Scenic Train Ride
Travel back through time on an old-time narrow gauge steam locomotive, the Henry Clay. Built in the 1920s, The Henry Clay takes you on a scenic three-quarter mile ride around the side of Mahanoy Mountain to show you another kind of mining called strip mining. You’ll visit the Mammoth Stripping, an area where an unusually thick seam of anthracite known as the Mammoth Vein outcrops to the surface of the earth. Here, in days gone by, monstrous steam shovels ripped out millions of tons of coal from the exposed vein and left a wall of solid rock 150 feet high extending westward as far as the eye can see. Much of the coal was pulled out by the narrow gauge predecessors of our own Henry Clay . . . a lot of it on the same trackbed. You’ll learn about the Centralia mine fire as you gaze across the valley to find smoke rising out of the ground. The entire tour lasts about 30 minutes. This ride is handicap accessible and is appropriate for people of all ages. No pets allowed on the train.