100th that of the military spending budget, we
> could have a couple steam locomotives operational
> at Steamtown at all times. But we'd much rather
> destroy things than build them.


We can argue budget waste all we want, but national defense is a constitutionally mandated task for our government. National parks and steam engines are not. I personally don't think our defense budget is big ENOUGH. I think we rely far too much on reserve forces to do the work of the regular services, and I don't feel the pay and benefits, especially for the enlisted ranks is nearly adequate for we ask them to do, and where we are asking them to do it.

Please don't drag this into a political dispute over terrorism and the military. Keep the discussion on course.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Maybe they hired a guy from out west, recent Class I railroad experienced, as a consultant to their steam program. Needless to say, this is tongue firmly in cheek...LOL



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/14 15:35 by masterphots.

That could be a description of both good and bad, depends on which person to whom
you refer.

Out

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kurt765 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I bet if the National Park Service budget was
> > 1/100th that of the military spending budget,
> we
> > could have a couple steam locomotives
> operational
> > at Steamtown at all times. But we'd much rather
> > destroy things than build them.
> Please don't compare what we are spending for our
> military budget to this. I keep praying that we
> keep our country safe and so we have to have a
> strong military. However with this said, we know
> that a lot of money is wasted for pork projects in
> the USA. And I have heard from some in the know
> that Steam Town has not been properly managed
> through the years. Hopefully with some new folks
> in charge they will get the Boston & Maine steam
> engine completed and running shortly. Then let's
> hope they can begin restoring the famous Reading
> T-1 #2124 so that there is a properly hard coal
> steam engine in operation in Anthracite territory
> once again.
>
> John in White Marsh, Maryland


Anyone so concerned can also reach into their pockets and donate to the rebuilding this locomotive...

Trying to bring this back around I think the new director used to be over here at the Cuyahoga Valley so hopefully she has enough knowledge of railroading and the parks to get things turned around.

Thanks Todd for having the smarts to jump in and stop this Steamtown discussion from going totally political. I just felt someone was going to compare rebuilding steam locomotives in Scranton with flying helicopters to New York for "date nite" at a Broadway show, or flying a sole Black Hawk to Nantucket with the family dog as the only passenger.

Building new tracks for 844, 3985 & 4014 ?

Bill Miller
Galt, ON

Keystone1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh boy....here it comes again. Ross, wake up. You
> are good answering this question. I'm still
> waiting for the Pennsy K-4s to be rebuilt!

The K4s is now in Altoona (in pieces), not in Scranton. The Railroaders Memorial Museum is responsible for rebuilding it.

http://www.railroadcity.com/projects/k-4s-1361/

Why is there no steam at Steamtown? It is because the government is running it. Seriously.


As to my experience - I had never been to Steamtown and had the opportunity to spend the day there about 4 years ago. I cannot tell you how surprised and disappointed I was to find that there would be no steam operating that day during prime tourist season. Just couldn't believe it. On the positive side, I did enjoy very much some of their displays, particularly indoors where they had a representation of what freight traffic consisted of back in the days of steam.

I took the shop tour up there two weeks ago and the ranger estimated they'll have B&M 3713 up under steam by 2017. They will have a little 0-6-0 switcher up and running by the end of this year. The road number of that escapes me at the moment.