SCRANTON \u2014 The city of Scranton and Steamtown National Historic Site are ready for the reunion of two of the largest steam locomotives to bring over 55,000 visitors to town over the two-week-long event, officials said Friday.<\/p>\n
Representatives of the site, city and Lackawanna County held a press conference to discuss the attendance-record-breaking event, issue some reminders and pleas for the public to participate and celebrate safely, and encourage visitors to bop around to shops, restaurants, businesses and other attractions in the city and county during their time here.<\/p>\n
About 55,000 tickets have been reserved so far by people visiting from Monday through June 30, which is the two-week span when Union Pacific\u2019s Big Boy 4014, the world\u2019s largest operating steam locomotive, will sit next to its sibling, the park\u2019s nonoperational Big Boy 4012, said Steamtown Superintendent Jeremy Komasz.<\/p>\n
Both locomotives were built in 1941. The reunion event is free, though tickets are required and come with a $1-per-ticket fee.<\/p>\n
Big Boy 4014 is a on cross-country tour for America\u2019s 250th anniversary that started in April on the West Coast. Steamtown will be its longest stop on the coast-to-coast tour. It\u2019s believed to be the first time since the 1950s that two Big Boys have been displayed together and \u201cSteamtown is the only place in the world where that experience is possible,\u201d and thus drawing visitors from around the globe, Komasz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor railroad enthusiasts, historians and visitors alike, this is far more than a locomotive visit, it\u2019s a truly historic moment,\u201d Komasz said. \u201cThe Big Boy locomotives represent one of the greatest engineering achievements of the steam era. Built to move immense freight trains across the American West, they have become enduring symbols of American innovation, industry and determination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the visitors have tickets reserved for Monday and Tuesday, when the 4014 will be fired up and steaming and Union Pacific staffers will be on hand to interact with the public, Komasz said.<\/p>\n
About 26,000 tickets are reserved for Monday and 13,000 reserved for Tuesday, he said. That amount of people will surpass the 30,000 who attended Steamtown\u2019s opening weekend in 1995.<\/p>\n
The 4014 expects to cross the historic Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct, also called the Nicholson Bridge, in Nicholson on Saturday morning. The spectacle of the 4014 crossing the colossal viaduct built in 1912-15 has become a must-see event in its own right and is expected to draw large crowds.<\/p>\n
Big Boy 4014 then will roll through the Abingtons and Scranton on Saturday on its way to Nesquehoning for a sold-out excursion event and then to Pittston. It will arrive in Steamtown on Sunday, when the historic site will be closed for preparation for the two-week appearance.<\/p>\n
From Pittston, Big Boy 4014 expects to go through Taylor and then Steamtown and then through the Nay Aug Gorge tunnel to Myrtle Street in East Scranton, and then go back to Steamtown. There, it will park slightly ahead of the 4012 so the entire lengths of both Big Boys are visible to visitors, Komasz said.<\/p>\n
After Tuesday, the locomotive will take a week to cool down enough so workers can perform maintenance. A crowd of 3,000 have tickets reserved for June 20 of Father\u2019s Day weekend, \u201cand we expect that (number) to go up\u201d as people realize Big Boy 4014 will sit in the Steamtown railyard next to its 4012 sibling the entire time while workers are doing maintenance, Komasz said.<\/p>\n
The maximum number of visitors will have a cutoff of 28,500 per day, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really going to be a tremendous couple of weeks that we have for us right here in Scranton,\u201d Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said. \u201cWe\u2019re celebrating our past, (and) we\u2019re also partnering to make sure that we\u2019re laying the foundation for a strong future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll addressed the safety of having 55,000 visitors come to town during the last two weeks of June. Police will be out in force, with extra patrols on foot and bicycles, and drones will be used to monitor traffic, \u201call to ensure safety,\u201d Carroll said. \u201cWe expect heavy congestion downtown \u2026 tens of thousands coming to Scranton is going to challenge infrastructure, it\u2019s going to challenge our traffic patterns. I ask that you have patience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carroll also warned the public: \u201cDo not take risky measures to view the train. Do not trespass. Do not park where you should not. Do not stop where you should not and please watch out for other drivers, rubberneckers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other speakers included Lackawanna County Commissioner Chairman Thom Welby, Commissioner Bill Gaughan, Lackawanna County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Curt Camoni and County of Lackawanna Transit System Executive Director Tim McGrath.<\/p>\n
Gaughan noted the nearby historic Scranton Iron Furnaces forged the T-rails of railroads and the railroads themselves as places of employment for many of the region\u2019s ancestors.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these things are interconnected. When this train comes here on Sunday and people come here next week, they\u2019re going to be reminded that the city of Scranton and Lackawanna County really played a pivotal role in the history of this country. And how fitting is that on the 250th anniversary\u201d of America, Gaughan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 The city of Scranton and Steamtown National Historic Site are ready for the reunion of two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[84150,201,178,180,179,94724,53061,95303],"class_list":["post-218165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-big-boy-4014","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-steam-locomotives","tag-steamtown","tag-steamtown-superintendent-jeremy-komasz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}