After 25 Years...The Final Chapter

In 1915 the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad abandoned its old route between Clarks Summit and Hallstead, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania received the roadbed to build the Lackawanna Trail, completed in 1922 and closely paralleling the route of the Northern Electric. As automobiles became popular on the scenic new road, trolley ridership and freight declined rapidly, even though the company began and owned a bus line in 1927 that was popular from Scranton through the Abingtons to Lake Winola. Rising maintenance costs further weakened the company, which failed to maintain pavement along parts of its tracks in the city, leading Scranton's mayor in 1928 and 1929 to threaten shutting down the line there for negligence and mismanagement. With the Great Depression, the company entered receivership in 1930, and trolley operations ended in stages in 1931 on the Lake Winola branch, then Montrose, and later Nicholson, with service continuing only to Factoryville under a cooperative formed by employees with court permission. In 1932 the road through Leggett's Gap, the Notch, was widened, and the company could not afford the cost of realigning its tracks. On September 21, 1932, city officials abruptly tore up the rails that allowed the trolley to cross into city limits, permanently ending trolley service on the Northern Electric.

Pennsylvania · United States