Scranton PA Railfan Guide - Scranton to Nicholson PA

RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.

Todd's Railfan Guide to
SCRANTON PA
Scranton to Nicholson Chase Map

In General
Map
Sights
Signals
Floobydust

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Map 1 - Scranton North
Map 2 - Scranton South/Taylor
Map 3 - Pittston
Map 4 - Scranton to Nicholson via US11

In General

The stretch of track between Scranton and Nicholson offers numerous opportunities for the railfan to take pictures.

If you're travelling to Nicholson from Scranton, I would recommend driving up US11 instead of heading up I81 to exit 206 and then heading west on PA374/82. For one, because of the distance you have to travel on 82 to get from 81 to Nicholson (about 6mi), it will penalize you for the speed you can do on I81. It's probably a draw in terms of time going via 11 or 81/82, and there's more to photograph along the way (if you're so inclined).

Map

Sights

1 Tunkhannock (Nicholson) Viaduct

Welcome Signs, on US11 (L), and on PA82 (R).

These pictures can be found on Wikipedia's page on the viaduct.

Signals

1 Signals in Clarks Summit PA

The track between Binghamton and Scranton appears to be signaled with Safetran's Unilens signals once you have left Binghamton proper.

For those of you that are uninitiated into the world of railroad signals, Unilens signals are in a class by themselves. The closest relative to them would be the searchlight signal, because all three aspects come out of one lens assembly, but the similarity ends there. In a searchlight signal, there is one bulb as a light source, and one set of lenses. The colors come from a miniature roundel with two or three (approximately) one inch in diameter lenses, which are moved into the light path with a bi-polar relay. In the resting position (un-energized), the middle lens will be in the light path. When the coil is energized, one of the other lenses is pulled into the light path, and when energized with the opposite polarity, the third lens will be put in the light path. The searchlight is failsafe, because in the event of a power failure, the most restrictive aspect will be displayed, red.

The Unilens signal does not enjoy this failsafe advantage within the signal itself (nor do most signals except for the upper quadrant semaphore and the searchlight). Inside the signal, there are three lamps, each with it's own colored lens, and the light from them is guided to the lens with fiber optics. Engineers report that they are not as bright as other types of signals.

2 Signals in New Milford PA

Another set of Unilens signals at the south end of a passing siding... beautiful day for shooting this set! It's 17 miles up I81 from the Nicholson exit at 206.