Seashore Trolley Museum - Exhibits and Features

Exhibits and Features

The main building at the museum, the Visitor's Center, combines a ticket booth, a store, a snack bar, and an exhibit room with trolley and transit-related artifacts.

The trolleys that have been restored to operating condition are shown on display in three carbarns. There is a restoration shop with an elevated observation gallery so visitors can see how the vehicles are maintained and restored. Storage barns and tracks not accessible to the public contain vehicles that are awaiting restoration. A few of the restored trolleys are operating on the demonstration line at one time.

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. Seashore owns the right of way to Biddeford which is about 5 mi (8.0 km) from the Visitor's Center. On the demonstration route, they take you the mile and a half to Talbot Park (which is a loop to turn around the trolleys) and come back to the Visitor's Center.

The Collection of National Streetcars is what the museum is known for, but they also have international cars from Budapest, Berlin, London, Nagasaki, Sydney, Blackpool, and more.

The collection of trolley buses includes 17 vehicles (plus one passenger trailer), of which about seven or eight are currently in operating condition. Work is under way to extend the trolley bus line.

The museum is seeking to raise funds to build a new car house and library. The museum is also proposing to extend the trolley demonstration line to Route 1 in Biddeford.