Director

The Shore Line Trolley Museum has been an important part of the community since its incorporation in 1945 as the Branford Electric Railway Association. It was founded to preserve the unique heritage of the trolley car and today boasts a collection of nearly 100 vintage vehicles as well as artifacts and documents from the trolley era.

The Shore Line Trolley Museum operates a portion of the old “F” trolley route of the Connecticut Company, which provided service from downtown New Haven, through East Haven and into Branford. From 1907 until 1937, the line was extended through Pine Orchard to Stony Creek. Passenger service on the line began July 31, 1900, and was discontinued on March 8, 1947. The museum immediately assumed operation of the line, making this the oldest continuously operating suburban trolley line in the United States. This distinction led to the recognition of the museum’s line and collection on the National Register of Historic Places.

Museum Entrance

A visit to the Museum is a multi-sensory voyage into the past, from the moanful growl of the motors, to the smell of the electric arc, to the feel of rattan seats and varnished hardwood detailing. Shore Line Trolley Museum and its collections are included on the National Register of Historic Places as the Branford Electric Railway Historic District.

Shore Line Trolley Museum was incorporated in 1945 as the Branford Electric Railway Association, operating on a portion of the old “F” trolley route of the Connecticut Company, which previously provided service from downtown New Haven, through East Haven and into Branford. The main purpose of this museum is to preserve the history and significance of the trolley car. We own more than 100 vehicles, ranging in ages from the late 1800s to the early 1900s in addition to related artifacts and documents.

For nearly five decades, the trolley provided clean, fast, affordable, reliable public transportation. One would take the trolley to shop for groceries, go to work or school, or go out on the town for the evening. The trolley created the suburbs, making it possible to live far away from urban centers of employment and yet commute easily and affordably.

The trolley line was constructed by the Branford Light and Water Company and was backed mostly by local interests. The coming of the trolley in 1900 to the sleepy town of Branford changed life there forever and heralded Branford’s entrance into the modern era. It was an extension of a trolley line that had come six years earlier to the neighboring town of East Haven.

Start of Trolley Line

It was a Sunday in 2001, but Peter Rinaldi, a senior engineering manager with the Port Authority of New York &amp; New Jersey was working another long, grueling day at “ground zero,” coordinating the logistics of the recovery operation. He opened an intact emergency exit hatchway on West Street near Vesey Street and entered, along with several other engineers, police and fire personnel, the north tube of the PATH system’s loop through the World Trade Center site. They had no idea what to expect. The tunnel was flooded so small rafts were employed. Paddling through a remarkably intact section of the tunnel and following the submerged trackway as it curved right, they found themselves at the north end of the 5-track PATH WTC station. There Peter climbed onto the platform and walked through the doors of car 745, still open and waiting for the passengers that never came back on 9/11. He stepped aboard the car and into the operating cab and at that moment became determined that, somehow, this car must be saved.

Car 745 was the lead car (on the north end) of a 7-car train which had left Hoboken at 8:42 AM, arrived on Track 3 at about 8:52, and was due to depart the loop station at 9:00 AM for the return trip to New Jersey. Behind it were cars 143-160-845-750-139-612. When the unthinkable happened, the entire PATH station was ordered evacuated, employees included. As a result, there was no loss of life on the train or in the station.

Path Car Exhibit

A visit to the Museum is a multi-sensory voyage into the past, from the moanful growl of the motors, to the smell of the electric arc, to the feel of rattan seats and varnished hardwood detailing. The Shore Line Trolley Museum operates the Branford Electric Railway, which together with the collection of cars is a nationally recognized Historic District. The railway is the oldest continuously operating suburban trolley line in the United States.

The Shore Line Trolley Museum’s vehicle collection is diverse both in terms of geographic reach and chronological spread.  Included in the collection are some of America’s oldest single-truck cars, many examples of wooden and steel streetcars from the Golden Era of street railways, and several modern and representatives from the high-speed and streamlined era.  Rapid Transit (Elevated and Subway), Interurban and Work Cars round out the collection.

Trolley Yard

The Shore Line Trolley Museum’s vehicle collection is diverse both in terms of geographic reach and chronological spread. Included in the collection are some of America’s oldest single-truck cars, many examples of wooden and steel streetcars from the Golden Era of street railways, and several modern and representatives from the high-speed and streamlined era.

Housed in these barns are a multitude of examples of transportation that helped shape this nation into what it is today. The trolley car, as a whole, is a cornerstone of the suburbanization of America and one of the main reasons these pockets of suburban towns popped up all over the country during the 1940s and 1950s. These pieces of transportation also transformed cities into what they are today, giving a way for people to navigate the concrete jungles of the country safely, effectively, and cheaply; while also traversing the high-rises and skyscrapers to carve out the streets we use today. Along with all the history associated with each car, we can also see examples of time and location appropriate advertisements throughout every piece in the collection. This, along with the travels down Branfords old “F” line, give every visitor to the museum the truest and most authentic experience possible.

Barn 3

Housed in these barns are a multitude of examples of transportation that helped shape this nation into what it is today. The trolley car, as a whole, is a cornerstone of the suburbanization of America and one of the main reasons these pockets of suburban towns popped up all over the country during the 1940s and 1950s. These pieces of transportation also transformed cities into what they are today, giving a way for people to navigate the concrete jungles of the country safely, effectively, and cheaply; while also traversing the high-rises and skyscrapers to carve out the streets we use today. Along with all the history associated with each car, we can also see examples of time and location appropriate advertisements throughout every piece in the collection. This, along with the travels down Branfords old “F” line, give every visitor to the museum the truest and most authentic experience possible.


Barn 1

The museum is currently undertaking efforts to restore this pond and surrounding acreage. Using native species of plants, the goal is to restore wetlands, create a pollinator habitat, and a visitor destination.

The museum has recently acquired this overlooked, and overgrown parcel of property. Freshly cleared and cleaned this pond has been given a facelift to show all its natural beauty; hosting a multitude of wildlife native to the Connecticut area.



Inbound Stop

The Farm River has been used for navigation by a fertilizer factory, stone quarry, paper mill, saloon, salt hay harvesters, fisherman and boating enthusiasts for centuries. During colonial times, the northern sections of this river was home to a swine farm, Beacon Hill, the peak of the wooded area directly behind you, was used as a lighthouse as well as a quarry. Barges filled with the trap rock harvested from the quarry behind navigated these waters downstream to the Long Island Sound.

As we move further down the track, we can get an amazing look into the Farm River Estuary, an enormously complex productive, and fragile estuarine ecosystem with wooded uplands, high-quality freshwater, and brackish tidal marshes. These picturesque floodplains, coves, and inlets provide a critical natural habitat for an immense variety of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds (like the osprey nests you can see erected throughout), fish, shellfish and mammals that rely on it for food, water, and shelter, especially during migration and breeding.


Farm River Estuary With a Look Into the Salt Marsh

During the active period of the crushing plant, you could expect to see a small steam-powered car traversing the track through the woods carrying massive chunks of rock on their way to get processed. This trestle has been rebuilt several times throughout the years due to natural erosion and general wear and tear but has maintained the same purpose all throughout, to safely carry the trolley cars and all of its occupants over the narrow gap in the tracks.

This Trestle, along with the one you will see later in this tour, was erected around 1900. This one, in particular, was created to maintain the previously existing track in place to carry the quarry rock from where it was harvested, to the old crushing plant, where it was crushed and broken down into smaller manageable pieces to be used in a multitude of different applications.

Quarry Trestle

Local folklore states that in 1919, a group of kids rallied together to burn down this plant. The reason this happened you might ask. Because that was the year Branford did not put on a fireworks display for the town.

Just under the trestle and a short walk through the woods, we can find the remains of the old crushing plant, in use from the late 1700s to the early 1900s this plant was used to crush the rock harvested from the quarry behind it into more manageable pieces. The rock was then used in various forms of construction, one of the most notable places being Liberty Island, the home of the Statue of Liberty. This site is a mere shell of its former glory, in its heyday, the tops of the building reached as tall as the trees on the sight now with multiple barges being filled to the brim with traprock along their journeys through Farm River to where ever the rock was being used to build.


The Old Crushing Plant

This area has also had a multitude of uses throughout the years, being a dumping ground for all trolleys during the time of these being an active line as well as a storage area for the trolley museum for a number of years. Moving a little further down the track and looking over the water to the right side we can get a peek at one of the exterior walls of the old crushing plant, as said earlier, this is a mere shell of what it once was, in its peak, this wall reached as high as some of the trees on the grounds now. If we look a bit further down the waterway, we can also see some pieces of wood jutting out of the river, these are the remnants of the old dam used during the active period of the crushing plant. What this dam’s purpose was, was to raise the water level in that area of the quarry just enough for the barges needing to get filled to be able to enter and exit without bottoming out.

Here we can see another outcrop of the Farm River, the same waterway we took a closer look at earlier in this tour.  This time we are greeted with a wide-open quarry and salt marshes, as well as a spectacular view of one of the prominent birds you can see through this watercourse, the Osprey.  Along the channel, you can see multiple perching points that have been set up to give these birds a place to nest and raise their young.


Open Quarry with Osprey Nests

One of the main draws to this trestle is the sheer beauty and history attached to it, nowhere else in the world can you have a look at cars, sometimes over 100 years old, galloping along a river that has served a huge purpose throughout the years in helping build this leg of the country.

Built as part of the track, a necessary addition given the throughway the line followed, this bridge has held through the years to safely and efficiently bring passengers through the line starting in the early 1900s. It, along with the other trestle featured, has had several renovations over the years due to natural wear and tear, but its purpose has remained the same.


Farm River Trestle

This line was originally constructed in 1901 to connect Branford center and Short Beach with the East Haven Green, the eastern-most point of the New Haven streetcar system. Initially a two-rail line of track, the line has been continuously running for over 100 years with its original intention staying largely the same. The parcels of woods and saltmarsh provide a true representation of the view riders would be greeted with during the active period of this railway, largely unchanged by man they provide the museum patron with a historically accurate picture of what they would expect riding this railway in the early 1900s.

Sadly, we have come to the end of the trolley line, what you can see here is an example of a typical trolley stop you would see all throughout the Greater New Haven Area back in the golden age of streetcar. Here you would wait for the trolley to arrive, being able to see the schedule posted somewhere in the stop, from there you would board, pay your fare, and ride the line till you reached your destination.


The Shore Line Trolley Museum

Museum Entrance

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources