Preservation
According to their web site, the museum's mission is "to communicate the story of Pennsylvania's Trolley Era to a diverse audience through the preservation, interpretation, and use of its collection of electric railway and railroad equipment." To that end, the museum includes a collection of 45 refurbished trolleys. The museum owns a New Orleans streetcar, Perley A. Thomas car #832, formerly used on various lines in New Orleans including the Desire line which is mentioned in the film A Streetcar Named Desire based on the play by Tennessee Williams, although it is not the streetcar actually in the film (#922, still in service in New Orleans). Much of the museum's collection is housed in a $2 million "Trolley Display Building" which opened May 6, 2005. Visitors can take a short ride on a restored functioning trolley. A special ride during the Christmas season includes a visit from Santa Claus. In September 2004, the area surrounding the museum flooded in the wake of Hurricane Ivan. The floodwaters caused substantial damage to the museum which has since been repaired.
The line was extended north along the track bed of the old Arden Mines Railroad Branch between 1979 and 1995, adding 1 mile (1.6 km) to the track and allowing stations to be opened at the Arden Mines loop and the passing loop at the County Fairground.
The shelter at car house #1 came from the Richfol Stop, one stop north of Canonsburg on the Pittsburgh Railways Interurban line from Pittsburgh to Washington.
Read more about this topic: Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
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