Work continues on the rebuilding of the Lokie Barn at the Pioneer Tunnel in Ashland.
In November 2019, DCED, State Lawmakers, and members of the Pioneer Tunnel Board of directors announced that the Ashland attraction would be receiving a $400,000 Marketing to Attract Tourism grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development.
The funding is being used toward the construction of a new barn to house the steam engines. The long term goal is to construct a visitor friendly facility with a wall of windows so train enthusiasts can observe maintenance of the engines.
The attached photos, taken on Sunday, February 24th, 2020, show the progress being made on the new, bigger Lokie barn.
The attached photos, taken on Sunday, February 24th, 2020, show the progress being made on the new, bigger Lokie barn.
The Pioneer Tunnel was a working mine that ceased operation in 1931, but was retimbered and reopened in 1963 as a place where visitors could experience a real anthracite coal mine. It affords visitors an opportunity to learn how coal is mined. The other featured attraction is a narrow gauge steam train ride aboard the “Lokie”, which is a colloquial term for small locomotive. The 30 ton saddle tank engine was used years ago to haul coal cars. Now it pulls passenger mine cars 3,000 feet along the side of the Mahanoy Mountain, giving visitors the opportunity to view strip mining operations.
