Steamtown National Historic Site

Steamtown National Historic Site occupies a 62-acre working railyard around the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad roundhouse — the original turntable still rotates, and several of the locomotives still steam. It is one of the most ambitious railroad museums in the United States and the only US site dedicated specifically to mainline steam railroading.

A self-guided tour takes you through the roundhouse, the locomotive shop, and several restored carriages. On most summer weekends a short steam-hauled train runs around the yard — the trip is short but the ride and the smell of coal smoke are the point. The visitor centre has good interpretation of the wider Anthracite Region's railroad history. Entry is free.

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A story
The locomotive collection at Steamtown was assembled by F. Nelson Blount, a wealthy New England seafood merchant who began buying retired steam engines in the 1950s when railroads were scrapping them en masse. After his death in 1967 the collection was eventually moved to Scranton; in 1986 Congress made it a National Historic Site, controversially, since some critics noted it was largely a private hobby preserved at public expense.