Happy Wednesday to you. Another week has come and gone, and it is now time to show the fruits of our labor. Here are some photos of the Electric City Trolley in Scranton, PA.
In 2011, a 4,747 foot long tunnel under Crown Ave in Scranton was renamed the Edward S. Miller Tunnel after a Pittston, PA-based photographer whose passion was streetcars and interurbans.
The tunnel was opened in 1905. The railroad line, originally the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railway, was built to connect Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, about 20 miles apart. It was a successful railroad, using third rail electric power. As you can see, it is now overhead electric.
The rail line was built using 50-year bonds. When it reached 50 years old, all of the bonds came due. They could have reorganized their debt, but decided to shut down instead. It would later be bought by the Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad as a freight-only line.
Only 5 miles is left in use. It runs from downtown Scranton at Steamtown National Historic Site, to a turn-around point at the AAA baseball stadium, where the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders play.
Here comes the car on its way back to downtown. There is a freight yard at a plastics plant that the trolley has to skirt around in downtown Scranton.
The car is number 80, from the Philadelphia Suburban Transit line. This needed to be re-gauged from the broad gauge of 5' 2" to 4' 8 1/2".
The rail line follows two rather small streams. On the downtown side of the route, the stream is the Roaring Brook, which is on the left of this photo. Near the baseball stadium, it is the Stafford Meadow Brook. We see car 80 approaching the old DL&W train station, where the Steamtown trains run past.
Toodle-oo, little trolley. Now, time for you to share a traitor two from the past few weeks. I hope the nicer weather is drawing you out to the tracks a bit more. Enjoy your time, and post often!
