The Shore Line Trolley Museum operates an historic trolley line passing through the beautiful scenic salt marshes of Branford and East Haven, CT.
The Mission of the Shore Line Trolley Museum is to share with a diverse audience, the story of the Trolley and related forms of public transportation in their historical context.
The Shore Line Trolley Museum operates the Branford Electric Railway, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "the oldest continuously operating suburban trolley line in the United States."
THE BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOCIATION
SHORE LINE TROLLEY MUSEUM
Most visitors seem amazed at finding such an organization in existence. You will probably wonder just how this Trolley Museum came into being.
Who founded it and when? What is the museum's purpose, and how is it supported? This brief history attempts to answer these questions.
It is quite a story of hopes, failures, and small successes, but constant growth and improvement.
A story of people and their contributions great and small, and their tremendous devotion and continuing efforts which have made possible the collection of cars and all else you see. The museum had its beginning in 1945. Several electric railway enthusiasts realized that following World War II most of the nation's remaining streetcar and interurban lines would gradually disappear. They decided to find a suitable place where a variety of trolley cars could be preserved, exhibited, and operated for the enlightenment and enjoyment of the public. As a first step, several Connecticut men, under the leadership of Wadsworth G. Fyler, incorporated the Branford Electric Railway Association as a non-profit, educational institution in August, 1945.
The approaching abandonment of the Connecticut Company's suburban trolley line to Branford solved the perplexing problem of finding a home for the museum. The private right-of-way portion of this line, between the end of River Street, East Haven, and Short Beach in Branford - complete with track, trestles, and overhead wire - was turned over to the new association for scrap price, when the trolley service terminated in March, 1947. The line had been built in 1902 by the Branford Electric Railway Company, after which the Association was named.
Work on the museum project then began in earnest. The first years were ones of great activity. By 1950, the museum boasted 27 trolleys, an 8-car Quonset car barn, and yard storage tracks, and a gas electric generator to power the trolleys.
Tom Vaughan was of tremendous assistance to the museum during this period of expansion. Along with all this progress came a large debt, however, as enthusiasm for the project incurred greater expense than available funds could cover. Under threat of possible failure, interest in the museum lagged. Mr. E. J. Quinby, a pioneer electric railway historian, and founder of the Electric Railroaders Association, was alarmed by this threat, and took action to avert the possible failure of the museum. Twenty-year mortgage bonds were offered for sale, and the issue was soon sold out- mostly to museum members. The danger of foreclosure was averted. Since that crisis in 1952, the museum has progressed steadily. Operation for our visitors began in 1953, and a program of car barn construction was embarked upon. The collection of cars has now reached 100, and includes every significant type from horsecar to streamliner, including interurbans and rapid transit cars and a variety of service equipment. At the present time, 71 cars are housed and additional barns are projected. Power is now supplied by a silicon diode rectifier which converts commercial power received at 4,160 volts, 3 phase A.C. into 560 volts D.C. which is required to operate the trolleys. The track has been almost completely rebuilt with many new ties and good rail along with the replacement of both timber trestles. All the poles supporting the overhead wire have been replaced. The original car repair shop which was built in 1959, was doubled in size in 1971, and as it is heated car repairs and restoration are carried out on a year 'round basis. At any given time several streetcars are in the shop, some undergoing a lengthy restoration process and being given short term electrical or mechanical repairs. The most significant and visible improvement is the construction of the Sprague Memorial building, donated to the museum in 1960 as a memorial to Frank Julian Sprague - the perfector of the electric street railway" Father of Electric Traction", by his widow.
We the members of the Museum Association, take pride in the accomplishments resulting from many years of combined effort. Everything you see has been built or brought here by the members, except for the trolley main line tracks. We regret only that our active membership and available funds are not greater; an increase in each of these would ensure the earlier attainment of our goal of having more cars restored to operating condition and of having improved facilities for the display of the various car types. We have the continuing hope that your visit to the Museum will be the beginning of a permanent interest in the Museum. Perhaps you will wish to accept the challenge of developing a better Museum and join our members in the work of preserving a bit of the Trolley Era for the coming years.
These accomplishments have been made possible only by donations of time, labor, and money by the museum's members, and by the generosity of visitors who purchase
souvenir tickets for trolley rides and often contribute as well . We sincerely thank you in advance of any contribution or visit you you can make.
This Facebook page is dedicated to the memory of
FRANK JULIAN SPRAGUE (1857-1934). Without his pioneering work the electric street railway , the subway, and the interurban would not have developed so swiftly. Sprague was born in Milford, Connecticut, within fifteen miles of the Museum.
He developed an unusual talent in mathematics at an early age. At age sixteen he was accepted at the United States Naval Academy, graduating in the Class of 1878. He utilized spare moments during his first cruise by preparing preliminary applications for sixty electrical patents! He continued his interest in the use of electricity by developing improvements to dynamos and innovations in speed control systems for electric motors. He finally resigned his commission as a naval officer to work in the electrical laboratory of Thomas Alva Edison in Menlo Park, New Jersey. In order to devote full time to his own interests, in 1884 he formed Sprague Electric Railway & Motor Company, which was soon successful. Orders for his improved motors carne to him from all over the United States and from Europe.
It is now difficult to realize that the detailed arrangements for the practical use of an electric motor could ever have been a major problem,but in the 1880's it was. Beginning with motors mounted on the motorman's platform propelling the car by gears and chain drive, several other schemes were tried, but always with complications in keeping gears in alignment and in mesh and also in protecting motors from the jolting they received when mounted on the truck itself.
Frank Julian Sprague devised the "wheelbarrow system" of motor suspension which is simple in principle, yet very practical, and was far in advance of the ideas of the other pioneers.
A part of the motor was mounted directly on the axle, keeping the gears enmeshed, while the other end was spring mounted on the truck frame to absorb the jolting.
The principle continues in use up to the present time. In May, 1887, when twenty-nine years old, Sprague signed a contract to install a complete electric street car system in Richmond, Virginia. In ninety days he had to complete an electric generating plant; twelve miles of track, come up steep grades; forty cars with their motors and all other accessory equipment. The system was built despite several small failures which were corrected. Even the skeptical had to admit that the electric streetcar was a wholly practical mode of transportation. The line opened for regular service on February 2, 1888.
By that summer all forty cars were running dependably and profitably. Following his success in Richmond, Sprague went on the electrify the much larger West End Street Railway in Boston. In 1892 he developed a one thousand horsepower electric locomotive. The following year he began building the first modem electric elevator, along basic principles still used for vertical transportation in skyscrapers. In 1895 Sprague devised the multiple-unit
control system for electric railway cars, in which several motor cars can be controlled from the lead car. This system was first applied on the Chicago "el" and is used today in subway and suburban electric trains the world over. In 1902 he invented the "deadman's" button, used on electric controller handles to stop a car or train in the event that the motorman becomes disabled. During the World War I he assisted in developing depth charges and armor -piercings shells.
Sprague lived to see and ride the first experimental new street car resulting from the transit companies' President Conference Committee's efforts to produce a radically new street railway vehicle. He died at the age of seventy-seven, still working on new inventions and laden with medals, degrees and honors.
Our Station Building, named "Sprague" Station is a living memorial to Frank Julian Sprague as well as a reminder of his contributions to the electric railway industry.
