By Justin Franz
A 28-year-old formal partnership between Steamtown National Historic Site and the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railway Historical Society to restore Boston & Maine 4-6-2 3713 has ended, the NRHS chapter announced this week. In a statement, L&WVRHS volunteers said Steamtown had decided to take a “different approach” to the restoration.
While the partnership has ended, officials with Steamtown tell Railfan & Railroad that the restoration is not over.
B&M 3713 was selected for restoration shortly after the park’s grand opening in 1995. It would have been the park’s first American-built main line steam locomotive to be restored to operating condition. At the time, the park partnered with the NRHS chapter to raise funds for the effort. Despite early enthusiasm for it, the project has dragged on for 28 years. In a statement posted online over the weekend, the L&WVRHS chapter blamed Steamtown management for the delays.
“As you know over the past 28 years, the restoration has encountered a number of challenges, not the least of which were changes in priority by our partners at Steamtown,” wrote Ken Kertesz, chairman of the former restoration committee. “The next step in the restoration process lies solely in the hands of NPS and Steamtown Officials.”
Kertesz noted that “phenomenal” progress was made on the effort between 2013 and 2019, and a number of significant parts of the project were completed in that time, thanks in large part to the $750,000 that the group raised. Donations and federal funding helped rebuild the drivers, air pumps, feed water pump, make boiler repairs, and build a new firebox, cab and cistern for the tender.
Boston & Maine 4-6-2 3713 before its restoration began at Steamtown National Historic Site.
L&WVRHS officials wrote that they made “concerted efforts” to renew the partnership over the last few years but that it was ultimately Steamtown that let the alliance expire. All money that had been raised by the chapter for the restoration but not yet spent has been handed over to Steamtown with the understanding that those funds will be spent on 3713.
In conclusion, the chapter wrote that they believed “the return of mainline steam is absolutely essential for the success of Steamtown.” The last time Steamtown had an operating main line steam locomotive of its own was 2012 when Canadian National 2-8-2 3254 was taken out of service. In 1995, the park had three operating steam locomotives of its own, but today only has one — Baldwin Locomotive Works 0-6-0 26.
In a statement to Railfan & Railroad, a spokesperson for Steamtown wrote, “While our formal partnership with the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railway Historical Society has expired, both sides intend to continue to collaborate on an informal basis. The funds originally held by the L&WVRHS have been deposited into an account specifically designated for the restoration of Boston & Maine 3713. Work on the tender is about 50 percent complete and is slated to resume this winter.”
