Scranton Sunset
The shadows are long and the suns rays are just minutes from disappearing as Steamtown's big Canadian National Mike #3254 finishes putting its train to bed after a long excursion to the Delaware Water Gap for the National Railway Historical Society, back in June of 2010. In this scene, her crew is just awaiting the signal that the switches ahead are properly lined and she'll shortly begin the journey through the yard to the roundhouse, where she'll bed down for the night.
Alas, the 3254 is no longer active in 2020. Just a couple of years after this image was captured, the locomotive was retired for the foreseeable future. She suffered from problems associated with a bent frame, which was the result of an accident during her working career with the CN. Her boiler certificate was also about to expire.....so she needed a lot of work. With restoration of the B&M 3713 already underway, the park made a decision to sideline this girl. She is restorable and stored indoors in the roundhouse. It's just that at the pace at which Steamtown restorations proceed, it will likely be a long time before she steams again.
Scranton Sunset
The shadows are long and the suns rays are just minutes from disappearing as Steamtown's big Canadian National Mike #3254 finishes putting its train to bed after a long excursion to the Delaware Water Gap for the National Railway Historical Society, back in June of 2010. In this scene, her crew is just awaiting the signal that the switches ahead are properly lined and she'll shortly begin the journey through the yard to the roundhouse, where she'll bed down for the night.
Alas, the 3254 is no longer active in 2020. Just a couple of years after this image was captured, the locomotive was retired for the foreseeable future. She suffered from problems associated with a bent frame, which was the result of an accident during her working career with the CN. Her boiler certificate was also about to expire.....so she needed a lot of work. With restoration of the B&M 3713 already underway, the park made a decision to sideline this girl. She is restorable and stored indoors in the roundhouse. It's just that at the pace at which Steamtown restorations proceed, it will likely be a long time before she steams again.