Scranton Railway

The Scranton Railway Company built and operated electric trolleys in and around Scranton, Pennsylvania, from 1896 until 1954.

The company was formed to consolidate various trolley companies in Scranton and Lackawanna County. At its peak, the company had city lines in Scranton and Dunmore and suburban lines north to Forest City and south to Duryea and Pittston. Its last trolley ran in 1954.

History

The Scranton Railway was formed in 1896 with the consolidation of five of Scranton's formerly independent street railways:[1]

  • Valley Passenger Railway
  • Scranton Passenger Railway
  • Dunmore Railway
  • Scranton Suburban Railway
  • Scranton Railway Company, formerly the People's Street Railway

In 1900, the system carried 10.5 million passengers.[2]

In 1905, the railway was purchased by American Railways Company, a holding company that also owned the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway, the People's Railway, the Springfield Railway Company, and other electric railways.[3][a]

In 1907, the railway owned 47.63 miles (76.65 km) of track, and operated over 81.55 miles (131.24 km) of track.[6] Trolleys carried 24 million passengers in 1912. A promotional book produced by the city's Board of Trade touted the "Gateway to the Clouds", a 12-mile (19 km), 54-minute ride from downtown Scranton that rose 1,200 feet (370 m) to the resort area of Lake Moosic.[2] This route traveled over the leased Scranton, Dunmore, and Moosic Lake Railroad.

Ridership began to decline in the mid 1920s. Long suburban lines were cut back as buses began to appear.[7] In 1923, the Scranton Railway Company asked for and received approval from the local Public Service Commission to abandon its service from Scranton to Pittston.[8] In 1925, it abandoned service from Old Forge to Duryea, where there was a connection to Wilkes-Barre.[8] From 1925 to 1928, the company was owned by National Public Service Corporation, which was soon taken over by Chicago businessman Samuel Insull's Middle West Utilities Company. Insull's Chicago-based business empire collapsed in 1932,[9] whereupon the company passed to the Municipal Service Co. In 1934, the Scranton Railway was reorganized as Scranton Transit Company.[7]

Its last trolley car ran in 1954, its lines replaced by buses.[7]

Scranton Transit bus drivers and maintenance workers refused a new contract on November 15, 1971 over wage cuts and the company halted operations[10] — service was never restarted. It was succeeded in 1972 by the County of Lackawanna Transit System.

Rolling stock

In 1902, it operated more than 100 cars.[11] In 1910, it operated five steam locomotives.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ The ARC also owned various electric utility companies through a 1901 merger with the Electric Company of America.[4] In 1906, the Electric Company became the American Gas and Electric Company, which would be renamed American Electric Power in 1958.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Five Companies Merged". The Scranton Republican. Scranton, Pennsylvania. December 19, 1896. p. 5. Retrieved July 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b SCRANTON: BEING AN ILLUSTRATED AND DESCRIPTIVE BOOKLET OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A. "The Scranton Railway Company", Scranton Board of Trade, 1912
  3. ^ "Eighth Annual Report of the American Railways Company" (PDF). The Street Railway Journal. 30: 531. October 5, 1907.
  4. ^ "TRACTION AND LIGHTING COMBINE; Merger of American Railways Company and Electric Company of America". The New York Times. May 14, 1901.
  5. ^ "History of AEP". www.aep.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  6. ^ Street And Electric Railways, 1907
  7. ^ a b c DuPuis, Roger II (June 18, 2011). "Electric City Trolley Station and Museum celebrates 125th anniversary of first successful streetcar line". The Scranton Times Tribune. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Henwood & Muncie (2005).
  9. ^ Hilton & Due 1960, p. 200.
  10. ^ "Scranton Bus Drivers File For Benefits". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. November 16, 1971. p. 20. Retrieved July 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Bureau of the Census 1905, p. 322.
  12. ^ Street and Electric Railways (1910), U.S. Government Printing Office

Bibliography

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