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SCRANTON — Tommy Parker is courtesy personified.
He has eight years of service with the National Park Service and, while in the midst of helping visitors celebrate the centennial of the National Park System in America, Parker was trying very hard to point people in the right direction at the Steamtown National Historic Site.
“Yes, most the of exhibits are free today. We’re celebrating our 100th anniversary,” Parker tells a group of tourists. “The only charge is $5 per person for a train ride through Nay Aug Gorge. Children under 6 are free.”
Parker works as a park ranger at the steam locomotive-themed park in Scranton after serving a tour at Cape Lookout in North Carolina.
A large number of people visiting Steamtown this Sunday were either from New Jersey or the metropolitan area of New York. “They stop on their way through,” Parker said, “because they are curious about railroads and they want to see the exhibits and take the kids on a train ride.”
“Saturday and Sunday are our biggest days,” Parker’s colleague, Chris Brandt, who hails from Danville said. “It gets a little hectic, but we’re here to help.”
Brandt said he is in his first year with the National Park Service. He came from Allegheny National Park near Altoona and holds a degree in geography and computer mapping from Lock Haven University. Brandt said an interest in railroading, as well as being a regional native, figured in his securing a job with the park service in Scranton.
Brandt’s father is also well-known regionally as the 30-year coach of track and cross-country at Danville High School.
Parker hails from a more distant state: New Mexico. He said he holds two degrees from Eastern New Mexico University: one is television and broadcast journalism and the other in television communications. Parker said his background helps in communicating with a diverse range of people who for the most part are just curious about Steamtown and are just looking for assistance.
“That’s my job,” Parker said. “I’m here to help.”
Yeluda Dwarkin, a tourist from Lakewood, N.J., said he brought his entire family to Steamtown on Sunday.
“The kids love it,” Dwarkin said. “We come here often when we’re back in Scranton.”
Dwarkin, who is now an instructor in Jewish law, attended school in Scranton. And his wife, the former Chayl Fink, is a native of the Lackawanna County city.
While greeting and directing tourists on Sunday, Parker touched on “Railfest 2016,” which is scheduled as a two-day event, Saturday and Sunday, over the Labor Day weekend. He described the event as a celebration of railroading featuring everything from historic steam equipment to modern diesel engines.
Barbara Conway, park superintendent, reported that the 2016 observance will be Steamtown’s 10th since its founding and a major component of the observance will a display of equipment at the roundhouse exhibit.
Conway said confirmed exhibitors include: The Mount Washington (New Hampshire) Cog Railway and its 150-year-old Peppersass steam engine; the local Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad; the Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society; and an Erie caboose restoration group.
Entertainment also will be featured, including the Indigo Moon Brass on Saturday and Doug Smith Dixieland All-Stars on Sunday. David Stone is scheduled to perform the Johnny Cash Experience both days.
