The Roarbots’ series of NPS Adventures takes a big-picture view of one location within the National Park Service and highlights some of the best activities that site has to offer. This is usually done through a kid-friendly lens and almost always includes activities and suggestions we can recommend from personal experience. And pictures. There are lots and lots of pictures. Glad to have you aboard!

Welcome to Steamtown National Historic Site!

Stats

• Steamtown National Historic Site
• Location: Scranton, Pennsylvania
• Established: 1986
• Admission: Free (train ride tickets cost extra)
• Social Sites: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Steamtown NHS is a federally owned collection of steam engines and freight and passenger cars housed in a rehabilitated roundhouse, portions of which date to 1902, 1917, and 1937. The entire complex occupies some 40 acres of downtown Scranton – the railroad yard of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western (DL&W) Railroad. The original collection (and a majority of what’s on display today) was the collection of millionaire seafood processer F. Nelson Blount.

The Steamtown website details their entire collection, with pictures of and a bit of history about each engine and rail car.

The museums and collection are like catnip to steam engine and train enthusiasts, and what’s on display is fairly impressive. However, and maybe we’re biased since Baltimore’s stellar B&O Railroad Museum is so close to home, but if you’ve been to a train museum before, there’s not much at Steamtown that would merit a super out-of-the-way excursion.

If you’re passing through or near Scranton, it’s well worth a stop. But I’d have to say it’s not worth making the trip to Scranton specifically for Steamtown. (And let’s face it, there’s not much else in Scranton aside from coal mines.)

Nevertheless, Pennsylvania is no stranger to train museums. If you’re in the region, these two sites ARE worth the diversion, even though they’re in different parts of the state: Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS in the Laurel Highlands (another NPS site) and the Strasburg Rail Road near Lancaster (which will scratch the same steam engine itch as Steamtown).

(Click on all pictures to embiggen.)

Museums & Exhibits

The indoor museum exhibits might be dated, but the information they present is still interesting and accurate. (There haven’t been a load of innovations for steam engines lately.) Away from the visitor center and bookstore, the exhibits are divided into a history museum and a technology museum, which are probably pretty self-explanatory. The history exhibits highlight the people who worked on and were affected by the railroad, and the technology exhibits explain how steam engines operate and how they developed over the years.

Portions of the 1902 roundhouse still house many of Steamtown’s engines and rail cars. Some are on permanent display, some are being maintained or restored, and some are silently rusting away. A few of the cars are open and decorated to look like they did while in operation. Visitors are free to walk through them and let their imaginations run wild. Others are closed off but no less impressive for their monumental size and scale.

Turntable

At the center of the Steamtown complex is a 90-foot-long turntable designed to look as it might have in 1900. Surrounding the complex are a number of engines you can walk around or climb into. Playing conductor is optional, but highly recommended.

Train Rides

If you visit Steamtown in the spring or summer, you’re in luck. Train operations start on National Park Week every year (typically, late April). The complex offers both short and long excursions in their historical trains. Unfortunately, our visit was just a few weeks before the season began, so we were unable to hitch a ride along northeast Pennsylvania’s rails. If you’re interested, though, click here for more information about their offerings and then check here for current prices and schedules.

Junior Ranger

Like most NPS sites, Steamtown has a park-centric Junior Ranger program. There are four different booklets, depending on age, but each focuses on steam engines and the history and technology of railroading. One thing I’d like to point out, though, is that they have a booklet for “13-130 years old,” which I completed hoping for a Senior Ranger pin or patch. No such luck. I got the same pin as the kids. Just FYI for other Senior Rangers out there.