No replies to this topic

[Sloan]

Yesterday, I took advantage of the clear crisp fall weather and accompanying foliage beauty to railfan in Pennsylvania's anthracite region. My first stop was the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton. The museum, owned by the county of Lackawanna, occupies a complex of restored factories adjacent to Steamtown. I paid admission ($3.50) and bought a ride ticket ($4.50). The museum ( http://www.ectma.org/ ) has some nice exhibits, and big glass windows allow you to observe some of the trolleys undergoing restoration. The trolleys are part of the collections of the East Penn Traction Club and the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association (BVTA). The latter used to operate on Penn's Landing in Philadelphia until 1995. Volunteer members operate the trolleys on the former Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley (aka Laurel Line) interurban that ran south to Wilkes-Barre.

The Laurel Line, a third rail operation (except in Wilkes-Barre), quit passenger service in 1952 but operated electric freight for a few more years before morphing into diesel operation which Conrail eventually acquired.
The ride begins at an island platform at Steamtown. Scads of passengers were lining up to await the Steamtown train which featured a Canadian Pacific steamer towing a number of CNJ and DL&W coaches. Only three of us boarded the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Co. (aka Red Arrow) center door car # 76. Built in 1926 by Brill, this suburban trolley has a top speed of 40 mph.

Ding. Ding. The motorman proceeded slowly as we clattered over some switches to move into an industrial area of Scranton. It is clear that the route still has some active freight service as there are many sidings with freight cars. There are two unprotected grade crossings, and both require flagging. The motorman stops short to allow the conductor to alight and then pulls forward blocking the intersection enabling the conductor to reboard. Once away from the roads, the motorman notches up the controller for a high speed run through the mile-long (about 500 feet shy of a mile) Crown Avenue tunnel.

When daylight reappeared, # 76 stopped. In the distance I could see the Stafford Avenue overpass through which we could not go because an avalanche of rocks was blocking the track. Thank you, hurricane Ivan, for cutting the ride in half. Without the blockage, the trolley could have run another 2.5 miles to the Lackawanna Visitors center on Montage Mountain Road. Eventually the line will extend another half mile to Wachovia Stadium, home to Scranton's minor league baseball team.

Back at Steamtown, I got in my car and headed south to the former coal mining town of Tamaqua. The town's annual Heritage Festival was in full swing, and most of the activity centered around the beautifully restored 1874 Reading Railroad station. Alas, three of four tracks that used to lay in front are gone. On the remaiing one was a reading & Northern excurison train rigged for pull-pull. Two SD-50m's bracketed six former DL&W coaches and a Pennsy generator car for hotel power.

I had arrived at 12:15 and was hoping for a ticket on the 1:00 PM train. Sorry, sold out. I paid ten bucks for the three o'clock train which eventually sold out as well. Throngs or people were about. Some in nineteenth century garb including vintage miner clothing. One guy was riding around on a "boneshaker", one of those bikes with hard as rocks seat and a big wheel in front.

Three o'clock came, and our fully loaded train headed out of town. Despite a number of grade corssings, the engineer maintained a good speed while holding a heavy hand on the whistle. Things slowed a bit as the train climbed a grade to enter a hand-hewn tunnel built in 1850. Out of the tunnel, Railfans loaded with espensive cameras and camcorders appeared from wooded areas to capture the action.

Our destination was Hometown trestle, a massive steel viaduct that spanned the Little Schuylkill River at an altitude of 185 feet. Spectacular view of this unspoiled valley that frames the buccolic rill below. The ride back, mostly downgrade, was fast; but the track was smooth.

All in all a fantastic day of railfanning. The downside was the lengthy drive to get there. Well, that's the price one pays for being a railfan.

Sloan