Electric City Trolley Museum

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Electric City Trolley Museum
Electric City Trolley Museum (cropped).jpg
The Electric City Trolley Museum in August 2018
Electric City Trolley Museum
Established1999
Location Scranton, Pennsylvania
Type transport museum
Website www.ectma.org

The Electric City Trolley Museum is a transport museum located in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, next to the Steamtown National Historic Site. [1] The museum displays and operates restored trolleys and interurbans on former lines of the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad, which are now owned by the government of Lackawanna County [2] and operated by the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad.

Contents

History

Established in 1999, the Electric City Trolley Museum is owned by the Electric City Trolley Museum Association. [3] The museum began as Metropolitan Philadelphia Railway Association in the 1960s. Its first car site was in the Tansboro section of Winslow Township, New Jersey, then on a 4.5-acre (1.8 ha) site in the Jobstown section of Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey through which a portion of railroad track ran. The local residents did not want a tourist attraction in their backyard and the governing body passed an ordinance in 1973 prohibiting trolley operation in the municipality. [4]

In 1978, the group was renamed the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association when it relocated to Buckingham Township, Pennsylvania. The trolleys then operated on a portion of what is now the New Hope Railroad. [5] As of 2019 the museum still maintained a restoration shop in the Township. [6] In 1982, the trolley operation was moved to the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia as the Penns Landing Trolley. There the line operated on the Belt Line Railroad from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to Fitzwater Street. Real estate development pressure however forced the museum to move the cars from pier to pier several times. When the cars had to be moved to an outdoor location at Laurel Street they were vandalized and electrical components stripped by scrap thieves. The museum left Penns Landing in 1996 to relocate to Scranton. [7]

Exhibits

Entrance to the museum Electric City Trolley Station & Museum Signage - Dec 2017.jpg
Entrance to the museum

The museum displays and operates restored trolleys and interurbans on former lines of the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad, now owned by the government of Lackawanna County and operated by the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad.

In 2006, the museum opened a 2,000-foot (610 m) extension connecting the county's trolley line from the Steamtown National Historic Site to a new station and trolley restoration facility next to PNC Field in Moosic, Pennsylvania. [8] The trip, including a long tunnel, replicates a typical 1920s interurban ride. The new tracks and trolley barn are part of a $2 million project financed by capital funds from the county and the state. The barn has space for up to nine trolleys, allowing the county museum to spend more time working to bring defunct cars back to running order. It has a gallery where visitors can observe the repairs.

In September 2017, the museum became home to a model train scene depicting Scranton. The diorama had been gifted to WNEP-TV by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to replace the train in the news station's backyard, but it was too large. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moosic, Pennsylvania</span> Borough in Pennsylvania, United States

Moosic is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, 3 miles (5 km) south of downtown Scranton and 10 miles (16 km) northeast of downtown Wilkes-Barre, on the Lackawanna River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scranton, Pennsylvania</span> City in Pennsylvania, United States

Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Wyoming Valley metropolitan area, which has a population of 562,037 as of 2020. It is the sixth-largest city in Pennsylvania.

Lackawanna is the name of various places and later businesses in the mid-Atlantic United States, generally tracing their name in some manner from the Lackawanna River in Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad</span> Former U.S. Class 1 railroad

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of 395 miles (636 km). The railroad was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853, and created primarily to provide a means of transport of anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeast Pennsylvania to large coal markets in New York City. The railroad gradually expanded both east and west, and eventually linked Buffalo with New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steamtown National Historic Site</span> Railroad museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania

Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on 62.48 acres (25.3 ha) in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The museum is built around a working turntable and a roundhouse that are largely replications of the original DL&W facilities; the roundhouse, for example, was reconstructed from remnants of a 1932 structure. The site also features several original outbuildings dated between 1899 and 1902. All the buildings on the site are listed with the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Yard-Dickson Manufacturing Co. Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad</span> Former rail electric streetcar in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.

The Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad, more commonly known as the Laurel Line, was a Pennsylvania third rail electric interurban streetcar line which operated commuter train service from 1903 to 1952, and freight service until 1976. Its main line ran from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad</span>

The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially the Scranton area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeastern Pennsylvania</span> Place in Pennsylvania, United States

Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is a region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, Nanticoke, and Carbondale. A portion of this region is located in the New York City metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Trolley Museum</span> Railway museum in Washington, Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is a museum in Washington, Pennsylvania, dedicated to the operation and preservation of streetcars and trolleys. The museum primarily contains historic trolleys from Pennsylvania, but its collection includes examples from nearby Toledo, New Orleans, and even an open-sided car from Brazil. Many have been painstakingly restored to operating condition. Other unique cars either awaiting restoration or that are incompatible with the 5' 2-1/2" Pennsylvania trolley gauge track are on display in a massive trolley display building. Notable examples of static display include a J.G. Brill “Brilliner” car, locomotives, and a horse car from the early days of Pittsburgh’s public transit systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority</span>

The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) is a bi-county creation of both Lackawanna and Monroe counties to oversee the use of common rail freight lines in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The designated freight operator of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority lines is the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad and tourism operator is Steamtown National Historic Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrison Avenue Bridge</span> Bridge in Scranton, Pennsylvania

The Harrison Avenue Bridge was a concrete deck arch bridge carrying Harrison Avenue in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bullet (interurban)</span> Philadelphia electric multiple-unit passenger car

The Bullet was a streamliner electric multiple-unit passenger car produced by the J. G. Brill Company in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W) in 1931, and then similar, somewhat smaller single-unit, single-end versions were built for the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad in 1932. Few were sold because of the Great Depression and the public transport decline in the 1930s. However, some of the P&W cars ran for almost 60 years while later being under SEPTA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steamtown, U.S.A.</span> Former museum in Vermont, United States

Steamtown, U.S.A., was a steam locomotive museum that ran steam excursions out of North Walpole, New Hampshire, and Bellows Falls, Vermont, from the 1960s to 1983. The museum was founded by millionaire seafood industrialist F. Nelson Blount. The non-profit Steamtown Foundation took over operations following his death in 1967. Because of Vermont's air quality regulations restricting steam excursions, declining visitor attendance, and disputes over the use of track, some pieces of the collection were relocated to Scranton, Pennsylvania in the mid-1980s and the rest were auctioned off. After the move, Steamtown continued to operate in Scranton but failed to attract the expected 200,000–400,000 visitors. Within two years the tourist attraction was facing bankruptcy, and more pieces of the collection were sold to pay off debt.

Lackawanna Transit Center is the main bus station and a proposed train station in Scranton, Pennsylvania, operated by the County of Lackawanna Transit System (COLTS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erie Lackawanna MU Cars</span> Type of American electric multiple unit

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References

  1. "Electric City Trolley Museum". www.visitnepa.org. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  2. "Trolley Museum « Lackawanna County". www.lackawannacounty.org. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  3. "Electric City Trolley Museum Association". www.ectma.org. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  4. "In Jobstown; Buffs Fight For Trolley Museum", Courier-Post , April 19, 1973. Accessed March 14, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Trolley car buffs last night indicated they will appeal an ordinance banning storage and operation of the antiques at a Jobstown trolley museum in this township.... The club moved 14 trolleys to rural Jobstown last September from Tansboro in Camden County. Located on a four and a half acre tract, the trolleys run a short stretch of former railroad track running through the property. Township committee last night, without comment, adopted an ordinance banning the operation."
  5. Gambardello, Joseph A. (9 August 2001). "Trolley cars for N.J. museum rot in field". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  6. "Electric City Trolley Museum". Features - June 2019. Heritage Rail Alliance. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  7. "When trolleys trundled along the waterfront (24 November 2009)". WHYY PlanPhilly. WHYY.org. Retrieved 11 March 2022.t
  8. O'Reilly, Hanna (4 June 2021). "Electric City Trolley Museum to offer excursion runs to PNC Field this summer". WOLF. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  9. Horvath, Jeff. "Train set gifted by HBO's John Oliver unveiled at Electric City Trolley Museum". Archived from the original on 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2018-01-19.

41°24′34″N75°40′23″W / 41.40944°N 75.67306°W / 41.40944; -75.67306