Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton Railway begins service

July 14, 1903, saw the launch of the Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton Railway, an electrified interurban line connecting Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton in Pennsylvania's coal country. Powered by 650-volt DC third rail and featuring steeplecab locomotives alongside passenger cars, it offered reliable 60 mph service that eased travel for miners and merchants. Built amid the peak of the anthracite boom, the line exemplified early 20th-century electrification innovations and competed with steam railroads. Its engineering included impressive trestles over valleys. The railway influenced regional development until its decline in the 1930s, leaving a heritage that railfans celebrate through preserved equipment and layouts modeling its distinctive operations.