Steamtown Railfest 2013 visit

Sounds like a great day, and it's great to see the 425 back under steam.  Thanks for sharing the photos.

jhz,

Glad you had a good time at Railfest.  Thanks for the good revue of our Anthracite Hi Railers layout.  We will be packing up on Monday to return to our home base at the Shop Rite plaza in Daleville PA. I am also one of the Conductors at Steamtown and was in charge of the run-by in Moscow.  Today I moved the Reading and Northern power and the NS equipment out to the CP main ..... It makes for a long weekend.  Your gracious comments make it all worthwhile. 

Thanks again,

Conductor Earl      

Railfest was a great day.  I was able to get in the cab of the Pacific 425 and the Big Boy. There was always someone around to answer questions.

I really enjoyed the Anthracite Club display. The guys were very friendly and helpful. They had a Proto 1 steamer with an interesting Mars light. They were running both DCS and Legacy and had plenty of engines on hand. Great Club.  

The band was fun also with a great horn section.  

I went on Saturday also.  We went two years ago and did the back lot tour.  Interesting to look at the old warehouse and go through the basement tunnel complex.  We rode the caboose and tried to get into the Big Boy cab, but the two older gentlemen decided that 345 was close enough to four and shut it down.  This year the people were much kinder and let everyone that would fit in the cab climb up and listen to a nice lecture on how the Engineer and Fireman worked the controls in the cab.

Taking the tour took up a lot of time to visit the museum and see the exhibits.  Two years ago Amtrak had a large display train and they had a couple of their police dogs doing a demonstration.  This year we decided to skip any of the tours and the trip to Moscow.  I figure we can make it a special trip up from Maryland to take the train ride and visit the Coal mine and Trolly museum. 

This trip we took the short train ride and visited the second floor exhibits and took in the movie.  My camera died while in the cab of the Big Boy, so I missed out again on getting cab photo's.

The Anthracite Hi Railers layout was very nice.  I spoke to one of the operators about his asphalt road paving scene.  He used a piece of hardboard turned rough side up and painted black.  It look like a real road.

Thanks for the write-up and pics.  Had hoped to make it, but was unable to.  I've been to Steamtown before but not for this event.  Hopefully someday.  The Reading T1 looks great.  I don't remember seeing that before.  Who's is it?  Does it normally reside there?  Is it display only.  Gorgeous.  Thanks.

This was my first time there since I was five so I can't comment on where it used to be located but according to online sources 2124 has been owned by Steamtown for a very long time.  You can't miss it when you come in because its basically in the parking lot!  And yes it looks great.

Thanks.  Just failing to recall it.  Has been a number of years.  Looks so freshly painted too.  Glad someone is keeping it in good condition - at least aesthetically.  

It was a great weekend in Scranton, as has become the rule on Labor Day weekend. 

The speeder rides were a great addition to Railfest. 

Of course, La Festa Italiana in downtown remains one of the top Italian fests outside of NYC. The food, oh the food!

And it is always nice on Labor Day to visit the statue of John Mitchell, one of the great labor and human rights activists of American history. 

Rob

Thank you for the kind words about 2124. Some yellow trim dressed her up for the Reading's renowned Iron Horse Rambles.