Shore Line Trolley Museum

Connecticut Company 500, a street railway parlor car at the Shore Line Trolley Museum

The Shore Line Trolley Museum, located in East Haven, Connecticut, is the oldest operating trolley museum in the United States. It was founded to preserve the unique heritage of an endangered species -- the trolley car.

History

The museum was incorporated in 1945 as the Branford Electric Railway Association, a non-profit historical and educational institution. In August of that year, the Connecticut Company (or ConnCo), which operated most of the streetcar lines in the state of Connecticut, sold BERA a 1.5-mile stretch of ConnCo's "F" route. ConnCo continued to operate streetcars over the route regularly until the entire line was abandoned on March 8, 1947, at which time BERA took possession of the line between East Haven and Short Beach. Over the following year the museum moved virtually its entire collection at the time, including a number of just-retired ConnCo streetcars, onto its property via the existing and still-electrified track connection with Connecticut Company.

After ConnCo severed the track connection in 1948, BERA was on its own. The line started out as double track but one of the tracks was torn up and sold for scrap to raise money. Eventually 20-year bonds were issued by the museum and its fortunes improved. In 1957 an impressive visitor's center, known as Sprague Station, was built out of brick at the East Haven end of the line.

Over the intervening years, BERA's collection has grown to become the third largest collection of electric railway equipment in North America. It has an unparalleled collection of equipment from New York City and Connecticut and operates a variety of streetcars, rapid transit cars and work cars throughout the year. BERA currently does business as the Shore Line Trolley Museum.

Third Avenue Railway System 220, the oldest operating streetcar in the United States

Highlights of the Collection

• Connecticut Company 500, the line's posh business/parlor car
• Manhattan Railway "G", the oldest preserved rapid transit car in the United States (built in 1878)
• Interborough Rapid Transit 3344 "Mineola," the personal private car of August Belmont
• Ansonia Derby & Birmingham "Derby," the oldest surviving electric locomotive and the only Van De Poele motor preserved
• Brooklyn and Queens Transit 1001, the first production PCC streetcar built
• Third Avenue Railway System 220, the oldest operating streetcar in the United States (built in 1892)
• Hudson and Manhattan 503, the only restored H&M "black car"

References

Hicks, Frank (May 14, 2006). Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars. Retrieved on August 7, 2006.

Young, Andrew (1983). Trolley to the Past. Glendale, California: Interurban Press. 

External links

• Shore Line Trolley Museum