Sunday, February 13, 2011

Last of the private steam locomotive collections? Even had a Big Boy... the Blount collection


In the late 50's a seafood company founder began collecting steam locomotives... can a guy collect anything bigger? Has anyone? I doubt it.
Anyway, he made a small tourist attraction and called it Steamtown, moved it a couple times but didn't get very close to any major cities... he stuck it in Vermont.
Anyway, he died in 1967, at the age of 47 and without setting up a modicum of management to keep the trains in good condition, so they were sold off, neglected, and falling apart. The company that ran the collection moved from Vermont to Scranton, PA in 1984 after about 20 years of barely surviving, and went bankrupt in 1986
Congress was quick to make it a national park, and the park service now runs the train attraction as a learning center about 1850 to 1950 steam locomotives.
Read a bit more about it from the souce of my info: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6160936&postcount=20825

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