Scranton had a trolley system from 1896 to 1954, the first economically sustainable system in America. The Lackawanna valley was rich in anthracite, top-notch coal, and the trolleys were powered from the nearby coal-fired power plant via a third rail, unusual for interurbans. But one line, the Northern Electric Railway, used overhead wires.
Electric trolleys were cheaper than the expensive cable cars that only large cities could afford and the inefficient horse-drawn trolley. Scranton had 170 electric streetcars on over 150km of tracks that ran on high-speed main lines and with cars on city streets. Rides on historic streetcars are available during the summer season for an additional dollar on top of the museum entry price.
If you’re not a railway nerd, you might just want to visit Steamtown National Historic Site across the parking lot. But railway nerds will be pleased to see how early third rail systems worked, old signal boxes, and railway safety nets for catching pedestrians the train runs into.
