The next chapter in the history of the former Northern Electric Trolley may be written by PPL Electric Utilities and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., but it began in 1905 with four Scrantonians.
The failed attempt to connect Scranton and Binghamton by electric trolley started more than a century ago, when attorney H.G. Reynolds, Dr. Thomas J. Foster, A.J. Connell and Judge William L. Connell founded the company in 1905 at a time when electric trolleys were sweeping the country. The line made its first run from Scranton to Dalton in 1907.
The growing agriculture industry and population of the Abingtons wanted easier access to Scranton's market, especially in the time before refrigeration. And Scrantonians wanted to spend leisure time in the country.
The decision was sound at the time, said Jim Wert, former curator of the Electric City Trolley Museum.
"A trolley was cleaner, more comfortable, ran in all weather, at a time when the only alternative was a horse and carriage," Mr. Wert said. "They had glorious ambitions."
Through the Northern Electric, homes and businesses in the Abingtons first received electric service. Those along the line could purchase power from the trolley system, creating proto-utilities that allowed people to enjoy lights, radio and other conveniences for the first time. Eventually the line was extended to just outside Montrose, for a total distance of 43 miles. The Northern Electric hauled milk and produce. The investors built Northern Electric Park and developed Lake Winola to increase ridership, creating a diverse mini-empire of hauling, transportation and entertainment. The company acquired a Binghamton railroad with an eye toward merging the system.
Prophetically, the trolley cars would start colliding with horseless carriages: the Ford Model T. The economic slowdown after World War I also hurt. The introduction of trucks hurt the hauling business. Lucrative sidelines - providing electrical service through subsidiaries - were banned and had to be sold off.
Scranton City Council revoked the line's franchise to operate in the early 1930s and ripped out track and cable on Market Street to make way for construction of the Notch Highway. The line had already declared bankruptcy. The land passed through a series of tiny electric companies until it was bought by Pennsylvania Power & Light in 1953.
Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com