Old childhood haunts: The Trolley Museum
Feb. 27th, 2006 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalDragged Tom over to the National Capitol Trolley Museum (linky: http://www.dctrolley.org/) along with Uncle Steve. A good time was had by all, though I figured Tom would anyway, given his fascination with trains.
We rode on a trolley that the museum had gotten from Toronto, Canada back when the city had upgraded their cars. It was basically the same design as you'd have seen in any American city from around the 1930's to the 50's. When suprised me was how roomy the trolley was. It only had three rows of seats, two to the left and one on the right, with an aisle wide enough to accomidate another without any difficulty. Given that, I have to wonder about the old conspiracy theory about the Big Three automakers buying up all the trolley lines across the country. Frankly, compared to a modern Metrobus, I think the trolley could only handle half the number of passengers, and it's inherently limited as to where it can go by it's track and electrical lines. I don't know about maintenence and fuel costs, but I fear in the end buses had the edge in flexibility and passenger capacity. (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong trolleypup)
Anyway, the museum is small, but nice. It sits on land owned by the Maryland State Parks Commission, but is a private, all volunteer outfit that maintains the buildings, right of way, and the trolleys themselves. I was glad to see things were in fill swing, with the troley giving nearly a dozen rides that day. They seem to have recovered from the horrible fire that took out half their rolling stock a couple of years ago (old storage barn caught fire), and are busy getting ready to add about another 1/2 mile of track to the 1 1/2 miles they have already. If I have a beef with the rides, it's that the view from the tracks isn't very scenic (mostly scrub trees), but given it's an all-volunteer show I've no right to complain.
Given all the distractions in the world these days, it's nice to see a group of people still willing to get to gether and support the hobby they love, especialy when it involves large pieces of hardward that most people have no recollection of these days unless they think of San Francisco.
We rode on a trolley that the museum had gotten from Toronto, Canada back when the city had upgraded their cars. It was basically the same design as you'd have seen in any American city from around the 1930's to the 50's. When suprised me was how roomy the trolley was. It only had three rows of seats, two to the left and one on the right, with an aisle wide enough to accomidate another without any difficulty. Given that, I have to wonder about the old conspiracy theory about the Big Three automakers buying up all the trolley lines across the country. Frankly, compared to a modern Metrobus, I think the trolley could only handle half the number of passengers, and it's inherently limited as to where it can go by it's track and electrical lines. I don't know about maintenence and fuel costs, but I fear in the end buses had the edge in flexibility and passenger capacity. (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong trolleypup)
Anyway, the museum is small, but nice. It sits on land owned by the Maryland State Parks Commission, but is a private, all volunteer outfit that maintains the buildings, right of way, and the trolleys themselves. I was glad to see things were in fill swing, with the troley giving nearly a dozen rides that day. They seem to have recovered from the horrible fire that took out half their rolling stock a couple of years ago (old storage barn caught fire), and are busy getting ready to add about another 1/2 mile of track to the 1 1/2 miles they have already. If I have a beef with the rides, it's that the view from the tracks isn't very scenic (mostly scrub trees), but given it's an all-volunteer show I've no right to complain.
Given all the distractions in the world these days, it's nice to see a group of people still willing to get to gether and support the hobby they love, especialy when it involves large pieces of hardward that most people have no recollection of these days unless they think of San Francisco.
