Purple Hot Rod Snowcat

This hot rod snow cat has seen better days.

The Magic Bus for Stock Car Fans

Roaring engines rather than The Who are the background sound track for this Magic Bus.  The home of the NASBUS is next to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Airport, but this weekend you can expect to see it at Pocono Raceway for the Good Sam RV Insurance 500.

The NASBUS

How bad have you got it?  Maybe the question is really, "Are you ready for the NASBUS?"

The Housetruck

Yeah, it's big enough to live in!

Pirate Pickup Truck

It looks like this picture on a pickup truck could be of a pirate.  But then the American flag and eagle suggest a revolutionary freedom fighter.  Then again, the truck was parked at the Luzerne County courthouse, home to a huge corruption scandal, and could belong to a lawyer or an elected official.  Must be a pirate.

Lackawanna Coal Car on the Road of Anthracite

Traveling by train in the late 1800's and early 1900's could be a very grimey event for passengers who often completed their rail journey covered with coal soot.  Unless, of course, they were riding on a train pulled by an engine powered by relatively clean-burning anthracite coal.  The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company owned huge tracts of land rich with anthracite coal which they used on their trains.  This allowed them to boast about having clean passengers at the end of a journey.  They capitalized on this by creating an ad campaign that featured pictures of a fictional woman named Phoebe Snow dressed in clean white clothes, and the following poem:

Says Phoebe Snow, about to go
Upon a trip to Buffalo,
"My gown stays white from morn 'til night
Upon the road of anthracite."

Engine 663, Ready to Rumble

Say hello to the front end of the pushmi-pullyu train.

The Pushmi-Pullyu Train

When I saw these train engines I immediately thought of the pushmi-pullyu (pronounced push me pull you) from Dr. Doolittle.  It was a gazelle-unicorn cross in the original book, and a llama in the movie with Rex Harrison, and now two Lackawanna engines at Steamtown National Historic Site.

Pocono Mountains Rider

The City Daily Photo theme day for March is "Your Favorite Part of Town."  For me, anywhere in the Pocono Mountains while on the back of my bike is my favorite.  Not quite in town, but it is not too much of a stretch to think of the Pocono Mountains as a really big suburb of Scranton

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Subaru as Sign

 This Nordica Subaru is a regular rolling neon sign that shouts out, "Look at me!"   I think it is a refreshing counterpoint to all of the drab colored vehicles droning down our roads. 

Subaru Lunch Truck

They don't make lunch trucks like this anymore.  And that's probably a good thing judging by the organic parking brakes.  The emblem with six stars below the windshield indentifies this little old-timer as a Subaru.  

                              

Punch Buggy

Play Punch Buggy in Scranton!  I used to think trivial thoughts about my daughter's habit of shouting out, "Punch Buggy!" and punching me in the arm every time she saw a Volkswagon Beetle.  But as evidenced by this custom painted Beetle, Punch Buggy should not be taken lightly.   See the entry at Wikipedia for a good background and explanation of the Punch Buggy game.

Electric Trolley Car

Electric Trolley cars still roll in Scranton!  Keeping some of the historic trolley cars in operation contributes to The Electric City's maintaining a connection to its heritage and distinctive identity.  

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Electric Trolley Car With Halloween Spirit

It looks like the Electric City's trolley car operators have a seasonal sense of humor.  This electric trolley car pulled into the Lackawanna County stadium station with its Halloween decoration prominently displayed.

Canadian National 3254

The Canadian National 3254 steam engine is a 2-8-2 model built by the Canadian Locomotive Company in 1917.  The 2-8-2 refers to the type of wheel arrangement.  This steam engine was built to pull heavy freight trains.  It was retired in 1958 and eventually purchased by the Steamtown Foundation in 1987.  It now operates as an excursion train taking passengers to Moscow and Tobyhanna in the Poconos.   It is pictured here steaming past the downtown area of Scranton.