Dan Hryhorcoff wanted another project.
The retired engineer had already built a drivable bumper car and an enlarged version of a 1950s toy pedal car he takes on Northeast Pennsylvania roads.
So, he decided on a locomotive that represents the connection between the East and West. His half-scale replica of the Union Pacific 119 — one of the engines from the famous Golden Spike joining of the Transcontinental Railroad — will make its public debut at Steamtown National Historic Site’s annual Railfest this weekend.
“You need something to do to occupy your mind, and I've always chosen projects that make you think, where you feel that you have enough of skills to do it, but there's something else that you have to learn,” said Hryhorcoff, of Scott Twp., Lackawanna County. “In the process, you meet other people. You learn about new things.”
Historic connection, Golden Spike
On May 10, 1869, two ordinary steam locomotives — the 119 and the Jupiter — rolled into Promontory, Utah. The 119 pulled Union Pacific Vice President Thomas Durant and other dignitaries to Promontory Summit.
During a special ceremony, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads met, and the final spike was driven. The 119 continued service as a freight locomotive after that, eventually being scrapped in the early 1900s, according to the National Park Service.
The site is now preserved as the Golden Spike National Historical Park, featuring replicas of the 119 and Jupiter steam locomotives. In 1975, engineers and technicians began to build replicas of the locomotives without original plans or blueprints, using a locomotive design engineer’s handbook from 1870 and micrometer scalings of enlarged 1869 photographs of the two locomotives. Four years later, water from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans christened the replicas — whose dimensions were within ¼ inch of the originals.
Building a replica of the 119
Hryhorcoff used those National Park Service plans to start building his own replica. He divided each measurement in half and started with the 36-volt battery drive from a golf cart.
He rolled metal, made patterns, built molds and created fiberglass parts. He used plumbing fittings and designed pieces made on a 3-D printer.
A charger for the locomotive sits in the smokebox, and Hryhorcoff fits snugly in the cab as he operates the train with a series of levers. His woodworking skills shine on the perfectly sanded and stained cab and trim pieces.
His machine shop has become his hobby shop in retirement as recreating each piece requires him to use skills learned over decades, or pick up new ones, such as designing with 3-D printer software.
His replica of a 1950s model of a Murray Ohio Manufacturing Co. pedal car and his vehicle modeled after a Knoebels Amusement Resort original Lusse Auto Skooter are both legal to drive on the road. Both turn heads.
“I enjoy sharing things with people that make them smile,” he said.
But the locomotive, with limited visibility through the cab windows, will stay off the streets.
It will sit inside or adjacent to the park’s Technology Museum this weekend.
“It showcases the kind of ingenuity and craftsmanship that made railroading so special. But here he's recreated something that's such an important part of our history, part of the Golden Spike ceremony that ties East and West together,” said David Byers, program manager for interpretation, education and resource management at Steamtown. “It truly makes us a transcontinental nation and changes the way our country works and operates, and helps to connect people and places and resources and ideas. And all of that is embodied in Dan's creation.”
Railfest this weekend
This year’s Railfest comes at the end of a historic summer for Steamtown. Big Boy, Union Pacific’s 4014 locomotive, drew 110,000 people to the park during two weeks in June.
“We like to think of Steamtown as a full sensory experience, and so with the Big Boy coming in, with the smoke billowing out, the sounds of the gears and the clack along the tracks there, and the rumble as it rolls past, it embodies that full-sensory experience that was so much a part of railroading,” Byers said. “It's lifted up our presence, and lots more people know about Steamtown.”
Railfest celebrates railroading's past, present and future with train rides, demonstrations, exhibits, visiting rail equipment, musical entertainment, ranger programs and activities and displays offered by community partners. This year’s event honors Steamtown's 40th anniversary of becoming a national park site, the 200th anniversary of the start of railroading in the U.S., and America's 250th. Rangers from the Golden Spike park are also expected to attend.
The event kicks off with an opening ceremony on Friday at 10:30 a.m. and continues through Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
If you go
Where: Steamtown National Historic Site, 350 Cliff St., Scranton
When: Friday, Sept. 4 through Sunday, Sept. 6, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information: https://www.nps.gov/stea/planyourvisit/railfest-at-steamtown-national-historic-site.htm
“Railfest is a weekend full of exciting events and activities celebrating our railroading heritage here at Steamtown National Historic Site,” Byers said. “That's what we're here to do - to preserve, protect and interpret the story of American railroads, which are so important to our history, especially in our 250th year.”
MORE EVENTS
For a comprehensive list of events and attractions throughout Northeast Pennsylvania, visit DiscoverNEPA.
