Minnesota Streetcar Museum
The Minnesota Streetcar Museum is a transportation museum that operates two heritage streetcar lines in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the western suburb of Excelsior. The Museum was created as part of the restructuring of the Minnesota Transportation Museum in the winter of 2004–2005. The Museum was founded in 1962 to restore a streetcar, Twin City Rapid Transit Company No. 1300, that had been operated by the TCRT until the last streetcar lines were abandoned in favor of buses in 1954. Over time, the Museum diversified to include diesel and steam-powered trains, buses, steamboats, and associated buildings, papers, and photographs.
When the Museum was restructured in the winter of 2004 and 2005, the Minnesota Streetcar Museum assumed ownership of and responsibility for operation of the two streetcar lines. The Museum of Lake Minnetonka was created to operate a restored TCRT steamboat, the Minnehaha, which was built by TCRT in 1906, one of seven boats built in a design similar to the company's home-built streetcars. The Minnesota Streetcar Museum now has five operable streetcars, three from TCRT's fleet and two from the Duluth Street Railway Company. A streetcar from Winona, Minnesota is currently under restoration while a Fargo (North Dakota)-Moorhead Birney streetcar and a Mesaba Railway interurban car await restoration.
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Como-Harriet Streetcar Line
The Como-Harriet Streetcar Line is the Museum's site in Minneapolis. One mile of track runs from Lake Harriet to Lake Calhoun along the TCRT's original Como-Harriet right-of-way. Three different streetcars currently operate on the Como-Harriet line, although only one or two are run at any given time. The Como-Harriet Streetcar Line opened 1971. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and operates on land leased from the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. The line operates on weekends and holidays from May through November and daily from mid-May through mid-September. The track was completely rebuilt in the Summer of 2005 using a federal TEA-21 grant.
TCRT No. 1300
The first streetcar restored by the Museum was Twin City Rapid Transit Company streetcar No. 1300. The car, which now appears much like it did in the 1930s-1950s era, was built as a fast interurban streetcar in 1908, with a top speed of about 35 miles per hour (105 km/h). TCRT No. 1300 was based at the East Minneapolis Station (carbarn) and often operated on the original Como-Harriet route.
When TCRT abandoned the last streetcar lines in 1954, TCRT No. 1300 was donated to the Minnesota Railfans Association, a predecessor of the Museum. The streetcar was restored to operational status in 1963 and ran experimental trips that summer near the Minnesota Transfer Railway's roundhouse in Saint Paul. More than 10,000 people rode the first streetcar to operate in the Twin Cities in nine years.
Linden Hills Station
Since public interest was so high, the Museum examined options for regular operation of No. 1300. The City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board acquired the former Como-Harriet right-of-way and in 1970, the Museum leased the land. Track was laid and a small carbarn was constructed to house No. 1300.
No. 1300 first ran on August 28, 1971, although no overhead wires had been strung to provide electricity to power the vehicle. An electrical generator was mounted on a small trailer towed behind the streetcar until the overhead electrical system was completed 1973.
A small period structure based on the original Linden Hills Station was opened in 1990. Previously, all that had remained of the second chalet-style station was a concrete slab that was used as a platform for loading and unloading passengers.
DSR No. 265
Other streetcars were also added in later years. A streetcar once operated on the TCRT-owned Duluth streetcar system was put in service after nine years of restoration work in 1982. It had originally been built in 1915 by TCRT as No. 1791, but was sold to Duluth the next year. It operated there until Duluth's streetcar system was abandoned in 1939.
The car was sold and converted into a summer cabin in Solon Springs, Wisconsin, a fate that was not unusual for old wooden streetcars that managed to escape being burned up as streetcar lines abandoned. The interior had been removed, so important pieces like the railroad trucks, the electric wiring, and other parts had to be scavenged from other old streetcars or rebuilt from scratch.
TCRT PCC No. 322
TCRT built most of its own streetcars in its own shops (31st Street in Minneapolis from 1898 through 1907 and Snelling in Saint Paul from 1907 through the late 1920s) throughout the company's history. But a number of faster streamlined vehicles were purchased in the late 1940s to better compete with the popularity of the automobile. TCRT No. 322 was a Presidents' Conference Committee, or PCC streetcar built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1946. It served in the Twin Cities until it was sold in 1953 to Public Service Coordinated Transit in New Jersey, one of thirty streetcars purchased for use in the Newark City Subway. It was later sold to the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit in Cleveland, Ohio in 1978 to replace two wreck-damaged cars. After the car was acquired by the Museum, it underwent ten years of restoration, entering service in 2000.
Excelsior Streetcar Line
The Excelsior Streetcar Line began operation in 1999 in west-suburban Excelsior on Lake Minnetonka using Duluth Street Railway Company No. 78, transferred from the Museum's Como-Harriet Line. TCRT No. 1239 joined No. 78 in 2004. The line is operated on the former Minneapolis and Saint Louis Railway right-of-way now used by the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority as a bicycle trail. All trips feature a tour of the Excelsior Carbarn, where Winona No. 10 is being restored and Mesaba No. 10 is stored awaiting restoration.
DSR No. 78
Another streetcar from the Duluth Street Railway Company returned to service in 1991 after a seven-year restoration. Duluth Street Railway Company No. 78 is the oldest streetcar in the Museum, having been built by the LaClede Car Company of Saint Louis, Missouri in 1893. The car, which was retired in 1911, is one of the oldest working streetcars in the country. It is a first-generation electric car that resembles the horse-drawn streetcars that it replaced. It has been operating on the Excelsior Streetcar Line since 1999.
TCRT No. 1239
TCRT No. 1239 was built at the 31st Street Shops in Minneapolis and has been restored to the configuration it had when it was constructed in 1907 with a private door to the motorman's cab in the front and double (later triple) stream wire gates for passenger access in the rear. This configuration required "two-man" operation, with a motorman in front who operated the streetcar, including opening and closing the gates, and a conductor at the rear who collected fares and helped with backing up when it was required.
Many TCRT streetcars were converted to one-man/two-man operation in the 1930s by adding double-stream folding front doors and replacing the rear gates with similar doors. This gave TCRT the option to operate the car with a motorman only or, on busier routes, with a conductor and a motorman. to add a large front door and allow just one person to operate the vehicle ("one man" operation). Because streetcar ridership remained high on many routes until the end of service, many "gate cars" with single-stream front folding doors remained in service until the end. TCRT No. 1239 returned to service with in September 2004.
See also
Other places with Twin City Rapid Transit hardware:
- Seashore Trolley Museum
- East Troy Electric Railroad Museum
- San Francisco Municipal Railway's Market Street Railway
