After 25 Years...The Final Chapter

After 25 Years...The Final Chapter. [of the Northern Electric Interurban Trolley]. , . In 1915 the DL&W Railroad [Delaware, Lackawanna and Western] abandoned its old route between Clarks Summit and Hallstead., . The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was given the roadbed to build a new road. The road, known as the Lackawanna Trail (today's Route 11), was completed in 1922 and closely paralleled the route of the Northern Electric., . Automobiles became popular on the scenic Lackawanna Trail. The trolley continued to run; however, ridership and freight decreased rapidly. In 1927 the Company actually started and owned a bus line which was popular from Scranton through the Abingtons to Lake Winola., . Maintenance costs increased. The Company failed to maintain pavement along portions of its tracks in the city. In 1928 and 1929, Scranton's mayor threatened to shut down the line in the city due to negligence and mismanagement., . The Great Depression entered its economic slump and the Company entered receivership in 1930. In 1931 trolley operation first stopped running on the Lake Winola branch, followed by Montrose, and later Nicholson. Service continued to Factoryville when a group of employees received court permission to form a cooperative association to run a few cars., . In 1932 the road through Leggett's Gap, the Notch, was widened. The Company was unable to cover the costs of realigning the tracks., . On September 21, 1932, city officials abruptly tore up the rails blocking the trolley from crossing into city limits, permanently ending trolley service on the "NORTHERN ELECTRIC.", THE POPULAR ENGINEER , Vol. 30 No. 11 NOVEMBER 1922 , Of Interest to Automobilists You Have an Automobile, or Soon Will Have - The Different States Know This, and They Are Spending Hundreds of Millions of Dollars to Give You Good Roads, So You Can Enjoy Yourself., During the present construction season, the PA State Highway Department has built, under great difficulties, 224 miles of new hard-surfaced roads. Chief among the new roads opened in the Keystone state this year, is the beautiful new Lackawanna Trail between Scranton, PA, and Binghamton, N.Y., one of the finest asphalt highways in the world and running through some of the most beautiful scenery in America., [Photo captions, from top to bottom, read] , . Abandoned tracks of the old DL&W Railroad, which became the Lackawan[n]a Trail., . The new road cut through great hills and crossed deep valleys. The grades and curves were originally built for locomotives to haul their giant loads with ease., . Acting on a court order, Scranton police barricaded the trolley tracks at the city line in Chinchilla, ending operations of the bankrupt Northern Electric Street Railway Co. to the suburbs., . During the [Great d]epression, hobos traveled through the rural towns of Scranton along the various tracks. The country folks were generous and the hobos often left well fed., . After trolley service ended on the Northern Electric, the railway company planned to continue its bus line. However, during receivership the White and Martz bus companies battled to take over service in the local area. The license ultimately was awarded to the Frank Martz Coach Co., A wooden interurban trolley car with a White Co. bus, c.1923 in California[.], . Trolley cars awaiting the 1934 scrapping operation at Brookside yards.