Marketing the Machine Age: Industrial Archaeology and Heritage Tourism in America’s "Rust Belt"
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We will turn briefly to an example from Steamtown National Historic Site to highlight this point. Excavations at Steamtown, starting in 1987 and continuing to the present, have touched on virtually every aspect of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad operations at this site. 

21. Air view of the former D L & W railroad yard during construction of Steamtown NHS. (Photo: NPS)

 22. Remnants of 1902 roundhouse, rear right, with turntable pit in foreground. Photographed in 1989, rior to reconstruction. (Photo: J. Levin)

 Driven by the project’s construction schedule much of the initial effort was focused on the location of a partially demolished roundhouse. This structure, built in 1902, replaced an earlier roundhouse which had been built on the same spot in 1865. Archeological efforts revealed much about both of these structures. Of particular interest is the contrasting configuration of the inspection pits of the two buildings. A series of inspection pits, radiating out from the turntable in the center of the building, are found in every roundhouse. Standard steel rails are installed along the upper part of the two long wall of each pits allowing a locomotive to straddle the pit. By this simple contrivance work crews gain access to the undercarriage of the vehicle. Working in these long recessed pits mechanics can inspect and perform routine maintenance on critical working components of the engine.

The 1865 pits at the DL & W roundhouse exhibited significant differences when compared to those of the 1902 structure. Perhaps the most striking contrast was the configuration of the floor of the pits. The brick floors of the 1865 pits had a concave cross section while those in the 1902 roundhouse had a pronounced convex cross section. A moments reflection will reveal the significance of this distinction.

23. Cross-section of an excavated 1865 inspection pit. Note the concave configuration of the pit floor. (Drawing after: LBA)

24. Cross-section of an excavated 1902 inspection pit. Note the convex configuration of the pit floor. (Drawing after: LBA)

24. Daguerreotype occupational portrait of three railroad workers on a handcar, ca. 1850-1860.   (Daguerreotype: Library of Congress)
The maintenance crews working in the 1865 structure would have had the dubious pleasure of working long hours with water and grease washing around their feet. The crowned profile of the 1902 pits insured that the industrial effluence ran to the sides of the pit and, hence by side channels, to a drain at the inner end of the pits. While the 1865 pits also sloped to a drain at their inner end, the convex floors would have denied the crew the benefits of a dry and secure footing in the center of the pits— precisely where it would have been most appreciated.

The extensive below ground remains of both the 1902 and, particularly, the 1865 roundhouses surprised park staff and project designers. Close coordination between archeological and design staff allowed for last minute changes in construction plans which have insured that portions of pits from both periods are preserved, in juxtaposition, as an in-ground interpretive display.
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