If you're anywhere near Scranton and even remotely curious about transportation history, this Museum is worth popping into. But let me say up front, if you have a dog, plan accordingly. The museum shares a parking lot with Steamtown and is a non-profit dedicated to preserving and restoring historic trolley cars. The museum building itself is not a dog friendly. We had our dog with us so we took turns going inside and honestly that was fine. It just meant that we couldn't spend as long as we wanted. There are clean bathrooms inside as well as exhibits about electric rail, old photographs, artifacts and even restored trolley cars inside. And the best part for me, BY FAR, is that even though the museum is not dog friendly, the trolley ride is. I highly highly recommend the trolley ride for any and everyone. The gentleman running the trolley were so friendly and welcoming with lots of stories to share. After you board, you travel along a historic line through the Lackawanna valley passing woods, bridges, and streets where one of the gentleman has to get out and hold a sign so that the trolley can get across traffic. It also goes through a tunnel which is really fun. Sitting in the wooden seats and feeling the clack of the car while you watch the beautiful scenery go by almost takes you back in time. We even saw a bear in the woods during our trolley ride. It was a really fun experience. Compared to the ride, the museum itself felt informative and well intentioned but not nearly as exciting. And as much as I appreciate the history and preservation efforts, if I'm being honest, I would skip the indoor exhibits and head straight for the trolley ride! It's the best 12 bucks you will spend in Scranton. read more

See all

While not the only trolley museum in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Washington, PA) this one is unique to the area. This museum shares a parking lot with the Steamtown National Historic Site and fits in quite nicely. When I showed up in this area I opted to do the trolley museum first and I am glad I did. Rates to enter the museum are reasonable. $7 for an adult, $6 for senior, and $5 for a child (ages 3 - 17). They also do offer a ten mile roundtrip trolley ride. You can do this in conjunction to viewing the museum or do it separately. I highly encourage you to do this in conjunction to the museum. The prices listed above, just add $5. Trolley ride itself...$10 for an adult, $9 for senior, $8 for a child. Believe me, it is worth it. I was lucky enough to have arrived about a half hour before the next trolley ride departed. The museum itself, is not huge, and I will get into that later in this review, so you can do both in a very short amount of time. If you purchase a trolley ride you will receive a wristband to verify that you paid the entrance fee. Around ten minutes before the trolley leaves station they tell you where to go to board. There is a train platform about midway up the parking lot, it is a bit of a hike. You do not have to wait to go to the platform, you can head that way at any time. You are then allowed to board the trolley, find your seat and lock in. You are on an original trolley car and are about to head five miles to the baseball stadium and then turn around and come back. This ride is relaxing and informative. Along the way you will make a few stops, one of the first is at the barricaded entrance to a long closed coal mine, then you will stop near the manmade waterfall, then sit back and enjoy your ride through the tunnel. At the end of this, you are at the ballpark where they have a maintenance garage with other trolley cars either being stored or worked on. This is one of the few ballparks in the country that utilizes a trolley to transport people to and from the park. In the building they have a map of the track you just took to get here and it is broken up into the phases it took to have this line up and running. Then you reboard the trolley and head back to the platform outside of the museums. As for the museum portion, definitely worth your time to go through each section. There is the big informative section with artifacts. Each display has a breakdown of the items and information on the use of those items. There are some interactive aspects here as well. One particular thing is the refurbished dissected trolley car. This show you how one was built and how it worked. They do have a garage here as well and there are several trolley cars in storage and in different stages of repair. There is a kids room and even if you are an adult, check it out, if only for the train track suspended from the ceiling. Do check out the store on your way out. Staff were super pleasant. Great museum. Oh! I almost forgot, the electric trolley was the whole reason Scranton is called the Electric City. read more

See all

The trolley ride is a must. We stopped by on a drive home and the trolley rides were t happening but my train loving son absolutely loved it and kept asking to go back in April since he heard the front desk tell us that's when the rides start. So we were able to make it back for a trolley ride which both my kids loved. Learned a lot on the ride and enjoyed some beautiful views. If we find ourselves back in the area I'd come back for sure. read more

See all

Great place for kids. Friendly and. Lots to do there. Gift shop had many cool items and history of electric city amazing

It's lot of memory as I born in a town with railway station. The guide is really kind to introduce all the locomotives in the round house as they called read more

See all

Make sure that you pay an extra $5 for the trolley ride. Around 50-125 years ago street car/trolleys were used in most American cities. The Trolley Museum is right next to Steamtown, which is operated by the National Park Service. The two attractions share the same parking lot. read more

Electric City Trolley Museum - Restored - Museums Near Me - Scranton, Pennsylvania

See all

This is a cute little trolley museum. It is a blend of history on electric power generation; the growing need for trolleys in the area (of which I am not from, so I didn't recognize many landmarks); a collection of real trolley cars; a children's play area themed around trolleys; and a ride on an actual trolley. I spent about an hour here and had an enjoyable time, though as train-themed things go (and yes, I consider trolleys "train themed") I think most people will enjoy the Steamtown museum next door more. If you have time for both, I would split it 80/20 between there and here. That is not a knock against this place. It is kept up well, it was a lot of fun to go through, and some of the interactive exhibits were very interesting. It just isn't as large or an engaging as the other place next door. We arrived late in the day and didn't have time to ride the trolley, but if/when we come back we will certainly do so. read more

Electric City Trolley Museum - Part of a giant map of the old trolley route. This is about 1/4 of the total map. - Museums Near Me - Scranton, Pennsylvania

See all

Small museum but fun. We learned so much about the history of trolley from this place. Friendly staff. Definitely worth visiting if you are nearby. Great place to bring a family. read more

Electric City Trolley Museum - Museums Near Me - Scranton, Pennsylvania

This museum was a great find. Loved that the history of the trolley still lives on and there is an ongoing restoration process for the cars they have. There are a lot of facts, videos and photos historically documented. It's a small cute museum and the trolley ride is worth it! read more

See all

Small and short little museum. Not a whole lot to see but at least worth the admission price.

Small and some descriptive displays regarding trolleys. I was overall not impressed for the $6.00 per person admission. Only two trolleys you can actually enter. Lots of open space where there could be more information or exhibits. read more

The family and I really enjoyed our time here, takes anywhere from 30 mins to an hour to see the whole place. The front desk was incredibly helpful and informed us right away of their covid safety procedures as well as the do's and don'ts of the exhibit because of the virus. Social distancing of course, no mask no entry, and they discourage pretty much touching anything. You can no longer board, walk or sit in the trolley like you could prior to covid, but all n all we still had a great time. Hopefully trolley service will resume sometime during the summer or later in the year. read more

See all

We had such a fun time here! We did a quick ride of the trolley & it was fantastic, you see a lot of cool parts of PA and Scranton. There's even a really cool train where only 25 were made, 8 still exist, and this specific one is the only one on the east coast! Peter Millett was the volunteer we chatted with, he was absolutely fantastic & super knowledgeable. Would definitely recommend! read more

Small and informative, packed with old trolley cars and memorabilia. It also houses the model railroad of Scranton bestowed upon the city by John Oliver of HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver." No need to make a day of it, but it's a nice place to check out. read more

See all

As far as trolleys go this may be the only Museum of its kind for a long long ways. Run by the county it is a great place for kids to learn a lot of Trolley history around the country and especially here in Scranton. Bring the kids bring the entire School and have a fun time learning about trolleys , more than you ever wanted to know and books to back it up in the book store as well. read more

See all

Fun trolley rides for the kids. They do holiday ones and character ones throughout the year. My son always has fun.

Fantastic place. Highly recommend making a stop here. The people were so nice. The building was cool. A live band was outside playing music. The trolley history was intriguing even for a non trolley enthusiast. The gift shop was 10% off everything, so I picked up some stuff to take home. The trolley/steamer museums can be done in just a couple hours if you're not inclined to read everything. The trolly ride was fantastic and the tunnel was awesome to experience and feel. This place will gear you up for the coal mine tour if you so choose. read more