Seashore Trolley Museum

The Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's first and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is trolley cars (trams), it also includes rapid transit trains, Interurban cars, trolley buses, and motor buses. The Seashore Trolley Museum is owned and operated by the New England Electric Railway Historical Society (NEERHS).Young, Andrew D. (1997). Veteran & Vintage Transit, pp. 43–48. St. Louis: Archway Publishing . Of the museum's collection of more than 350 vehicles, ten trolley and railroad cars that historically operated in Maine were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as Maine Trolley Cars. A separate building houses the largest model railroad layout in the state of Maine.

History

Theodore F. Santarelli de Brasch and Osmond Richard Cummings were two of the founders of the museum, which was initially operated as the Seashore Electric Railway. Santarelli graduated from Harvard University and led the museum until he died in 1987; Cummings, a New England railroad historian, died in 2013.

The events that led to the formation of the museum started in 1939 when a group of railfans learned that the Biddeford & Saco Railroad were purchasing motor buses to replace its fleet of trolley cars.The Seashore Trolley Museum Tramways & Urban Transit issue 1060 April 2026 page 156 More and more trolley companies were doing this as the technology of buses had developed to the point that they were reliable and economical.

The rail fans decided to find out if they could purchase a trolley to preserve it for posterity. The railroad was willing to sell them a car (#31, a 12 bench open trolley) for $150 . However, it would have to be moved to another location due to local ordinances that prohibited retired trolleys from being used as houses, even though this was not the rail fans' intention.

A portion of farmland was rented on Log Cabin Road in Kennebunkport, adjacent to the right-of-way for the Atlantic Shore Line Railway's Kennebunk-Biddeford route, and the trolley was moved to it.

At about the same time, another group of rail fans purchased a trolley from the Manchester and Nashua Street Railway. The two groups merged, and the Nashua trolley was brought to the Log Cabin Road site. The group of founders formally incorporated in 1941 as the New England Electric Railway Historical Society.

World War II caused the museum to be put on hold, as many members served in the armed forces for the duration. This also brought about a temporary revival of trolley services in many cities, as rubber and gasoline were rationed for the war effort.

After the war, conversion of trolley lines to buses resumed, and created a period of rapid growth for the museum's collection.

In the 1950s, a diesel-powered electric generator was used to allow the cars to move under their own power. Car 31 was moved into a small building so that it could be repaired and restored. The first major expansion occurred in late 1955 and early 1956, when the Society purchased land near the Biddeford city line along U.S. Route 1. In the summer of 1956, the Seashore Electric Railway began passenger operations on weekends over its track.

In 1980, ten of the museum's trolley and railroad cars were listed on the National Register of Historic Places (as "Maine Trolley Cars"). These include trolley #31 and other vehicles either built or operated in Maine. Two cars of the Aroostook Valley Railroad, and two built by the York Utilities Company of Sanford are included in this collection.

As of 2010, the museum had over 260 vehicles. While most are from New England and other areas of the United States, trolleys from Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, Hungary, England, Scotland, Italy, and several other countries are also in the collection. One of the motor buses the museum owns is Biddeford and Saco #31, the bus that replaced trolley #31 in 1939. The bus was donated to the museum by the bus company. The Seashore Trolley Museum continues to acquire new vehicles for the collection.

Equipment +Rapid Transit CarsNameClassImagesManufacturerYear builtYear acquired by MuseumRetired NotesBudapest Metro 18N/AN/AHalske / Schlick'sche18961991N/A From HungaryInterborough Rapid Transit 3352Gibbs Hi-VN/AAmerican Car & Foundry190419561956 Only car in its class preservedMTA/MBTA 210#3 Main Line El (Orange Line)N/AAmerican Car & Foundry190619941994 NoneMBTA 512-513500-SeriesN/APullman-Standard192319871987 Married-Pair configuration, train also known as #1 CarsMBTA 546-547500-SeriesN/APullman-Standard192419871987 Married-Pair configuration, train also known as #2 CarsStaten Island Railway/New York City Subway 366ME-1N/AStandard Steel Car Company192519931973 Donated from the Trolley Museum of New YorkMTA/MBTA 719 & 753#4 Cambridge-DorchesterN/AN/A192719701970 NoneMTA/MBTA 997 & 1000#10 Main Line El (Orange Line)N/AWason Manufacturing Company19281980/19811980 Single unitsIndependent Subway System 800R4American Car & Foundry193319891970s Ran excursions with the New York Transit Museum from the 1970s to the 1980sIndependent Subway System 1440R7American Car & Foundry193719901977Ran excursions with the New York Transit Museum from the 1970s to 1990SEPTA 1018 & 1023B-II/B-IIIJ. G. Brill Company193819841984Single unitsMBTA 559 & 562500-SeriesN/ASt. Louis Car Company195119851985Ran excursions with the New York Transit Museum from the 1970s to 1990New York City Subway 7371R22N/AAmerican Car & Foundry195720051987Single unitCTA 6599-66006000-SeriesSt. Louis Car Company195719941994Used PCC equipmentMBTA 1178-11791100-SeriesN/APullman-Standard195119911981NoneGreater Cleveland RTA 113N/AN/ASt. Louis Car Company195119911981NoneCTA 11-50 SeriesSt. Louis Car Company195920161974Used PCC equipmentNew York City Subway 9327R33SSt. Louis Car Company196420052005In a redbird scheme, single unitMBTA 1450 & 14551400-Series (Red Line)Pullman-Standard196319971990sOriginally painted blue in the 1960sUnited States Department of Transportation 1-2SOAC St. Louis Car Company197419891970sBuilt from R44 shells, the SOAC was an experimental train that toured New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and ClevelandMBTA 622 & 623600-Series (Blue line)Hawker-Siddeley Canada197820092009Similar to the 1200-Series cars on the Orange Line

Exhibits and features

The main building at the museum is the Visitors Center. It includes a ticket booth and a museum store.

The trolleys that have been restored to operating condition are shown on display in three car barns. A restoration shop with an elevated observation gallery shows visitors how the vehicles are maintained and restored. Additional storage barns and tracks, which are not accessible to the general public, contain vehicles that are awaiting restoration. A few of the restored trolleys are operating on the demonstration line at one time. Restored trolleys are used on the museum's demonstration railway, which follows the route of the Atlantic Shore Line, a trolley line that ran on the current museum property and connected Kennebunkport to York Beach. Since the line was abandoned in the 1920s, museum volunteers have rebuilt from scratch. Seashore owns the right of way to Biddeford, which is about from the Visitor Center. A demonstration route leads to Talbott Park (which is a loop to turn around the trolleys) and back to the Visitor Center.

The collection of trolley buses includes vehicles from all over the country, and the world, of which about twenty are in operating condition. Restoration on as many as six to seven cars is underway at all times. Discussions are under way to extend the trolley bus line and to rehabilitate the existing line.Trolleybus Magazine No. 295 (January–February 2011), p. 11. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452.

The museum holds many themed events throughout the operating season (May–December) including Pumpkin Patch Trolley, Daniel Tiger Visits Seashore, appreciation days for several operating fleet trolleys in its collection, free children's story time for guests and the community, and special holiday rides in November and December. The exhibit room may be rented for parties, gatherings, meetings or family reunions.

A new building to house the museum's model railroad layout opened in May 2024 and transitioned to year-round operation in early 2025. Presented in HO scale and based on the Maine Central Railroad, the original layout was donated to the museum in 2020 by a couple from Jonesport, Maine.

Seashore Trolley Museum

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