175th Anniversaryof the running of the Stourbridge Lion

The weekend of August 7th and 8th, 2004 will be filled with activities in the Honesdale, Pennsylvania area related to the 175th anniversary of the Stourbridge Lion, the first locomotive to turn wheel on commercial track in America.

Wayne County, Carbondale, and the Waymart Area Historical Societies are partnering to provide an event not to be missed. On Saturday, the 7th from 8:00 AM to 3:15 PM the Delaware & Hudson Symposium III will be held at the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Facility in Mayfield, PA, which is off exit 6 of PA Rt. 6 or the Robert P. Casey Highway.

Speakers will include Rod Brown, Ph.D., historian, collector of railway memorabilia, trustee of the Waymart Area and the Wayne County Historical Societies; Robert Hecht, Ph.D., retired Professor of History, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY, and author of over one hundred books and articles; Very Reverend Fr. John Kowalczyk, St. Tikhon’s Seminary; Stephen Marder, Registered Mechanical Engineer, historian, collector, and author; Lance Metz, Historian, National Canal Museum, Easton, PA; S. Robert Powell, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Carbondale Historical Society; Sandra Schultz, Assistant Superintendent of National Park Service Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River; Jim Shaughnessy, PE, retired Civil Engineer and Professor at Hudson Valley Community College, author of Delaware and Hudson: The History of an Important Railroad whose Antecedent Was a Canal Network to Transport Coal; Robert Thayer, antique dealer in Sheffield, Mass. and co-author of American Heritage magazine’s Oct. 1998 article, The Case of the Vanishing Locomotive; and Bill Withuhn, Curator of Transportation at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Symposium program and pre-registration form can be viewed at www.WayneHistoryPA.org or call 570-253-3240 to have both mailed to you.

On August 7th at 4:30 PM the Stourbridge Line "Roar of the Lion" Rail Excursion will depart from Wayne County Visitor’s Center in Honesdale for Lackawaxen, PA, a picnic, featuring the Red Schoolhouse's famous barbecue chicken, followed by a short vignette by the Ritz Company Players entitled, Train of Thought - A Lion's Share of Pride. The train will return to Honesdale about 9:30 PM. Cost of rail excursion, barbecue, and play is $35.00. Contact the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, at 570-253-1960 or (800) 433-9008, for reservations or visit www.stourbridgerail.com.

Wayne County Farmer’s Market located trackside in front of the Visitor’s Center in Honesdale will be open from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM and Wayne County’s 1859 Old Stone Jail, one block east of 10th & Court Streets, will be open from 9:00 AM to noon on the August 7th. Photos of the Old Stone Jail can be viewed at www.WayneHistoryPA.org.

Wayne County Historical Society’s main museum at 810 Main Street, Honesdale will be open from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on August 7th and noon to 4:00 on August 8th. No admission will be charged on the 8th in celebration of the 175th anniversary. A full size replica of the Stourbridge Lion locomotive and thirty minute video can be viewed in its D & H Canal Co. exhibit. Other permanent and temporary exhibits are housed in the museum.

Two other railroad exhibits for railroad enthusiasts can be seen at the Wayne County Visitor’s Center (lower level) from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on both days and the Stourbridge Model Railroad Club’s Open House in the Grace Episcopal Church Parish Hall, at 827 Church Street, Honesdale on August 7th from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The railroad club has created a large HO gauge display that depicts the mythical town of “Wayne”.

On August 8th at 10 AM in Wayne Count Visitor’s Center’s Community Room, Boyds Mills Press author Carl Zimmermann will present a program entitled, The Lure of the Steam Locomotive. From the moment in 1957 when Karl Zimmermann pointed his new camera at Pennsylvania Railroad's K4 Pacifics running their last miles in New Jersey, he's been in the thrall of the descendants of the Stourbridge Lion, held by the incomparable magnetism of the steam locomotive. This fascination has taken him across the country and around the world to photograph these "belching dinosaurs." Join him for slides and memories as he recounts these experiences. After the program Mr. Zimmermann will autograph his book entitled, “Steam Locomotives” which will also be available for purchase. Book signing will continue from 1:00 to 4:00 PM in the Wayne County Historical Society’s library at 810 Main Street, Honesdale.

‘Horatio Allen’, the engineer of the Stourbridge Lion in 1829, will be making appearances and telling of his famous experience at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 PM on August 8th in the D & H Canal Co. exhibit of the Wayne County Historical Society’s main museum, 810 Main Street.

For further information about the Wayne County Historical Society, the Stourbridge Lion locomotive, D & H Canal, and other historic topic of Wayne County go to www.WayneHistoryPA.org or visit the society’s Research Library at 810 Main Street, Honesdale, Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 and to 4:00 PM.