In 1993 the Blue Mountain & Reading was still operating between Hamburg
and Temple. At the time of my visit, they had three steam locomotives on
location: Reading class T-1 Northern 2102; Gulf, Mobile & Northern
class G-1 Pacific 425; and Pennsylvania Power & Light fireless
cooker 7767. Take a close look at the photo of 7767 and compare it to
PP&L 4094 in my Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania page.
They are very similar. 4094 is an 0-8-0 while 7767 is an 0-4-0. Both are
streamlined! Number 425 was fired up, ready for the day's passenger trains
(see photo). Reading 2102 was parked with a number of passenger cars.
It was due for its FRA inspection. It had last run about one year prior
to my visit.
In 1995, both 425 and 2102 had been moved to Steamtown National Historic Site. In 1998 they were again moved to the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern headquarters in Port Clinton, PA.
The WK&S is located in the small town of Kempton. It looked like their
facilities were completely outdoors. Although they were closed when I was
their, I saw their two steam engines: an 0-6-0T and an 0-4-0T fitted with
a makeshift tender. They also had a four-wheel crummy! The #2, an 0-4-0T
from Colorado Fuel & Iron, was the first steam locomotive operating
on the WK&S in 1963. The #250, a 2-6-2, (the third photograph) came
to the WK&S later in that year and operated on the WK&S until
around 1967. For a time #250 was at the Hobo Railroad in Lincoln, NH.
Today it is in Concord, NH.
I know that Marshallton is not in Pennsylvania, but I visited the W&W
on the same trip and it is not far from Pennsylvania. The W&W depot is
in Marshallton (a suburb of Wilmington). 4-4-0 #98 was operating this
day and steamed past the depot to pick up its first load of passengers.
This is one of the few standard gauge 4-4-0s that are still operational.
In 1998 locomotive 58 (Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic 0-6-0, Baldwin) was
returned from Avondale, PA to the Wilmington & Western Railroad in DE
where is used to operate. It has again been restored to operation. This
photo shows it switching revenue freight on W&W.
The town of New Hope wins first place in my "Most Touristy Area Contest".
The number of people and cars in this town was incredible. It reminded me of
Stillwater, Minnesota because of its close proximity to a river, it has a
tourist railroad, and it is incredibly touristy. In the center of town is
the New Hope & Ivyland depot. #40, a 2-8-0 was operating. I believe
that the NH&I runs throughout the week so I expect that the locomotive is
kept under steam during the night in its shed which is barely visible to the
left in this photo.
The Franklin Institute Science Museum is home for a very unique steam
locomotive -- the Baldwin 60000. 60000 was a demonstrator unit built by
Baldwin Locomotive Works numbered to commemorate the 60,000th locomotive
built by the company. Some of the things that made this locomotive unique
(apart from the fact that it is a one-of-a-kind locomotive) include:
At the time of my visit, the Strasburg Railroad was running both 2-6-0 #89
and 2-10-0 #90 on alternating passenger trains on their 4 1/2 miles of
track. The ride passes through very scenic Amish farm country. The
Strasburg RR and the Strasburg/Lancaster area in general win second place in
my "Most Touristy Area Contest".
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is located across a busy highway from the Strasburg Railroad. The museum has most of its locomotives on display outside the main building. They are parked on spurs and tracks leading from a turntable. On the turntable platform was Reading 0-4-0 Camelback #4 -- one of only three surviving Camelback steam locomotives. All engines seemed to be in good display condition. The entire area is covered with grass -- well suited for walking around and viewing. Inside the museum building are more locomotives and equipment. One of the locomotives is sitting over a pit so that you can walk underneath. They picked a good locomotive for this location -- it had Stevenson valve gear. Overall, this is a good museum because all of the equipment is on display and easily seen. It was a little tricky to get "good" photographs with as many people as were there.
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