It was a stranger in a strange land, Milwauke Road 4-8-4 261 when it came east to participate in the Grand Opening of Steamtown National Historic Site in 1994. Making the most out of the paid-for ferry move back home, the 261 stayed in Scranton for about a year running money-making trips as often as it could. I remember those times well as it seemed there was a 4-8-4 running out of Scranton every day. That was because every day that I went to Scranton there was a 4-8-4 running. And I knew when it was running as I helped organize many of those trips. On this crisp October day in 1995, the 261 and its engineer Steve Sandberg put on a fine show as the war-time Alco hammered uphill past the Lackawanna station and former Division Headquarters building. The bark was as loud as this picture implies, and I recalled David P. Morgan's words to a Canadian pedestrian striking a similar pose to the one in this picture: "Look, man, she's steam!"
