TimesLeader.com

July 5, 2009

Train enthusiast wants others fired up about history

LVHA volunteer Dominic Keating has been involved in many rail, history projects.

SCRANTON – History should be fun.

And for Dominic Keating it is.

Keating said that he has volunteered with numerous railroad and history projects and organizations over the years, adding steam to a passion that has been with him since he was a child.

“When I was a little boy, I had a big interest in steam engines,” Keating said.

In 1953, Keating said he rode a train at what is now Steamtown National Historic Site. “I was very fortunate to get on that because that’s the last year they operated,” he said.

“My father, while not really a history buff, had a very strong appreciation in the early ’50s that Scranton was changing,” Keating said. “The mines were closing and the steam engines were going. The trolleys were going and the baseball team went.

“If we were out driving around and he saw a working coal breaker he always took me to it and explained to me how it worked; and if a steam engine was coming he’d pull his car over to the side of the road and let me watch it. The loves (trolleys, coal mines, baseball and trains) that I had as a kid all disappeared. The passenger trains were the last thing to go in 1970,” Keating continued.

In 1978, Keating began working with a local committee, which was then called the Economical Development Council, now the Northeast Pennsylvania Alliance, to “enter into serious talks about reinstating the passenger trains from Scranton to New York.”

Keating said he has been involved with the passenger trains from Scranton to New York project for 31 years and in the meantime has worked on other projects.

“I couldn’t show my kids when they were growing up what it was like to be in Scranton when I was a boy because all those things were gone,” Keating said, adding that he is happy that his grandchildren and now younger generations can “see, ride, taste and smell what I loved in my childhood.”

In 1997, he began his work with Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, having served under all three of its directors.

He initially became involved with the organization by honoring World War II and Korean War veterans from the area, running a special train for more than 200 veterans.

The following December, he helped run the first Santa train to Carbondale, Jessup and Olyphant.

“It was a rousing success,” Keating said.

Then, Keating helped run a program called the “Heritage Express” for five years, where train rides were offered to fourth grade children from Carbondale to visit Scranton.

While working on the Heritage Express, through the permission of the LHVA, Keating said that he started giving tours of Tobyhanna, a town where he has a summer residence, to those who took trains to the area. Prior to 2002, Keating said that trains from Steamtown National Historic Site only ran to Tobyhanna once a year. This year there will be a total of seven trips to Tobyhanna on Saturdays and Sundays.

“Tobyhanna’s a little village. The township has a lot of people in it, but a lot of people live in developments at lakes around it,” Keating said. “The actual village is very similar to what it was in the 1890s when it was a boomtown for the logging industry.”

“I remember Tobyhanna in the ’50s pretty well,” Keating added. On tours, he added that he talks about what it was like growing up in the town. “People get some history and some laughs at the same time, which is usually the best way to do history.”

“The average visitor on a train ride to Tobyhanna comes in to contact with near 30 volunteers, on the train, at the station and on the tours,” said Keating.

Three years ago, Keating said after a major ice storm he took a train to Tobyhanna for a tour. Keating said on the way in he noticed that a huge tree had crashed into a house of a woman that he knew. He said when he got back to the train station he saw the woman who owned the house volunteering. “I said ‘I can’t believe you’re here’ and she said ‘Well I can’t do anything about the house right now, but I can help here,’” he related.

That was inspirational to me,” Keating said. “There’s always inspiration from the other volunteers.”

Quoting advice that his father gave him Keating said, “‘You should stay with the things you like to do. He said it’s a lot easier to be involved in the community if you’re doing something you enjoy.’”

“‘This community’s been great to you and you’ve got to give back to it,’” he said was his mother’s advice.

“There is my motivations,” Keating said. “I can really say that I’ve enjoyed all this.”

On Saturday, July 11, Keating will help run the next ride to Tobyhanna. The train departs from Steamtown National Historic Site at 11 a.m. and returns at approximately 3 p.m.

“I always conclude with the people on the tour, saying, ‘thanks for coming to my town, someday we might just come to yours,’” After all, Keating said. “We’re all making history all the time.”

Tickets for the trip are $31 for adults, $26 for seniors, $20 for children 6 to 16 and free for children 5 and under. Tobyhanna trips are planned for Aug. 15 and Oct. 4, 11, 18 and 25. For more information, visit nps.gov/stea.

Dominic Keating

TOWN: Dunmore

OCCUPATION: President of Avanti Cigar Company, Scranton

YEARS: 46 years

CHARITIES, VOLUNTEER WORK: Volunteer, Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority;

Usher, St. Mary’s of Mount Carmel Church, Dunmore; vice chairman, Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority; committee member, Railfest at Steamtown National Historic Site

FAMILY: Wife Kathy; son, James; daughters, Phoebe and Catherine; grandchildren, Rain, 13, Kai, 6, Jackson, 2, Anna, 4.

EDUCATION: Attended St. Paul’s School, Scranton Preparatory School, Holy Cross College, Penn State University’s Dickinson School of Law.

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS: History, railroads

Volunteer of the Week is a regular feature in The Times Leader Scranton Edition that recognizes individuals, businesses or other organizations for their volunteer efforts and contributions to their communities. To nominate someone or an organization to be considered for this feature, e-mail mondrako@scrantonedition.com or call 558-01 13.