March Marks End of Era in Local Shoreline Transportation History

From Shoreline Trolley Museum: On March 8, 1947 at 12:15AM, the last passenger trolley car left Short Beach en route to New Haven. Connecticut Company Car 1902 rumbled down Main Street in East Haven on its way to New Haven and the “F Line Trolley” was no more. Trolley service in Branford ended the year before as did trolley service to Momoguin.

The following day, on March 9, approximately 7000 feet of track on a private right of way from River Street in East Haven to Clark Street in Branford was turned over to the Branford Electric Railway Association which is now known as the Shore Line Trolley Museum.

The history of trolleys in Connecticut is indeed rich. All major cities and many suburbs had trolley lines that eventually inter-connected with New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island and most were phased out in the 1930’s and early 1940’s New Haven was the last city in CT to end trolley service in 1948, ending a chapter in Connecticut’s transportation history. Trolleys had serviced East Haven for 53 years and Branford for 46 years. New Haven had a street railway history of nearly 80 years beginning with horse drawn streetcars and grew to one of the most complex trolley systems in the country with over 260 miles of track.

The Branford Electric Railway Association, founded in 1945, serves as the oldest continuously operated suburban street railway in the United States. The museum was entered into the Register of Historic Places in 1983. Museum volunteers offer tours of meticulously restored antique street railway cars and provide a multi-sensory visit with rides along approximately 1.5 miles of railway that first opened to the public on July 31, 1900. For more information on the museum or for volunteer or member opportunities, visit www.shorelinetrolley.org or call (203) 467-6927.

Image courtesy of Shoreline Trolley Museum(Last passengers leaving Short Beach Branford to New Haven, March 7, 1948 . Photo courtesy of J.H. Koella Collection)