Riding the Rails | Shore Line Trolley Museum – East Haven, CT

If you have traveled throughout New England, you may have passed East Haven, Connecticut a few times on Interstate 95. The community is centrally located along Connecticut’s 96 mile coast line, and you wouldn’t know it today, but the Connecticut Company once operated electric street cars to the cities and rural areas along Connecticut’s western coastline and central area. In the system’s heyday, it covered over 600 miles. The Connecticut Company operated its last streetcar in East Haven in March of 1947, when a group called the Branford Electric Railway Association took ownership of the 1 ½ right-of-way. The line begins at the end of River Street and takes you on a scenic trip along the coast line. The original right-of-way was double tracked, but is now a single line operation.

Today, you can take a round trip and see some of the amazing views the Connecticut coastline has to offer. On the way back, you have the opportunity to tour the yard and its collection of trolleys. Unlike most of the trolley museums in New England, the yard is located a little ways down the tracks rather than being right at the office where you buy your tickets. This means you will need to take a trolley back to the office once you’re done touring the yard or taking another trip. Your tickets are good for unlimited rides for the day.

The collection includes some of the famous open cars once used to carry football fans to the Yale Bowl. Car #1802 operated its whole life on the Hartford system.

Back in 2012, Superstorm Sandy slammed the New York and Connecticut coastline. The Shore Line Trolley Museum fell victim to the storm’s heavy rains and coastal flooding. After getting slammed by Sandy and Hurricane Irene, the museum decided to move to higher ground by relocating its yard and building new car barns. The new yard and car barns are a short walk from the museum’s current location.

Here is a video from the local FOX-TV affiliate talking about the new yard and restoration project.
Video credit to foxctphotogs’s channel

It looks as though they are making great progress with the new yard and car barns. I’m looking forward to visiting the Shore Line Trolley Museum once the project is complete. – Read more about the project!

More info about visiting The Shore Line Trolley Museum