Steamtown Steam Over Scranton: The Locomotives of Steamtown Special History Study

As in the case of any history study, the author of this one is greatly indebted to many who have contributed significant information, illustrations, and other forms of assistance. Perhaps first to be mentioned should be Fred Bailey, formerly an employee of the Steamtown Foundation and now a dispatcher on the Green Mountain Railroad in Vermont. Owing to his long connection with the Steamtown Foundation in New England and in Pennsylvania, his mind contains much of the administrative history of the Steamtown Foundation as well as much of the history, especially the recent history, of its locomotives and cars, its acquisitions and dispositions. As the Steamtown Foundation and its collection were the genesis of Steamtown National Historic Site, Fred possesses much critical knowledge. On a chilly day in February 1987, Fred gave me my first thorough tour of the snow-covered Scranton Yards and the first clues to the identities and histories of the many locomotives and cars in the yard that lacked identifying railroad names, numbers, or reporting marks. The Steamtown Foundation lacked thorough documentation on its many pieces of motive power and rolling stock, so the files in Fred's memory served as a reliable substitute and constituted the starting point of this study.

Next, I am indebted to John Hart, General Manager of the Steamtown Foundation for his courtesy and assistance in the pursuit of this study. It was John Hart who made the key connection in the establishment of Steamtown National Historic Site when he approached Pennsylvania Congressman Joseph McDade in search of financial assistance in the preservation of the Steamtown Foundation collection.

Third, I am indebted to Robert William Richardson, Executive Director of the Colorado Railroad Museum of Golden, Colorado. Bob loaned to me from the museum library, both by mail and in person, books needed for this study, including some quite rare ones, and he and his staff, including Charles Albi, Richard Cooley, and Wally Maxwell, performed, from time to time, small research chores I requested, checking items in sources in the museum's library. Furthermore, Bob Richardson himself served as an unpaid but frequently contacted consultant regarding railroad and locomotive history in the preparation of this study.

Additionally, I am indebted to the California State Railroad Museum, its director, Walter Gray, its chief curator, Stephen Drew, and to librarian Ellen Schwartz and archivist Blaine Lamb for continual assistance. In the California State Railroad Museum, the California State Park System has established pretty much what a railroad museum should be and what practices and standards it should follow, and set a new level of excellence in railroad preservation in the United States which the National Park Service will have to stretch far to match. In its library, Ellen especially helped search the photographic collections of Gerald Best and the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society for many rare photographs of the locomotives of Steamtown when they were in commercial service on their respective railroads. The two libraries, that of the California State Railroad Museum and that of the Colorado Railroad Museum, provided books, magazines, railroad industry references, and railroad investment manuals that contained much useful information.

But many other libraries provided assistance on particular locomotives, too. David Nathanson and Nancy Potts of the National Park Service (NPS) Harpers Ferry Center Library helped arrange interlibrary loan of hard-to-obtain books from the Mount Angel Abbey Library and the Glendale Public Library. In New Hampshire, Beth Dube and Faye Memelo of the Berlin Public Library provided useful material, as did Carol Govoni at the Lincoln Public Library. In Massachusetts, Isabel Durham and a woman named Johnson at the Alvan Bolster Ricker Memorial Library in Poland provided data on Hiram Ricker and Sons and the Poland Spring Company. Librarian Margery Peffer of the Science and Technology Department of the Carnegie Public Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, provided electrostatic copies of information crucial to chapters on two locomotives. Susan Burnor of the library, actually a part of the county clerk's office, in Sheldon, Vermont, provided valuable material. Ann Kritemeyer of the New Haven Public Library in Connecticut supplied copies of useful newspaper clippings and brochures that documented part of the history of C.W. Blakeslee & Sons and the New Haven Trap Rock Co. Mark Cedeck of the St. Louis Mercantile Library provided a useful photograph of a Lackawanna electric train from the collection of John W. Barriger, III. Peggy Kingsbury of the Rochelle Public Library in Illinois obtained information regarding one locomotive builder. Agostino D. Mastrogiuseppe dug out photographs in the Otto Perry Collection at the Western History Department of the Denver Public Library that depicted Steamtown locomotives while in use. Thomas G. Baker, Curator of collections at the Florida Agricultural Museum, loaned a copy of a rare typescript that helped to unscramble the tangled web of Florida lumber companies that operated a particular Steamtown locomotive. Julie Campbell of the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation Library was very helpful.

Quite a number of individuals provided crucial assistance. Mallory Hope Ferrell in Georgia dug into his extensive photograph collection to provide images of various Steamtown locomotives when in service, including at least one from his own camera, as well as information on the roster of locomotives of several railroads. Otis J. Bartlett turned up photographs of the locomotives of the Berlin Mills Railway, and even drew a map of their yard to help clarify their complex track system. Railroad historian Richard Kindig of Denver, Colorado, found among his negatives a view of Union Pacific Railroad Locomotive No. 4012, as did John Maxwell, of Wheatridge, Colorado, and both provided copies. Guy L. Dunscomb of Modesto, California, provided a historic photograph of Union Pacific Railroad No. 737 in its last incarnation as Erath Sugar Company No. 216. To his surprise, the author of this study found a view by an unknown photographer of Union Pacific No. 4012 in his own library research files, which contributed significantly to this study.

Harry A. Frye of the Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society proved a great source of information on the history and locomotive rosters of a number of New England railroads. Neil S. Johnson of The 470 Railroad Club provided essential photographs pertaining to Maine Central Railroad Locomotive No. 519, and various information. D.M. Rice of Granville, Massachusetts, provided photos, rosters, and maps.

Officers and employees of a number of corporations or companies provided essential information and, in some cases, illustrations. Edward J. Lavino, II, of E.J. Lavino & Company, supplied data on his family's fascinating history and that of the company they created. Jim Cornell of the Gettysburg Railroad provided information about the history of a Canadian National locomotive it once had owned. Shirley Macdow and, through her, J.C. Wemyss, Jr., provided some of the history of the Groveton Paper Board Company, now a subsidiary, along with many other paper firms, of the James River Corporation. Christina M. Casey of Mississquoi Products similarly supplied some of the history of her firm, as did Joseph Abate of Tilcon Tomasso, Inc., present operator of the New Haven Trap Rock Company and the Branford Steam Railroad. William J. Flaherty and Maureen Wright of the Massachusetts Electric Company and Ed Robbins of New England Power Company (New England Electric) both solved some puzzles regarding locomotives predecessors of their present firms once had operated. J. Norman Lowe and Connie Romani of Canadian National responded to the author's queries, as did Omer Lavallee, now retired from the corporate archives of the Canadian Pacific, a noted Canadian railroad industry historian and author. Ken Longe of the Union Pacific provided useful information and illustrations.

Among the many individual's who assisted in research for this study, Rose Ricker (Mrs. George Allen Ricker, Jr.) and Ted Ricker, along with Bob Barley and Ted Walker and Catharine Lennihan, provided much of the story of the Poland Spring Company operated by Hiram Ricker & Sons. Frank C. O'Malley and Jack Armstrong proved especially helpful regarding a number of small New England locomotives. Thomas Lawson, Jr., amazed to received from the West Coast an inquiry about a particularly obscure Georgia locomotive, graciously answered the author's inquiry. Robert Wagner of Norfolk, New York, supplied not merely news clippings but also his personal reminiscence of working for the Norwood and St. Lawrence Railroad. Bob Richardson, already mentioned, recalled as a child watching one of the Steamtown locomotives struggle up a grade in Akron, Ohio, on the Akron, Canton & Youngstown. Edgar T. Mead answered questions about the Steamtown Foundation as well as about some of its locomotives. Railroad historian Robert C. Jones kindly supplied a draft chapter of his history of the Mississquoi Paper Company's railroad, while Fred Bailey, already mentioned, supplied a typescript on the history of the Steamtown Foundation after Nelson Blount's death. Malcolm S. McCarter provided photographs. Dr. Marvin Kendall provided critical information needed to track the origin of one locomotive, while Leon Irving of the Florida Division of Forestry, Steve Kerber, Elizabeth Alexander, Marion Bunney, Monroe Mechiing, Mrs. Albert Karpowich, and B. May helped similarly.

Frank Ackerman, Chief of Interpretation for the NPS at Cape Code National Seashore, read and commented on drafts of this report both piecemeal and as a whole, supplied photographs used on several roster pages, supplied historical data on Boston & Maine equipment, photographed the Groveton Paper plant in New Hampshire, and assisted in other ways, bringing his own professional railroad experience to bear.

At Scranton, Robert McCarthy of the Steamtown Foundation guided me on a tour of the old stores building. Of great assistance as a consultant regarding mechanical matters and the condition of locomotives, Steamtown's Chief Mechanical Officer Chris Ahrens served as a regular consultant, kept me abreast of Steamtown Foundation acquisitions and dispositions before the National Park Service established Steamtown National Historic Site, and continuing as an employee of the NPS, has assisted regularly with information and review of draft chapters and eventually of the whole study. Chris is a real asset to Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) and a key factor in its success.

l must also mention Steve Zuiderveen of the Steamtown Foundation shop force, who proved to be an invaluable source of information regarding equipment in the Scranton yards, serving further as a conduit for information from Bob Sherwood, an authority on New Jersey Transit and its predecessors, Roy Hutchinson of Lowell, Massachusetts, Ted Wichman, and David Briggs.

Superintendent Amos Hawkins of Steamtown National Historic Site proved always helpful, and Denise Guy kept me informed through copies of the news clippings of events involving Steamtown NHS. A. Berle Clemenson, a historian of the NPS Denver Service Center's Eastern Planning Team, consulted regularly on Steamtown issues. I am indebted to Nan Rickey for her briefing on Steamtown at the inception of the planning, to Bill Koning, chief of the planning team for Steamtown NHS, and to other members of the team whom I met in Denver and Scranton.

Most of the photographs on roster pages at the head of each chapter which show the locomotives at Steamtown in Scranton were made by the author of this study early in 1987, but Frank Ackerman of Cape Cod National Seashore supplied photos of Bullard Company No. 2 and Canadian Pacific Railway No. 2317 and Calvin Hites of Steamtown NHS obtained photos by Steamtown's Ken Ganz of Baldwin Locomotive Works No. 26, Canadian Pacific Railway No. 1293, and Wabash No. 132 in its disguise as "Lackawanna 500."

Among others not already mentioned on the present staff of Steamtown National Historic Site, its second superintendent, John Latschar, read and commented on the study; Chief Interpreter Sue Pridemore and Curator Ella Rayburn, as well as others, proved helpful. At the Denver Service Center, Jerry Greene saw the study through editing and to publication. NPS Chief Historian Ed Bearss, who recommended the author's participation in Steamtown planning, later reviewed the study also.

Finally, I should thank Western Region Directors Howard Chapman and his successor, Stanley Albright, for making my services available to the planning team, and Park Historic Preservation Division Chief Thomas D. Mulhern, Jr., for his patience during the research and writing of this study.

It may be that in the foregoing listing, I have inadvertently omitted listing individuals, libraries, companies, or organizations that should have been included. If so, the fault is that of the author, not of the agency, and abject apologies are offered herewith. Thanks to all, named and unnamed, who have helped with this study.

Gordon Chappell
Regional Historian
NPS Western Region
San Francisco, California