After Washington and the frustraions of driving in the city, I was happy to return to a 'country town' being Scranton, home of Steamtown museam. When I arrived there I noticed the mall next to the museam was called Steamtown mall. One thing I have observed is Americans seem to be a lot more infactuated with the railroad/railway than we Australians are, as shown by the numerous museams and track side parks. Probably the highlight of this day was actually seeing a real big boy steam locomotive in the flesh ahh metal. These giant steam engines weight more than 500 tones and to put it simply are massive. I also caught a steam train to Moscow, a small town located to the east of Scranton. Riding behind the Canadian steam engine I was reminded of the problems of the steam train, namely soot and smoke. If you didnt brush your arm off occasionaly you would see the spots of soot appearing eveywhere. Not only that but it was hard to keep it out of your eyes at some stages in the journey. On arrival in Moscow walking down the train, you could feel the grit underfoot everywhere. No wonder we moved to diesels. Still diesels don't feel as 'alive' as steam engines.
Me standing in front of the big boy
Big Boy 4016 preserved as a static exhibit at Steamtown
One of the diesels is turned on the turntable
The Canadian Steamer after arriving at Moscow PA
As there is no turntable at Moscow, the steam must run tender first on the return journey
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