Back in 1995, Milwaukee Road 261 spent some time at Steamtown in Scranton as part of the grand opening. I once saw a map of the route it took to get there which included the B&O mainline and then former BR&P trackage into Central PA.
I cannot quite remember the remainder of the route that it took to get to Scranton. I'm thinking maybe the former EL perhaps. Does anyone recall the remainder of the route? Maybe they took the Buffalo line to the D&H.
Thanks.
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I went to view the engines and rail cars that were in the back lot before the round house and museum were finished and the Big Boy was behind the Radisson Lackawanna station hotel. For some reason I'm thinking the Big Boy was brought in across the Nicholson viaduct.
Sam,
I was there with the family at the grand opening, part of nice back-east vacation that year, but we had committed to coming so that we could see, and ride behind, PM 1225 as part of the festivities. Unfortunately as I recall very clearly and painfully the 1225 never made it there. The story was that it was determined at the last minute that it couldn't fit through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel on the way from Owosso to Scranton. I still have our 1225 excursion tickets (unused) from Steamtown as souvenirs.
Why do I mention this? I had spent some time looking at PM 1225's proposed route to the grand opening, trying to figure out how the 1225 crew might have gotten around the tunnel problem. Unfortunately I didn't do the same for MILW 261 -- primarily because it had been successful in getting there.
Sorry I can't be of more help, but here's a picture of 261 and the Big Boy, among other things, at the Steamtown site that day.
Mike
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