Electric City Trolley Station & Museum In Scranton

Set the Wayback Machine to the Time of the Electric Trolleys.

Scranton’s Electric City Trolley Museum and Station gives you the ride and the tour.

With interactive exhibits and displays the museum tells the story of the electric trolley systems and the impact they had on the development of the Lackawanna Valley, northeast Pennsylvania and the industrial northeast. The museum also includes other vintage trolleys.

Scranton’s Electric Trolley Museum and Station includes:

• Trolleys Exposed: An under-the-skin view of a restored trolley

• Displays, among them where you can actually generate electricity and learn how this energy form is harnessed to serve our transportation needs.

• The Trolley Restoration Shop:  See and learn about ongoing restoration of the museum collection, from the rare turn of the century “open” car, to sleek, aerodynamically inspired inter-urbans.

• The “Electric City” : The hands-on interactive childrens’ exhibit. Children can get in the drivers seat of a recreated open-style trolley car as they drive a model trolley on a suspended track. Young visitors and their parents will also have the opportunity to build their own anthracite region communities on a 24 foot-long platform that represents the Lackawanna Valley and beyond – complete with historic trolley lines.

A 50-seat theater and other fascinating displays present the history of the extensive trolley network that, at one time, allowed residents of northeastern Pennsylvania to travel 75 miles on trolleys.

History

On a brisk November day in 1886, famed inventor Charles Van Depoele took the controls of a Pullman-built trolley car at the corner of Lackawanna and Penn Avenues of downtown Scranton.

As the little maroon -colored trolley picked up speed, it signaled the coming of electric traction to Northeastern Pennsylvania and gave Scranton the honor of having built one of the first electric trolley line in America. From that day forward, Scranton would be known as “The Electric City.”

Tour

The Electric City Trolley Station & Museum excursion departs regularly from the main passenger platform of the Steamtown National Historic Site. The scenic route follows a portion of the former Lackawanna & Wyoming (Laurel Line) Railroad right-of-way as it parallels Roaring Brook and makes stops at the Historic Iron Furnaces and the north portal of the Crown Avenue Tunnel – one of the longest interuban tunnels ever built.

The Electric City Trolley Station & Museum is located on the Steamtown National Historic Site in downtown Scranton. Follow the signs to Steamtown and you can’t miss us!

Fares & Rates

Childeren 3 and under are free.

The Electric City Trolley Museum has a varying schedule according to the season. For updated times and pricing changes since this article, visit their official website.

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