Connecticut Trolley Museum facts for kids
A New Orleans streetcar stops at the Isle of Safety (originally at State St, Hartford)
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| Established | 1940 |
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| Location | 58 North Road East Windsor, Connecticut |
| Type | Railroad museum |
The Connecticut Trolley Museum is also known as the Warehouse Point Trolley Museum. It is the oldest museum in the United States focused on electric trains. The museum opened in October 1940. You can find it in East Windsor, Connecticut. It welcomes visitors from April through December each year. The museum has many trolleys on display. Some trolleys can even move! You can take self-guided tours to learn about Connecticut's trolley history.
Right next to the Trolley Museum is the Connecticut Fire Museum. This museum shows off old fire trucks and buses.
Contents
Ride a Piece of History: The Heritage Railroad
The museum has a special heritage railroad. It's like a living history lesson! You can ride a trolley on 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of track. This track was once part of the Hartford and Springfield Street Railway Company. It was called the Rockville Branch.
What Was the Rockville Branch?
The Rockville Branch was a 17.5-mile (28.2 km) trolley line. It ran from the Main Fish Market to Rockville, Connecticut. This line was very important for people. Factory workers, tourists, and high school students used it daily. Trolleys were a great way to travel back then. They could carry more people than the few buses available.
Piney Ridge Amusement Park
The trolley line also went to Piney Ridge. This was an amusement park between Broad Brook and East Windsor. Many trolley companies built parks like Piney Ridge. They wanted to earn more money, especially on Sundays. Sundays were a popular day for people to visit parks.
Piney Ridge had many fun things. It had a huge pipe organ and a dance floor. The dance floor was special. It had trolley springs underneath! This made dancing easier on people's knees. There was also a baseball field. Famous players like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig even played games there.
The End of the Line
Sadly, the Hartford and Springfield company faced money problems. They eventually went out of business. Their trolleys were taken to Piney Ridge and scrapped. By 1926, the tracks were gone. The Rockville Branch was no more.
Bringing the Trolleys Back to Life
Fourteen years later, a group called the Connecticut Electric Railway Association formed. They started working to restore the trolley service. Today, your admission ticket includes unlimited trolley rides. The museum usually runs at least two different trolleys each day. Sometimes, you can even ride three or four different types! This lets you experience many kinds of streetcars and interurbans.
Explore the Trolley Collection
The museum has a large and varied collection of trolleys. These trolleys help tell the story of the "trolley era." They show how trolleys changed society. Most of the trolleys are kept safe in special buildings. These include four car barns, the Visitor Center, and the car shop. There's also an outdoor track for storage. It goes deep into the woods!
Trolleys You Can Ride
When the museum is open, you can often ride one or more of these historic cars:
- Montreal Tramways sightseeing car 4
- Springfield Terminal combine car 16
- New Orleans Public Service closed car 836
- Fair Haven and Westville Railroad open air car 355
- Boston Elevated Railway Type 5 car 5645
- Connecticut Company closed car 1326
Trolleys Being Restored
The museum's restoration shop is always busy. Skilled workers are bringing more trolleys back to life. Here are some cars currently being worked on:
- Connecticut Company Birney Safety car (double truck) 3001
- Nassau (New York) Electric Railway car 169
- Oshawa Railway steeplecab 18
- Iowa Southern Utilities Co. line car 1
- Northern Ohio Traction & Light Co executive car 1500
- Boston Elevated Railway PCC 3100
- New Jersey Transit PCC 15 (This one is getting a cosmetic restoration, meaning it will look new again!)
Trolleys on Display
The Main Hall of the Visitor Center has a special exhibit. It shows how the trolley era developed. It also explains how trolleys impacted society. You can see these cool cars on display there:
- Northern Ohio Traction and Light parlor car 1500
- Illinois Terminal PCC 451
- Springfield Electric Railway combine car 10
- Five Mile Beach Electric Railway car 36
- Ponemah Mills Locomotive 1386
- Shaker Heights Rapid Transit car 1201
- Montreal Tramways car 2056
- Fair Haven and Westville car 154
To see a complete list of all the trolleys, visit the museum's website here.
Images for kids
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A New Orleans streetcar stops at the Isle of Safety (originally at State St, Hartford)
