Minersville is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. Anthracite coal deposits are plentiful in the region. The population was 4,388 at the 2020 census.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type was first used by the Northern Pacific Railway, and initially named the Northern Pacific, but railfans and railroad employees have shortened the name since its introduction. It is most-commonly known as a Northern.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad in the Northeastern United States built predominantly to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania to major consumer markets in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere.
The Reading Company was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central, Jersey Central Lines or New Jersey Central, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States.
A camelback locomotive is a type of steam locomotive with the driving cab placed in the middle, astride the boiler. Camelbacks were fitted with wide fireboxes which would have severely restricted driver visibility from the normal cab location at the rear.
The Norris Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing company based in Philadelphia, that produced nearly one thousand railroad engines between 1832 and 1866. It was the dominant American locomotive producer during most of that period and the first major exporter of American locomotives, selling its popular 4-2-0 engines to railways in Europe and building the first locomotive used in South America.
Nickel Plate Road 765 is a S-2 class 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type steam locomotive built by the Lima Locomotive Works for the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road". In 1963, No. 765, renumbered as 767, was donated to the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where it sat on display at the Lawton Park, while the real No. 767 was scrapped at Chicago in 1964.
The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad, sometimes shortened to Reading and Northern Railroad, is a regional railroad in eastern Pennsylvania. With a headquarters in Port Clinton, the RBMN provides freight service on over 400 miles (640 km) of track. Its mainline consists of the Reading Division between Reading and Packerton and the Lehigh Division between Lehighton and Dupont. This mainline gives the RBMN a direct route from Reading to Scranton, the first such route to exist under the control of a single railroad. Founded in 1983 to take over from Conrail on the ex-Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Branch between Reading and Hamburg, the railroad quickly grew over the next several decades to become the largest privately-owned Class II railroad in the United States. Its main freight cargo is anthracite coal, but also sees significant shipments in frac sand, forest products, petrochemicals and minerals, food and agricultural products, metals, and consumer products.
Pennsylvania Railroad 1361 is a 4-6-2 K4 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built in May 1918 by the Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR) Juniata Shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It hauled mainline passenger trains in Pennsylvania and commuter trains in Central New Jersey on the PRR until its retirement from revenue service in 1956. Restored to operating condition for excursion service in 1987, No. 1361 and its only surviving sister locomotive, No. 3750, were designated as the official state steam locomotives by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In late 1988, it was sidelined due to mechanical problems and was currently owned by the Railroaders Memorial Museum (RMM) in Altoona, Pennsylvania, who were currently getting No. 1361 back to operation.
Southern Railway 722 is a class "Ks-1" 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive built in September 1904 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works to run on the Murphy Branch, where it hauled freight trains between Asheville and Murphy, North Carolina for the Southern Railway (SOU). In 1952, it was purchased by the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC), alongside its sister locomotive No. 630, where they were served as switchers around Johnson City and Elizabethton, Tennessee.
Steamtown, U.S.A., was a steam locomotive museum that ran steam excursions out of North Walpole, New Hampshire, and Bellows Falls, Vermont, from the 1960s to 1983. The museum was founded by millionaire seafood industrialist F. Nelson Blount. The non-profit Steamtown Foundation took over operations following his death in 1967. Because of Vermont's air quality regulations restricting steam excursions, declining visitor attendance, and disputes over the use of track, some pieces of the collection were relocated to Scranton, Pennsylvania in the mid-1980s and the rest were auctioned off. After the move, Steamtown continued to operate in Scranton but failed to attract the expected 200,000–400,000 visitors. Within two years the tourist attraction was facing bankruptcy, and more pieces of the collection were sold to pay off debt.
Canadian Pacific 1278 is a G5d class 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the Canadian Locomotive Company for the Canadian Pacific Railway. After being retired from revenue service, the locomotive was purchased in 1965 by F. Nelson Blount for excursion trains at his Steamtown, U.S.A. collection. The locomotive was sold to Gettysburg Railroad in 1987, and it pulled excursion trains between Gettysburg and Biglerville, but it was subject to shoddy maintenance by inexperienced crews. The locomotive was retired from excursion service in 1995, after suffering a firebox explosion in June. As of 2024, the locomotive is on static display at the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio.
The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey, Inc. is a non-profit educational organization directed at supporting the preservation of New Jersey's historical railroad equipment and artifacts for the proposed New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center or in its absence, another railroad museum in New Jersey.
The Allentown and Auburn Railroad is a short-line railroad located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that operates as both a freight and tourist railroad. The railroad runs between Kutztown and Topton in Berks County.
The Pashishi class (パシシ) locomotives were a group of steam tender locomotives of the Chosen Government Railway (Sentetsu) with 4-6-2 wheel arrangement. The "Pashi" name came from the American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 4-6-2 wheel arrangement were called "Pacific".
Reading Blue Mountain and Northern 2102 is a preserved T-1 class 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive. Originally built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in March 1925 as an "I-10sa" 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type locomotive for the Reading Company, No. 2102 was rebuilt by the Reading's own locomotive Shops as a 4-8-4 "Northern" in September 1945, and it was used for pulling heavy coal trains for the railroad until being retired from revenue service in 1956.
Canadian Pacific 1238 is a preserved G5c class 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in June 1946. It was purchased by George Hart, who used it for excursion service in the 1960s. It was later sold to Jack Showalter, who operated it on his Allegany Central Railroad from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. In late December 2023, No. 1238 was purchased by the Waterloo Central Railway, and they have plans to restore the locomotive to operating condition.
U.S. Sugar 148, formerly Florida East Coast 148, is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive built in April 1920 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Richmond, Virginia, originally for the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). It hauled passenger and freight trains between Jacksonville and Miami, Florida, including FEC's Overseas Railroad to Key West, Florida until the line was destroyed in 1935. The locomotive was sold in 1952 to U.S. Sugar Corporation (USSC) to haul sugarcane trains in Clewiston, Florida.
Canadian Pacific 972 is a preserved D-10j class 4-6-0 "Ten-wheeler" type steam locomotive built by the Montreal Locomotive Works. It was used for pulling branchline and mainline freight trains for the Canadian Pacific Railway, until it was removed from service in 1959. It eventually became famous for pulling multiple mainline excursion trains throughout the state of Pennsylvania under the ownership of George Hart. It was sold to the Strasburg Rail Road in 1995, who had an initial plan to rebuild it to pull their own tourist trains. As of 2024, No. 972 is stored outdoors and disassembled in the Strasburg Rail Road's yard.
