Five people were fired at Steamtown National Historic Site last week as part of nationwide federal job cuts imposed by the Trump Administration.
About 75 people rallied on Lackawanna County Courthouse Square Saturday afternoon to speak out against the cuts — and in favor of National Park Service properties, including Steamtown.
"I knew a lot of people love the park, and I wasn't sure what the turnout would be, but this is beyond what I expected," said Chris Chesek, a West Scranton resident who organized the rally.
His son, CJ, is a railfan and the Chesek family have been regular visitors of the railroad museum in downtown Scranton for a decade.
"The park means everything to my son. He's been going there since he was less than a year old," Chesek said. "He's 10 years old now, and he's just learned a tremendous amount from that park. It's invaluable."
CJ Chesek "likes watching the trains run," and riding them, but he knows Steamtown means more than that to the community.
"It's really historic, and it's really good for Scranton," CJ said, adding that the park helps bring visitors to the city who then support local businesses.
'It's the history of Scranton'
National Park Service records show that in 2023, the last year for which full statistics are available 58,403 people visited Steamtown.
The museum was established in 1986 "to preserve, interpret and protect the history of steam railroading in America," as its website states. Developed around a private collection that was moved from Vermont, the facility formally opened as a National Historic Site on July 1, 1995.
Its collection of vintage locomotives, passenger cars and other artifacts is the obvious draw, but the location also is key. Steamtown is on the site of a former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (DL&W) Railroad yard, which was vital to the growth of Scranton and Northeast Pennsylvania.
"It's about the development of steam railroading in the East, it's about the history of transportation from the very beginning, in the 1850s, as Scranton is being settled," said Ella Rayburn, a retired National Park Service employee.
"It's the history of Scranton. It's the history of Northeast Pennsylvania," said Rayburn, whose lengthy career with the agency included nearly 20 years at Steamtown, from its early days in 1989 until 2008.
Rayburn, a former Steamtown curator, believes passionately in the work done by National Park Service employees to preserve and interpret the nation's natural and cultural history.
"There's 400 national park units ranging from Alaska to Hawaii to Guam — coast to coast, Pacific to the Atlantic. And it's so important, not just for economics, but to save our natural resources," she said.
Rayburn's work with NPS included a variety of postings, including Fort Union National Monument in New Mexico, President William Howard Taft's birthplace in Ohio, Petersburg National Battlefield in Virginia, and one of the most historic American sites: Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
Rayburn was working in Philadelphia in 1976, during the Bicentennial celebrations commemorating the 200th anniversary of U.S. independence from Great Britain, when a particularly notable visitor came to pay her respects.
"I saw the Queen of England twice as she passed by in her motorcades," Rayburn said. "That's one of the parts of working for the Park Service ... [you see] things that you carry with you the rest of your life."
Rayburn also saw how the various facilities work. She worries now that parks which were already short-staffed are losing vital employees who keep the sites running.
Among them, Rayburn said, were two mechanical apprentices who were fired at Steamtown, as well as maintenance and custodial workers. She did not know the employees, but she is familiar with their roles.
"Even when I was there, we were already losing the skills of how to fix a steam locomotive," she said. "That is a 19th century skill, early 20th century."
Apprentices such as those who lost their jobs are vital to learning those skills and passing them along, Rayburn said.
'They didn't follow the process'
The union that represents those Steamtown workers is still trying to understand the chaotic process, and what happens next.
"They fired five people out of seven probationary employees there, so they didn't even fire all of them," said Ned George, president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 1647.
Trump Administration cuts included 1,000 National Park Service employees nationwide, or about about 5% of all NPS employees, Reuters reported. The moves targeted employees who were in their probationary period.
But as George noted, only five of seven probationary workers at Steamtown were terminated "and we couldn't figure out the reason why."
"They didn't follow the process," George added. "Probationary employees are normally fired for non-performance of their duties, and that wasn't the case."
What happened at Steamtown echoes confusion seen elsewhere as sudden terminations hit a range of federal agencies.
Staffers at some agencies said the process has been chaotic, NPR reported, while some employees have received termination notices only to have their firings reversed within days or even hours.
So it seems at Steamtown.
"Now we've been told that two are being brought back. We haven't had confirmation of that at this point, but, and even they said that's because they were veterans. But there was another veteran as well, and he's not being brought back," George said. "So just across the board, policies and procedures aren't being followed."
A National Park Service spokesperson did not reply to a voicemail and email sent Friday, seeking comment before and after the rally.
'There goes the economy'
For some, the cuts echo other painful chapters in the region's history.
The railroad industry celebrated at Steamtown once was vital to the region. But as coal's importance slipped away and rubber-tired transportation rose in prominence, trains largely faded from the scene between the 1950s and the 1970s. Many jobs disappeared with them.
Rosemary Boland is known to many as president of the Scranton Federation of Teachers local 1147. But on Saturday she hearkened back to being "a knobby-kneed kid in a little pink dress" when part of the region's railroad network closed.
"My father was a conductor on the Laurel Line," Boland said, referencing the electric interurban trolley line which once connected Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Passenger service ended on New Year's Eve 1952, while freight service on the line lasted until 1976.
"My father said when they moved the trains out of here years ago 'there goes the economy,' and I think my dad was right," Boland said.
"Then I heard that they wanted to lay off folks at Steamtown and other national parks, and I just think it's time for every American to stand up and say, 'No, enough of this nonsense,'" she added.
'We're not the swamp'
Many who attended Saturday's rally carried signs supporting Steamtown and the National Park Service. Others, however, waved messages critical of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, whose role with slashing jobs through the new Department of Government Efficiency continues to raise questions.
"I think it's time for all of us, as Americans — decent people, family-oriented people, working class — to get out and start protesting. That's the only way we're ever going to win," Boland said.
Many motorists honked and cheered the demonstrators on Saturday, but not all.
One car full of young men shouted "Make America Great Again" at the group, while another man told demonstrators that he supported Musk, "but I support your right to your own opinions."
George and others encouraged those who oppose the cuts to share their opinions with the region's Congressional delegation in Washington — though George also acknowledged silence from D.C. so far.
"You know, I've been sending emails every day, no responses. Where are they?" George asked.
He is frustrated that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who voted to pass federal appropriations for the National Park Service and other agencies now under fire aren't stepping up to question the cuts and challenge Musk's allegations that the spending they approved is wasteful.
"You know, we're not the swamp. We're the people that keep these places open and this America running," George said, gesturing to the crowd.
