CN #3254 In Minus 5 Degrees Temperature

CN #3254 In Minus 5 Degrees Temperature | Train Fanatics Videos

Steamtowns’s Canadian National #3254 Takes On The Bitter Cold!

Each year, when CN#3254 is in service, Steamtown National Historical Site has an excursion called the Ice Harvest Train, in which they pull passenger cars from Scranton 25 miles through the Poconos mountains to Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania.

The Ice Harvest refers to time back in the 1930’s before the advent of refrigerators! The local community in Tobyhanna celebrates the way things used to be by harvesting blocks of ice from Millpond#1 using saws and then transporting them to by tractors up to the old ice house that held up to 50 tons of ice. The ice was then used though out the summer.

Some quick facts about Canadian National #3254!

  • Builder – Canadian Locomotive Company 1917
  • Configuration – 2-8-2 wheel arrangement
  • Driver diameters – 63 inches
  • Locomotive and tender weight – 444,800 lbs
  • Fuel – coal burner
  • Tractive effort – 53,115 lbf

Let us know if you have ever ridden on this excursion and if you were impressed with the scenery! We would love to hear about you experience!