shore line trolley museum

The oldest continuing streetcar operation in the United States is run by this museum on the edge of a salt marsh. The long streetcar ride is through the salt marsh full of great views and wildlife. The car barns are filled with historic streetcars from an era before the operation of automobiles. a great family outing and also of huge interest to history buffs.

Not only do they have trolleys from all eras but they also picked up some older subway cars from New York City. I visited on a special occasion last fall and rode in a trolley set up for a Chamber of Commerce meeting. That experience was awe-inspiring in itself. In a past visit, they rolled out an old IRT subway car which the transit authority retired way back in 1966. They retrofitted it with overhead catenary to run as a trolley. Awesome. Don't miss this attraction.

I grew up with trolley cars and the chance to ride on some of these same cars at the Shoreline Trolley Museum was wonderful. The Museum has nearly 100 historic trolley cars, subway cars and other transportation vehicles. Many are over 100 years old and are in impeccable condition. The Museum is run by volunteers, many of whom are preservationists. The trolley conductors are also highly trained volunteers. The conductor who took us out on the line in a vintage trolley car from Johnstown, PA gave a superb tour. The line itself runs for a mile and a half though the beautiful pristine Connecticut tidal wetlands. My kids saw ospreys feeding their young, great white herons and many other sea birds. It was a great historic and environmental experience for the family. There were visitors on our car from Singapore, Nepal, Poland and Canada. A truly international experience as well.

Didn't have much going on so I decided to check it out. There was a photography group there and had access to the trolley car for a night photo shoot. It turned out to be a fairly enjoyable trip. The trolley operators were very friendly and knowledgeable. The trolley cars are very impressive both inside and out. Hats off to the guys that maintain them.

Interesting, small, hands-on museum. The trolley ride was short but very informative. The trolley stops in the rail yard and you have a walking tour of the different era trolley cars and then you have a choice of catching the next tour, walking back, or ride the same trolley back.

Because this attraction is limited to a staff of volunteers, the Shore Line Trolley Museum tour is nearly completely self-guided. The trolley operator and guide/narrator was very knowledgeable, and was able to convey detailed history of trolleys and trolley system at the CT site and throughout the NorthEast. His expertise was evident. As a special note: a streetcar in use at this facility originates from New Orleans (complete with interior vintage advertising and signage), so check it out if you'd like to see a taste of Southern comfort and history. Other rolling stock on site include no less than one dozen other examples of trolley/streetcar design. One ticket is good for all day, and for most people this will mean several hours of riding, with information and education for "all aboard." Look for osprey nests in The Estuary portion of the tour and you get an unexpected surprise.

As a member of Friendship Force Toronto, I visited this trolley museum with our Hartford FF hosts. It was one of the highlights of the trip itinerary. We even got to see a relic Toronto Transit trolley. After a short ride on a refurbished trolley, our knowledgeable guide showed us through the museum of many trolleys. It would have been even better had he used a microphone. Certainly worth a visit if you are in the area.

We made this a family event for Great-grandmother and grandkids. Located along the shoreline estuary in East Haven CT, it was a great place to spend a couple of hours, with no huge crowds, and at a reasonable price. Great-Gran enjoyed the short ride, listening to the conductor give some of the history of the trolley cars and explain how they operated. The grandkids were good listeners and learners, both on the trolley ride and in the museum, which has a number of hands-on displays of actual trolley car furnishings...signal lights, fare box, electric motor that can be activated by turning a crank to generate power that runs a miniature car.The people who run the museum, refurbish, and operate the trolley cars are all volunteers, dedicated and knowledgable. But, it is obvious that the organization needs donations if it is to continue in exisence: there is a lot of old equipment and much work to be done.A ticket gives you an all-day pass for as many 1/2 hour rides as you wish to take through the shoreline estuary, and you are allowed to disembark, tour the trolley barn and some other trolley cars being restored, and to picnic, if you wish. You can ride the cars all day long if you wish, but we found that an hour or two was sufficient. We noticed that other visitors had made arrangements to be trolley car "operators" during their visit. We gathered that they were real fans of the old trolleys. But, we were happy just riding and listening to the colorful narrative by the conductor-operator.I thought it was a great trip, informative, educational, and fun for the whole family. For some of us it brough back memories. For others, it showed them the way people got about before cars became commonplace.

The trolley museum hosts a haunted trolley attraction that is absolutely terrifying!! They really do a great job!! It only runs on weekends in October, but it's very well organized. You get to ride a trolley into the woods where terror awaits. And when you're done you can grab an ice cream for the ride back. I can't wait to go again!

This is a wonderful museum that deserves a visit. I don't know how many times I have driven past the old trolley in East haven, CT advertising the museum and thinking I should visit some day. That day came last week. One of the old trolleys takes you a few hundred feet to the main location where several vintage trolleys were on display in barns. A tour of the cars was part of the admission price. The old cars are very beautiful and very well maintained, primarily by an army of railroad buffs.

A fun place for transportation devotees. A nostalgic look at how mass transit used to be in a another era.

Very well organized. Got to see the Easter bunny and had plenty of time to convince the kids they could go near her. The trolley rides were fun and they had nice little crafts to entertain the kids. Really pretty well organized for a small museum. Even for us older folks, it was very interesting seeing refurbished trolley cars from the 1800s. Nice day for all.

Went there as a railroad fan, only one car running for my $10.00, you can walk around and look but i was looking forward to multiple rides for my money on different cars, motorman was not overly thrilled with the group of kids that day,had better experience with the Ct trolley museum up north

You can ride the trolly and you can also tour the museum where they refurbish old cars. It's educational and fun!

I was totally bored on the trolley ride. Even my child was asking when the ride was going to be over.. Yawn