Riding the Rails – Steamtown National Park

If you like trains and railroading, like I do, bring your scanner with you the next time you take a train trip. It will give you an exciting behind the scenes look at railroading!

Steamtown National Park
Scranton, PA

Over my July Summer vacation I was able to Ride the Rails at Steamtown. Steamtown is National Historic Site located in Scranton Pennsylvania. The museum sits on 40 acres of the Scranton Railroad Yard of the Former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The collection consists of locomotives, freight cars and passenger cars, and Maintenance-of-way equipment. The collection includes Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 Built in 1941.

You can even ride on historical passenger cars pulled by a vintage steam locomotive or an historic diesel-electric locomotive. Most of the excursions are on the weekends (see 2011 Excursion Schedule). Or you can take the “Scranton Limited” a guided tour taking you out of the historical roundhouse into the active rail yard and over Bridge 60 built in 1912.

The Electric City Trolley Museum
Scranton, PA

Trolley fan? Across the parking lot is the “Electric City Trolley Museum”. You can check out the Museum and take a 10 mile round trip ride on vintage trolley. This scenic ride on Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley (Laurel Line) right of way will take you through 4,474 feet long Crown Ave Tunnel, one of the longest interurban tunnels ever built.

Rail Scanning
Bring along your scanner, and program 161.4600MHz. Lots of active from the museum communications to the local freight passing through. I was able to find the frequency by using the Railroad Service Search.