Seashore Trolley Museum

Photo: License:

The Seashore Trolley Museum 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 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.

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.

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 (about 2 km) from scratch.