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From: MDelvec952 mdelvec952 AT aol DOT com
Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2011 00:29:35 -0400
Subject: DL&W F3 Volunteer - Thanks, Congratulations, and great photos
"mai150C.jpg" - image/jpeg, 638x423 (24bit)


Greetings, all,

It's a little difficult to be typing this knowing that many of our friends are suffering losses and evacuating due to the heavy rains over the past few days in the Northeast. The Susquehanna River is swelling its banks near Pittston and more than 10,000 people were evacuated from Binghamton just a few hours ago. We wish our friends in the affected areas a lot of luck and health during this trying time. And we hope that damage is minimal.

The purpose of tonight's newsletter is to offer congratulations and gratitude to everyone who helped, worked on or watched the F3s running as part of Steamtown's annual Lackawanna Railfest this past weekend. The internet is brimming with photos and great comments about the grand show that featured, in addition to Steamtown's equipment, visiting equipment from Norfolk Southern and Amtrak in the form of its 40th Anniversary trainset. Thousands of people attended, some traveling hundreds of miles. Steamtown's staff and employees deserve a big hand for staging such a great annual event.

The F3s on Saturday pulled the excursion to Moscow, and on Sunday the 663 was used on the yard shuttle, while CNR 2-8-2 3254 covered the opposite assigments, yard shuttle on Saturday and Moscow on Sunday. The sun was shining, the cameras were firing away and we have numerous terrific and near timeless images to show for it. A selection will follow. To see more photos, visit www.railpictures.net and search for F3s in Pennsylvania, and visit the facebook pages of Tri-State Chapter NRHS, Anthracite Railroads Historical Society and Steamtown National Historic Site. Also on facebook are links to some very good video clips of the F3s in service. Justin Kershner's crisp-sounding rebuild of the horns are 663 can be heard in the video clips.

While the pair performed well, we are going to try to keep them idle for the rest of September to store some out-of-service time and to examine an electrical issue on 664. The next outing is the October 15th round trip to East Stroudsburg which should yield some terrific photo opportunities and a great ride. After that we'll perform another 92-day inspection and begin to store them for the winter. Plans are to keep the F3s on the vintage freight train in the parking lot, as was the case last year. The F3s are, of course, available for Steamtown's use if needed. If that happens we'll post news. As for the September 30th ELHS Convention weekend in Scranton, the F3s will be on display near the roundhouse as they had been.

On a related note, the U.S. Postal Service announced its new "Forever Stamp" for 2012. Much to everyone's surprise, the image on the stamp is of a railroad roundhouse. Close examination reveals an even bigger surprise: It's the restored Lackawanna Roundhouse in Scranton that is the core complex for Steamtown National Historic Site. This happened by chance as the design was chosen for its interesting image. The debut for the stamp is going to be during October 2012. We're looking into working with the Scranton groups to organize a first-day issue event, much like we did with the Steam Locomotive stamps in 1994 at Whippany, N.J. That event sold more than $30,000 in stamps and raised a lot of money for our preservation efforts, namely Lackawanna baggage car 2038. After the postal event this Pullman green gem visited DL&W towns such as Hoboken and East Stroudsburg and most places in between. Today an O-scale model railroad is being built within it to represent Northern New
Jersey railroading as part of a civic effort in Madison, N.J.

Here is a link to the new stamp design and an image. Congratulations to Steamtown for being so memorialized.

New Stamp




Enjoy the photos below. Again, thanks to everyone who played a part in Railfest 2011. The photos below were all used with permission, and the photographers are noted. Stay tuned for information about future operations.

....Mike Del Vecchio


Below: Mitch Goldman lensed what I think so far is the most interesting and exciting photos of the F3s in service to date. This image really shows what a terrific image these F3 make. Taken on Saturday, September 3rd, the F3s are roaring upgrade over the Roaring Brook in Dunmore, bound for Moscow with a vengeance. Great shooting, Mitch.

Photo


Below: Andrew Wisneski lensed this scene at the Steamtown platform as CNR 3254 shuttles past the F3s before departure time. Scenes like this were common in Scranton in 1948 when the F3s were new. These are, indeed, steam-era diesels.

Photo


Below: James Benetzky got to Nay Aug tunnel to see the 663 / 664 returning to Scranton on Saturday.

Photo


Below: Onlookers got a special treat on Saturday afternoon when the 663 took a ride on the turntable so that it would face east. An electrical problem had cropped up on the 664 during the day, so the 663 was turned so that it would pull the "Scranton Limited" yard shuttle on Sunday. ARHS project leader Rich Jahn was able to take this picture before breaking out the testing equipment for the 664.

(you are viewing this photo above)


Below: This image from Ralph Spielman has a lot of the old-time feel, and it's almost timeless, even down to the window in the Boonton coach covered. The distant hillside is classic Scranton and a single F-unit could have easily been shuttling coaches in steam days. The twin-beam headlight and harp-handled switch are all that give away the era. Sunday the 663 handled the yard shuttle, consisting of two DL&W Boonton Line coaches.

Photo



Below: In another scene that regularly happened in steam days, the 663 on the yard shuttle is passing Canadian National 3254 as it waits to depart for Moscow. Ralph Speilman certainly had a eye for the realism when he lensed this picture on Sunday.

Photo

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