Steamtown National Historic Site is currently restoring a two-truck Shay locomotive, and officials say they expect to have it operating before the end of 2027.
Steamtown Superintendent Jeremy Komasz tells Railfan & Railroad that restoring Meadow River Lumber Company 1 is critical to ensure the park has an operating steam locomotive at the end of next year, when Baldwin Locomotive Works 0-6-0 26 is scheduled for a federally-mandated overhaul.
“Getting Shay 1 back under steam while planning for Baldwin 26’s 1,472-day inspection is exactly where Steamtown needs to be focused right now,” Komasz told Railfan & Railroad. “These projects are cornerstones of our five-year Strategic Action Plan and our long-term Investment Concept development, and they allow us to keep engaging visitors with live steam during an extraordinary series of national milestones in 2026 and beyond.”
Meadow River Lumber Company 1 inside the Steamtown shop in Scranton, Pa. Photo Courtesy of Steamtown.
Shay 1 was built by Lima for the Sewell Valley Railroad and the Meadow River Lumber Company in May 1910, and it operated in West Virginia throughout its entire career. The locomotive was later sold to F. Nelson Blount, who was establishing his Steamtown U.S.A. museum, first in New Hampshire and then in Vermont. In Vermont, the locomotive was badly damaged when the roof of the building where it was stored collapsed under heavy snow. The collapse destroyed the locomotive’s cab. In the 1980s, it and the rest of the Steamtown collection were moved to Scranton, Pa., where it eventually became the property of the National Park Service.
A 1991 study commissioned by the National Park Service stated that Shay 1 was a “tired, worn-out engine” best suited for static display. But subsequent inspections have led the Steamtown shop staff to believe that the engine can operate again. The restoration quietly began in 2024, and since then, shop crews have disassembled the locomotive, conducted a full ultrasound on the boiler, started rebuilding the trucks, and begun fabricating a new smoke stack. Shop crews say they are on track to have the engine under steam by the end of 2027.
—Justin Franz
