Sometimes all it takes is an old picture to rediscover history.

Recently, I stumbled on a photo so intriguing that I decided to research it.

The remarkable 1910 image shows a trolley car passing between wood-frame houses.

The photographer is unknown, but after some digging, I learned that the photo depicts the 1894 Shamokin and Mount Carmel Electric Railway.

The outfit was later renamed the Shamokin and Mount Carmel Transit Company.

It took passengers shopping in the city of Shamokin and shuttled coal and railroad workers back and forth until 1936.

It was not unique. Nor was it the only game in town. There was also an 1891 Shamokin Street Railway Company, serving Shamokin.

Fact is, all sizable coal towns were small cities with their own streetcars, such as the Tamaqua and Lansford Street Railway in Schuylkill and Carbon counties.

At the time, coal towns were booming.

So these railway systems flourished before finally being replaced by buses in the 1930s.

Today, there isn’t much left, which provides a challenge in retracing trolley history.

What stood out, for me, was seeing how these specific streetcars passed so close by houses in a residential area.

They appear to practically brush up against porches.

It must have been difficult for trolley companies to secure rights of way to construct transit systems in heavily populated areas after railroads already had claimed land.

My research proved the point.

“Trolley roads are being formed much as the great steam railways were,” states an article in the Saturday, Feb. 20, 1897, edition of the Mount Carmel Item. It discusses problems in obtaining right of way.

In this case, the trolley is seen exiting a mountain route as it enters the village of Brady.

But this brought another layer of confusion. The town has three names.

Brady began as Johnson City in the 1880s. During WWI it was called Brady. And then in 1930, people began calling it Ranshaw, a name used today.

But old habits die hard. So this might explain why today’s Ranshaw is served by the Brady Fire Company. What’s in a name, anyway?

So I walked the streets of Johnson City-Brady-Ranshaw to find the location seen in the photo.

That task was made easier through a satellite image that shows the shadow of a path where trolley tracks once ran.

To my surprise, the houses in the picture are still there, though changed. They back up against a mountain and are sprinkled with No Trespassing signs.

Of course, for me to actually confirm that I’d found the correct location, I needed access. I stood there figuring out what to do.

Just then a car pulled in front. A young woman emerged with two children. It appeared she was returning from a Christmas shopping trip.

So I approached.

“Excuse me, I’m exploring the route of an old trolley that ran here. But to know for sure I’d need to go behind your house.”

“A trolley?” She gave me a quizzical look.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m certain about that. It traveled right through here in back of these properties. Then it came out onto the street where the white fence is a few doors away. I understand if you don’t know about it. It was long ago. But it’s true.”

“Well, OK,” she said. She pointed to a gate and an alley beside her house. She then left, busy with the kids, allowing me to explore on my own.

I walked to the rear yard, a small parcel bounded by her house on one side and the mountain on the other.

And there it was, a bit to the right — a high, concrete bridge abutment. Can’t miss it. It’s where trolleys came off the mountain and eased their way down into town on a sloped bridge. Just like a roller coaster. And just like in the intriguing photo.

Afterward, at the front of a neighboring property, I spotted another foundation. This one was much lower to the ground and made of bricks. It served as a pier for the bridge and tracks as they reached street level.

I took plenty of photos to document these sites.

And then I left, satisfied in knowing I’d successfully retraced a moment in history. And even better, feeling happy that a 75-mile round trip was worth it.