National Capital Trolley Museum facts for kids
Toronto PCC streetcar 4603 at the National Capital Trolley Museum's original location in 2002. The museum has since moved to a new facility, roughly in the same area.
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| Established | 1959 |
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| Location | 1313 Bonifant Road, Colesville, Maryland |
| Type | 501(c)(3) nonprofit museum |
| Key holdings | Historic electric street railway vehicles |
| Owner | National Capital Historical Museum of Transportation, Inc. |
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The National Capital Trolley Museum (NCTM) is a special place where you can see and ride historic streetcars, also known as trolleys or trams. It's a nonprofit organization that works to save and share the story of electric street railways in the Washington, D.C. area.
Located in Montgomery County, Maryland, the museum lets visitors experience what it was like to travel by trolley. It helps us understand how people moved around in the past.
Contents
History of the Trolley Museum
The National Capital Trolley Museum started on January 4, 1961. It was first called the National Capital Historical Museum of Transportation, Inc. At first, progress was slow. Later, the museum joined forces with a group from Baltimore that also collected streetcars.
The organization found its first home in Lake Roland Park in Baltimore, Maryland. However, neighbors didn't want the museum there. So, in 1966, the groups split their collections.
The National Capital Trolley Museum moved to its current spot in Colesville, Maryland. The Baltimore Streetcar Museum was created to focus on Baltimore's transit history. The land for the new museum was given by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
The museum raised $20,000 to build a special building called a car barn. This is where the streetcars are kept. Construction at the Colesville site began on November 20, 1965.
The museum first planned to operate streetcars owned by DC Transit president O. Roy Chalk. But he didn't donate them until 1970. In the meantime, the museum got some European trams and a car from Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
The NCTM ran its first streetcar in October 1969. Since then, the museum has been operating regularly on its one-mile track.
In 2008–2009, the museum moved into three new buildings. This was because a new highway, the Intercounty Connector (ICC), was built across the museum's old spot. The new buildings include a Visitors Center, a display building for streetcars (Street Car Hall), and a maintenance building. The museum officially reopened on Saturday, January 16, 2010.
Learning at the Museum
The museum offers many fun and educational programs all year long. In the spring and fall, schools can book field trips on Thursdays and Fridays. These trips teach students about history and transportation.
During the summer, special programs are available on Thursdays and Fridays from June 15 to August 15. These activities are designed for different age groups. They make learning about trolleys exciting for everyone.
Supporting the Museum
The museum is supported by its members and friends. They help through membership fees, donations, and by volunteering their time. Most of the museum's money comes from admission tickets and sales from its gift shop.
Other groups also provide funding for special projects. These include the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and the Maryland Historical Trust. The State of Maryland and Montgomery County also helped pay for the museum's recent move.
Amazing Streetcar Collection
The NCTM has a fantastic collection of historic streetcars. At one point, it owned almost every type of Washington, D.C. streetcar ever saved. This collection includes:
- DC Transit 0522 and 0509*, which are older wooden streetcars from before 1900.
- Washington Railway and Electric Company 650, a car from 1912 with a center door.
- Capital Transit 766, a standard car from 1918. It is being restored to look like Capital Traction Company 27.
- Capital Transit 1053*, the only complete "streamliner" car from before the PCC type.
- DC Transit 1101, which was Washington's very first PCC streetcar.
- Capital Transit 07*, 09, and 026*, which were wooden snow sweepers.
- Capital Transit 1430, a PCC car built during World War II.
- Capital Transit 1470, a PCC car built in 1945. It joined the collection in July 2020.
- Capital Transit 1540, another PCC car built in 1945.
The asterisk (*) means these cars were sadly lost in a fire in 2003.
The museum has the largest collection of surviving Washington, D.C. streetcars in the world. It also has many old records, journals, and items related to streetcars in Washington, D.C. and Maryland.
The NCTM collection has also included streetcars from many other places. These include Berlin, Düsseldorf, Graz, The Hague, Toronto, Vienna, New York City, Philadelphia, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Brussels and Blackpool.
Museum Exhibits and Rides
The Demonstration Railway
| National Capital Trolley Museum | |
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| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Electrification | 600 Volts DC |
When the museum is open, streetcars leave from the Dispatcher's Desk in the Visitor's Center. The Demonstration Railway is the biggest and most popular part of the museum. It's a one-mile track that takes you on a ride.
The line goes past Street Car Hall and the Maintenance Barn. Then it goes into the woods, along Northwest Branch, and to a loop called Fish Hook. Here, the streetcar turns around for the trip back.
Street Cars Go to the Movies
In a small theater, you can watch clips from Harold Lloyd’s silent films. These movies show how important streetcars were to community life in the early 1900s. The exhibits leading into the theater explain this connection.
Street Car Communities & Rock Creek Railway Co.
This exhibit shows how streetcars helped local communities grow. It includes a working model of the streetcar line through Chevy Chase. This was one of the first suburbs built around a streetcar line.
You can see images of the power house at the end of the line. There's also a worker coming out of a "plow pit." This is where streetcars changed how they got power. They switched from getting power from underground to using an overhead trolley pole. You can even use a controller handle to start the model streetcar!
Conduit Hall
In Conduit Hall, you can see an actual piece of track and the metal frame for the underground electrical system. This system was used to power streetcars without overhead wires. There's also a model of a conduit switch.
Conduit Hall also has "trolleys" that collect electricity from overhead wires. You can even try a hands-on controller from the early 1900s.
Street Car Hall
Next to Conduit Hall and the Visitor Center is Street Car Hall. This large building displays seven or more streetcars at a time. Near the cars, there are lighted displays with information about each streetcar and its history.
You can see the oldest streetcar in the collection here, DC Transit 0522, built in 1898. After each streetcar ride, a museum guide will take passengers into Street Car Hall. They will talk about the history of streetcars and answer your questions.
Challenges and Recovery
The museum has faced some tough times. In 1970, a special air-conditioned PCC car, the "Silver Sightseer," was damaged and had to be taken apart. In 1987, cars 1053 and 766 were badly damaged in a crash.
One of the worst events happened on September 28, 2003. One of the museum's car barns caught fire. Eight pieces of equipment were destroyed. This was about half of the museum's working streetcars and one-third of its total collection.
Washington cars lost included 0509, 1053, 07, and 026. Also destroyed were Johnstown 352, Graz 120, and Vienna 6062 and 7802. The fire was determined to be accidental. Some of the lost cars, like 1053 and 07, were the only ones of their kind left.
Right after the fire, the museum kept operating with its remaining cars. Since then, the museum has bought or traded streetcars with other museums to replace those that were lost.
Images for kids
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Capital Traction Company #522
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Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe #5954
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Third Avenue Railway System #678
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Washington Railway and Electric Company #650
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Capital Transit Company No. 09
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Capital Transit #1430
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Capital Transit #1430
