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Seashore Trolley Museum 6/25/2015

Robin and I drove south on US Highway 1 to Kennebunkport and followed the signs to the Seashore Trolley Museum.

The sign out by the road.

SEPTA Class B2 'Bridge' car 1038 built by J.G. Brill Company in 1938 and retired in 1984. This is one of 26 rapid transit cars purchased in 1936 by the Delaware River Joint Commission for operation on its newly-opened rapid transit line between Philadelphia and Camden. Passengers on this line rode high above the Delaware River on the Ben Franklin Bridge, which had opened in 1926 for vehicular traffic. The Bridge Line trains were owned by the Delaware River Joint Commission (Delaware River Port Authority after 1951) and originally operated by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company. The PRT was reorganized as the Philadelphia Transportation Company in 1940. Louis T. Klauder designed car 1018 and the other "Bridge cars" with curves, chrome, fluting and a blue and silver paint scheme, giving them an art deco, streamlined style popular in the 1930s. Philadelphians called these cars "Flash Gordon" cars after a futuristic comic strip character popular in the 1930s.

Car 1018 seated 67 passengers on comfortable green leather bucket seats. Standees could bring the load to more than 200 riders. During World War II, car it helped carry heavy loads of workers from Philadelphia to ship yards in Camden. In later years, this car's interior was somewhat modernized. In 1968, the Bridge Line was rebuilt, extended to Lindenwold and equipped with new cars. So car 1018 and the other "Bridge cars" moved to operation on Philadelphia’s Broad Street subway line. In 1968, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority acquired the city’s transit operations from the Philadelphia Transportation Company. The Seashore Trolley Museum acquired 1018 in 1984 when it was retired from service on the Broad Street line and donated by the city.

This building is where you go in to the museum to get your tickets.

We were given our tickets as we are writing a story about this unique museum.

The Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine is the world's oldest and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is trolley cars (trams), it also includes rapid transit trains, trolley buses and motor buses. The Seashore Trolley Museum is owned and operated by the New England Electric Railway Historical Society (NEERHS), a non-profit organization, which also owns the National Streetcar Museum.

The events that led to the formation of the museum started in 1939 when a group of railfans learned that the Biddeford and Saco Railroad was purchasing motor buses to replace its fleet of trolley cars. 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.

Theodore Santarelli was one of the founders and the true father of the museum. He graduated from Harvard University and led the museum until he died in 1987.

A plot of land, part of a farm, was rented on Log Cabin Road in Kennebunkport 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.

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.

As of 2010, the museum has 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. Ironically, 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. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Memorial Day to Columbus Day-open daily, first weekend of May-Memorial Day, Columbus Day-last weekend in October-open weekends.

The main building at the museum, the Visitor's Center, combines a ticket booth, a museum store with an extensive collection of rare and out-of-print books and DVD's as well as many toys and souvenirs, a snack bar and an exhibit room with trolley and transit-related artifacts.

The trolleys that have been restored to operating condition are shown on display in three car barns. There is a restoration shop with an elevated observation gallery so visitors can see 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 a mile-and-a- half from scratch. Seashore owns the right of way to Biddeford which is about five miles from the Visitor's Center. A demonstration route leads a mile-and-a- half to Talbot Park (which is a loop to turn around the trolleys) and back to the Visitor's Center.

The Collection of National Streetcars is what the museum is known for, but they also have international cars from Budapest, Berlin, London, Nagasaki, Sydney, Blackpool and more.

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 and there is also discussions under way to extend the trolley bus line and to rehabilitate the existing line.

The museum has many themed events throughout the operating season (May to October) including dog day, sunset ice cream rides, community appreciation day, Veteran's appreciation day, antique auto day, pumpkin patch trolley, transit day, children's story time and special Prelude rides the first two weekends in December. The Exhibit room may be rented for parties, gatherings, meetings or family reunions. In 2014 the museum held its first ever Speakeasy event with costumes, special cocktails and music/movies of the era, with the promise of more to come in 2015.

The museum is seeking to raise funds to build a new car house (car barn) and library, as well as for restoration of current buildings, cars, grounds and visitor's center. The museum is also proposing to eventually extend the trolley demonstration line to Route 1 in Biddeford.

We will start looking around this fantastic trolley museum.

The old style subway ticket booth.

A trolley returning from the mainline and coming on the turning loop.

Boston Elevated Railroad 5821 built by J. G. Brill Compay in 1924. Impressed with the cost savings afforded by the Birney car, but recognizing that it did not meet the needs of its routes, the Boston Elevated designed a double truck, lightweight car, similar to its earlier semi-convertibles, which met its needs. Like the earlier cars, these cars, designated Type 5, featured wide entry doors, large capacity and the capability to operate with either a one or two man crew. From the Birney car it inherited lightweight design, a low floor and a high horsepower to weight ratio. Boston Elevated purchased 471 of the Type 5 cars between 1922 and 1928. After examining their experience with the first groups of Type 5s, the Elevated instituted a small design change in 1924. This was actually a response to increasing Boston traffic, more than to a fault in the original Type 5 design. Wood was eliminated from the window posts at the operator’s position and brass sash replaced the wood ones. This reduced the number of blind spots and allowed the operator a better view of cars approaching from the side. It was hoped that this could reduce accidents and improve the Elevated’s already stellar safety record.

The first group of 75 of these cars, including No. 5821, was ordered from Brill in mid 1924, and by 1928, 166 more cars had been added to the Elevated's fleet. Other than the platform windows, these cars differed little from the earlier cars, using the same control, motors seats and other features. No. 5821 operated on routes out of the Everett carhouse. The Type 5 cars provided the backbone of Boston's streetcar service until after World War II when routes were converted to bus, trackless trolleys or the newer PCC streetcars. 5821 continued in service after 1947 when the Metropolitan Transit Authority took over Boston Elevated's operation. In 1954, Seashore acquired 5821 and totally rebuilt it between 1978 and 1980, with much of the underframe and all of the side sheeting replaced. The car received a further overhaul in 2012. The only surviving "vision front" Type 5 is now a workhorse at Seashore.

The former Tower C from Boston built in 1901 which was a switching tower on the elevated rapid transit line at the intersection of Causeway and North Washington Streets in Boston near North Station. From its erection in 1901 until 1938, the tower controlled movements of "El" trains at a busy three-way intersection. Trains coming from the subway under downtown Boston passed the tower en route to Charlestown and Everett. Trains from South Station passed via Atlantic Avenue on their way to North Station, and other trains originating in Roxbury also swung past the tower when leaving Atlantic Avenue and heading for Charlestown.

A switchman stationed on the upper level of Tower C would observe the configuration of marker lights on an approaching train to determine the direction desired. He would then operate levers which operated pneumatic lines which aligned the track switches. Once aligned and the way was clear, he sounded two blasts on the tower whistle to signal the train was safe to proceed. After the Atlantic Avenue Elevated was abandoned in 1938, the tower remained, but largely without function as the remaining trains simply curved past the tower. In 1975 when the Orange Line was diverted to a new subway, the Charlestown El was slated for demolition.

The Museum obtained the tower then moved it to Maine by sea. A giant crane lifted the tower to a trailer which carried it to the middle of the nearby Charlestown bridge, from which it was lowered onto a barge. A tug brought it to Kennebunkport Harbor, where it was cut horizontally, then driven to the Museum on two trailers. Once here it was craned off and reassembled. The design and construction of the tower represents the architectural style employed throughout the Elevated lines built by the Boston Elevated Railway Company. The design was the product of architect Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, a nephew of the famed poet. All stations and service structures featured copper sheathing seen on Tower C, with the finely detailed decoration and distinctive peaked roofs. The care nd expense with these structures were built demonstrated the pride taken by turn of the century builders in this advanced form of transportation. Northampton Station from the Roxbury elevated in Boston is also at the Museum and shares the same architectural design.

Union Refrigerator Transit Company 40 foot refrigerator car 26504 built by General American in 1931 and leased to the Milwaukee Road.

Bangor and Aroostook wooden caboose C-40 built by American Car and Foundry in 1914.

Rhode Island Company 1703 built by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1905.

Long Island Railroad 4137 built by the American Car & Foundry Co in 1930. This car is one of over 900 MP54 electric-powered passenger cars that carried commuters between Long Island suburbs and New York City. The Long Island Rail Road was the first steam railroad to extensively electrify its operations. Its first electric operation was the line between Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn and Jamaica, Queens using a fleet of 134 MP41 cars. George Gibbs designed these cars which were similar to the first all steel "Gibbs" cars for the Interborough Rapid Transit, one of which - 3352 - is at Seashore. The Long Island Rail Road acquired its first, larger MP54 cars in 1908 to provide service to New York’s Pennsylvania Station, then under construction. The cars made the inaugural run into Pennsylvania Station when it opened in 1910.

The LIRR continued acquiring MP54s until the final order of 45 cars from American Car & Foundry in 1930, which included No. 4137. The MP54 designation refers to "Motor Passenger" and a passenger compartment 54 feet long. Top speed was 65 mph. The MP54 cars gave the Long Island Rail Road standardized efficiency but some thought they lacked comfort for riders. The cars were not air conditioned. While railroad coaches were rarely air conditioned in the 1930s, by the end of the MP54s service life, air conditioning was standard on most other commuter cars. The MP54s were known for their round porthole windows on the cars' ends. Beginning in 1915, the Pennsylvania Railroad, parent company of the Long Island Rail Road, acquired a fleet of almost 500 MP54s, nearly identical to the LIRR cars. However, the Pennsylvania MP54s received electric power from an overhead wire while the Long Island MP54s used an electrified third rail. Long Island and Pennsylvania Railroad MP54s were a familiar sight in cities between New York and Washington until their final operation in Philadelphia in 1981.

The Long Island Rail Road originally numbered this car 1137. The car first carried a Tuscan red paint scheme then received a light gray paint scheme about 1950. Then, when the LIRR modernized the car in 1958, it renumbered the car into the 4000 series, making this car 4137. The modernization raised the seating capacity from 72 to 89 by changing from two seats on each side of the aisle to 3-2 seating. At this time, the LIRR also applied dark gray paint on the car sides and orange paint on the car ends for improved visibility. Some newer LIRR MP54s had an arch roof, but No. 4137 has the traditional monitor roof. The last LIRR MP54s ran in 1971, replaced by M-1 "Metropolitan" cars. After the end of service, the LIRR scrapped most of its MP54s and stored a few for possible preservation. Seashore acquired No. 4137 in 1972 and the museum did some structural restoration on the car in the 1990s.

South Shore Railroad interurban car 32 built by the Standard Steel Car Company in 1929. Between 1903 and 1909, the Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend Railroad built an interurban line between South Bend, Indiana and Kensington, on the south side of Chicago. In 1925, utilities magnate Samuel Insull, acquired control of the line and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad. Insull undertook a massive rejuvenation with improved track, stations and electrical systems. Insull gained trackage rights over the Illinois Central Railroad for through service to downtown Chicago.

The upgrades also included a new fleet of heavyweight, steel cars to replace the old CLS&SB wood cars. Between 1926 and 1929, the South Shore acquired 52 steel passenger cars. 32 featured bucket seats and an enclosed smoking compartment. Between 1943 and 1951, the South Shore modernized about half of its passenger fleet by lengthening the cars, installing large, picture windows and adding air conditioning, but No. 32 did not get this treatment. The South Shore's heavyweight steel cars remained in service until replacement by new, state-financed cars in 1983. The Insull upgrades, the IC's main line access to Chicago and a thriving freight business serving heavy industry in northern Indiana helped make the South Shore the nation's only surviving electric interurban. Passenger service is now operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. Freight service is privately owned and still operates as the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad. In 1983, the National Park Service acquired 32 along with 17 other South Shore heavyweight cars for a planned shuttle from the South Shore to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Many of the other South Shore heavyweight cars went to museums or private ownership. The Park Service stored its cars inside the Abex Stanray plant in Hammond, Indiana and later in a U.S. Steel bar mill at Gary. The rail shuttle was never built. So in 1989, the Park Service offered its South Shore cars to museums. 32 came to Seashore on a ten year loan from the National Park Service. In 2010, the museum acquired ownership from the Park Service. The NPS asked to maintain an ongoing working relationship with Seashore through the joint development of interpretive media and sought to provide for the car's long-term preservation.

Union Refrigerator Transit Company 40 foot refrigerator car 26676 built by General American in 1931 and leased to the Milwaukee Road.

Boston Elevated Railway side dump car 3626 built by Differential Steel Car Company in 1927.

MBTA PCC car 3328 built by the Pullman-Standard Car Company in 1945 as Dallas Railway and Terminal Company 3328.

MBTA snow plough 5138 built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1908 and retired in 2009 when it was acquired by the Museum.

MBTA 45 seat Boston T bus 6069 built by General Motors Corporation in 1966.

Biddeford and Saco Bus Lines C-36 31 built by American Car and Foundry and J.G. Brill in 1947. The Biddeford & Saco Railroad provided streetcar service in Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard, Maine. In 1939, the B&S replaced streetcars with a fleet of five ACF buses. This fleet was inadequate and was expanded during after World War II.

MTBA Bus 8903 built by Transportation Manufacturing Corporation in 1989.

Boston T box motor with crane built by J.G. Brill in 1916 and retired in 1991.

Union Street Bus Company 702 built by General Motors Corporation in 1961.

MTBA Bus 4028 built by Flyer Industries in 1976.

MBTA D901 bus 4006 built by Flyer Industries in 1982.

Electrical truck built by Chevrolet.

Boston T truck.

Boston lift truck.

MTA Trolley coach 8361 built by Pullman in 1948.

A look out to the front of the museum.

Museum view.

Connecticut Company open air trolley 303 built by the J.G. Brill Company in 1901. The Connecticut Company was formed in 1907 by consolidating operating companies in about eight cities in various parts of the state, including Torrington, Hartford, Middletown, Meriden, New Haven, New London, Norwich and Putnam. In addition, another large operator, the Connecticut Railway and Light Company, serving Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Ansonia-Derby, New Britain and Waterbury was leased. These fourteen cities formed the basis for thirteen operating divisions, each of which maintained its own roster of cars.

On August 1, 1915 a new numbering system was introduced by the Connecticut Company which renumbered all of its cars into a single sequence. Cars from a single order assigned to various divisions were kept together numerically, with a few minor exceptions. For that reason, each of Seashore's Connecticut Company cars has had two numbers. Car 303 was originally purchased by the Winchester Avenue Railroad Company of New Haven in 1901. Ownership passed to the Consolidated Railway Company in 1904 and to the Connecticut Company in 1907. All these companies had ties or were owned by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. In the general renumbering of 1915 it became car 615.

Long after the Connecticut Company withdrew open cars, such as No. 303/615 from regular service, the company used them in New Haven to shuttle football fans between the railroad station and the Yale Bowl on game days. The open cars also continued operating on excursions to the local beaches and on charter service including fan trips. The Yale service, however, was the reason these cars were not scrapped in the 1930s or earlier when many other systems scrapped their open cars. The last Yale Bowl open cars ran in the 1947 football season, and all New Haven streetcar service ended in 1948.

The Arundel hand car shed which is the Tapleyville station from Danvers, Massachusetts.

The Burton B. Shaw South Boston car house.

Dallas Railway and Terminal Company 434 built by the American Car Company in 1914. In 1911, the firm of Stone & Webster, then operating the Dallas and other streetcar systems, assigned Charles O. Birney to design a low cost, standardized car. This design, combining attributes of both high floor deck roof cars, and the later steel lightweights, became known as the Stone & Webster Standard Car and enjoyed widespread use on the company;s rails. Since many of these systems were marginal operations, the cars were discarded as buses took over in the 1920's and 1930's. Several years after designing the Standard Car, Mr. Birney designed the single truck safety car which is known as the "Birney Car". Stone & Webster acquired control of the Dallas Consolidated Electric Street Railway in 1902. After acquiring other Dallas streetcar companies in 1917, the merged companies became the Dallas Railway Company In 1926, the name changed again to Dallas Railway & Terminal Company. The Dallas system purchased about 100 of the Standard Cars including 434. The City of Dallas was the last one to operate the Standard Cars. Except for later PCC cars, the Dallas paint scheme was green and white. Small brackets over each row of seats, held signs lettered "For White" on one side and "For Colored" on the other, since the car operated in a "Jim Crow" city. The signs could be moved to accommodate traffic as needed. In 1954, Dallas Railway & Terminal donated 434 to Seashore.

Portsmouth, Dover & York Street Railway US Mail Post Office Trolley 108 built by Laconia Car Company in 1904. The PD&Y did not give the car a number; about 1909, the Atlantic Shore Line numbered it 108. It was a railway post office car similar to those operated on the steam railroads, with additional space provided for baggage and express. As a railway post office car, postal clerks on board the car sorted and cancelled mail while picking up and dropping off mail at points along the way. The PD&Y had been carrying mail between Portsmouth, New Hampshire and York Beach, Maine since 1898, originally using a smaller car. Mail went by ferry on the Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine portion of the route.

The mail car was delivered in a red and white paint scheme, but the PD&Y subsequently painted it a dark green. The PD&Y became part of the Atlantic Shore Line system in 1906. The ASL operated a system of trolley lines in southern Maine including the route now used by Seashore's demonstration railway. This car regularly operated on the York Beach to Portsmouth RPO route. In 1918, it derailed on a trestle between Kittery and York and fell on its side in ice. This accident ended the mail contract. In 1919, 108 was repaired and converted to a line car for overhead wire maintenance. When ASL abandoned most of its operations in the 1920s, portions continued to operate as York Utilities Co. York Utilities ran a line between Sanford and Kennebunkport until 1927 and the last line between Sanford and Springvale, Maine ran until 1949.

No. 108 may have originally operated with only hand brakes. York Utilities installed air brakes and also installed larger trucks and knuckle couplers. One job for 108 was removing the wire from the line which eventually became Seashore's operating route. Seashore acquired the car in 1949 and did repainting and other restoration work on the car in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. Seashore used 108 as a line car including using it to restore overhead wire to the line where this exact car had removed it in the 1920's. Seashore did a more complete restoration in 1973-1983, converting it from a line car back to an RPO car. Later, Seashore installed a larger air compressor for the brakes. 108, along with Union Street Railway 34, ran as an active railway post office on October 8, 1983 for the streetcar postage stamp first day of issue ceremony officiated by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Postmaster General William Bolger. In the 2000's, Seashore used the car to carry pumpkins for Pumpkin Patch weekends. It is one of very few surviving trolley RPO cars. In 1980, the National Park Service placed 108 on the National Register of Historic Place along with nine of the museum's other Maine cars.

Line car of unknown origin.

Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway semi-convertible car 4387 built by Laconia Car Company in 1918. These were fast cars and popular with the riding public, warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It initially operated between Sullivan Square, Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts via Reading, Massachusetts. When Bay State Street Railway reorganized in 1919 as the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, 4387 became part of the new company. Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway operated trolley lines north and south of Boston and connected with the Boston Elevated Railway at several points. As the system contracted in the 1930's, the 4200s and 4300s were not sold off until 49 were sold to the Boston Elevated concurrent with its acquisition of the Chelsea - Revere Division lines in 1936. A few 4200s in Quincy and 10 4300s in Stoneham survived into the 1940's. Some locals called these trolleys the "yellow peril". In 1946, 4387 was the last car to run on the line between Sullivan Square Station in Charlestown to Stoneham. When Seashore acquired this car in 1946, Seashore stored the car at the Salem Street carhouse in Medford, Massachusetts until moving it to Maine the next year. Seashore restored 4387 in the 1980's and has run it regularly since. A series of cosmetic repairs is currently being completed. 4387 ran in regular service for part of the 2015 season.

Manchester & Nashua Street Railway interurban car 38 built by Laconia Car Company in 1906. The Manchester & Nashua Street Railway began operation in 1907 and acquired this car (originally 4) for service between the line's namesake cities. The car also saw service on the Manchester & Derry Street Railway. In addition, the Manchester Street Railway operated the car on its line to Goffstown, New Hampshire.

The cars on these lines were considered interurban cars as they ran between cities and were fitted with the proper running gear to provide for that type of service. These handsome cars also had a beautiful, ornate interior with comfortable plush seating typical of interurban type cars of that era. The cars of this series were lettered "RAPID TRANSIT LINE" by Laconia Car Company as part of the original livery and became known as "the Rapids" by the public. The three Manchester street railways were subsidiaries of the Manchester Traction, Light & Power Company (later Public Service Company of New Hampshire).

In 1910, 4 was re-numbered to 32. In 1924, it was converted to one-man operation along with getting other modifications. The Manchester Street Railway acquired title to the car in 1932. The Manchester Street Railway's original No. 38 was wrecked in 1935, and the company, trying to deflect bad publicity, re-numbered car 32 to 38 and claimed it had been repaired. The car operated as 38 until the company ended trolley service in 1940. The railway repainted 38 and the other Rapids cars in a red and white scheme to match the rest of the company’s equipment and eventually removed the "RAPID TRANSIT LINE" logo from many of these cars.

In 1939, Seashore started its collection with Biddeford & Saco streetcar 31. One year later, Seashore made its second acquisition with Manchester & Nashua 38. In 1962-1966, Seashore undertook a restoration, converting the car back to its original two-man configuration. Seashore has restored 38 with polished cherry woodwork and new upholstery. The museum has extensively rebuilt the trucks and many parts used in the restoration of 38 came from Manchester Street Railway 12 which had been used as a camp outside Manchester after retirement. The car received further upgrades in 1990-1992.

MTBA 3127 built by Pullman-Standard in 1944. It is part of a class of wartime PCCs with General Electric equipment which were normally based at the Watertown Carhouse. These cars replaced the "Tremonts" at Watertown late in 1945. The PCC cars continued under Metropolitan Transit Authority ownership beginning in 1947 and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ownership beginning in 1964. After 1951, the MTA had a large fleet of 321 PCCs and the MTA added 25 additional second-hand PCCs in 1958. Pullman-Standard built all of Boston's PCCs except for the first car in 1937. The Watertown-based cars remained there until 1969, when the last car line running from Watertown was converted to bus. The MBTA then reassigned the cars to the Arborway, Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue lines. When the MBTA adopted its color-coding scheme for its various transit lines in 1967, the MBTA repainted most of its PCC cars from their original orange and white to a green and white paint scheme. In 1976, the MBTA began replacing the PCC cars with LRV cars. 3127 was retired in 1982 and when the LRVs became museum pieces, eleven PCC cars continue to run in regular service on the MBTA's Ashmont – Mattapan line. After its retirement, 3127 came to Seashore in 1982.

Museum views.

Now we are going to ride the line. This whole area was once diary farms and it is amazing the Mother Nature has taken it all back. Sit back, relax and join me on a Seashore Trolley Museum ride.

This completes our ride on the Seashore Trolley Museum ride. Now it is time to explore more of this excellent time-machine museum.

Click here for Part 2 of this story