Minnesota Streetcar Museum

Minnesota Streetcar Museum
Established	2005 (Parent in 1962)
Location	Twin Cities, Minnesota
Type	Heritage Streetcar Operator
Website	http://www.trolleyride.org

The Minnesota Streetcar Museum (MSM) is a transport museum that operates two heritage streetcar lines in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the western suburb of Excelsior.

The museum was created as part of the restructuring of the Minnesota Transportation Museum in the winter of 2004–2005. The museum was founded in 1962 to restore a streetcar, Twin City Rapid Transit Company No. 1300, that had been operated by the TCRT until the last streetcar lines were abandoned in favor of buses in 1954. Over time, the museum diversified to include diesel and steam-powered trains, buses, steamboats, and associated buildings, papers, and photographs.

When the museum was restructured in the winter of 2004 and 2005, the Minnesota Streetcar Museum assumed ownership of and responsibility for operation of the two streetcar lines. The Museum of Lake Minnetonka was created to operate a restored TCRT steamboat, the Minnehaha, which was built by TCRT in 1906, one of seven boats built in a design similar to the company's home-built streetcars. The Minnesota Streetcar Museum now has five operable streetcars, three from TCRT's fleet and two from the Duluth Street Railway Company. As of 2009, a streetcar from Winona, Minnesota is currently under restoration while a Fargo (North Dakota)-Moorhead Birney streetcar and a Mesaba Railway interurban car await restoration.

Como-Harriet Streetcar Line

For a detailed article see Como-Harriet Streetcar Line

In 1971 the Minnesota Transportaion Museum, precursor to the Minnesota Streetcar Museum, began operating the Como-Harriet Streetcar Line, a heritage streetcar line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The mile-plus long line runs along the original TCRT streetcar right-of-way between Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun and is open to the public. Three restored streetcars formally used by TCRT are used and the Museum has built a replica 1900 station at the intersection of Queen Ave and 42nd Street.

Excelsior Streetcar Line

Excelsior Streetcar Line
Overview
Type	Heritage streetcar
Operation
Opened	1999
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Minimum radius	(?)
Electrification	(?)

The Excelsior Streetcar Line began operation in 1999 in west-suburban Excelsior on Lake Minnetonka using Duluth Street Railway Company No. 78, transferred from the museum's Como-Harriet Line. TCRT No. 1239 joined No. 78 in 2004. The line is operated on the former Minneapolis and Saint Louis Railway right-of-way now used by the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority as a bicycle trail. All trips feature a tour of the Excelsior Carbarn, where Winona No. 10 is being restored and Mesaba No. 10 is stored awaiting restoration.

DSR No. 78

Duluth Street Railway No. 78

Another streetcar from the Duluth Street Railway Company returned to service in 1991 after a seven-year restoration. Duluth Street Railway Company No. 78 is the oldest streetcar in the Museum, having been built by the LaClede Car Company of Saint Louis, Missouri in 1893. The car, which was retired in 1911, is one of the oldest working streetcars in the country. It is a first-generation electric car that resembles the horse-drawn streetcars that it replaced. It has been operating on the Excelsior Streetcar Line since 1999.

TCRT No. 1239

Twin City Lines No. 1239

TCRT No. 1239 was built at the 31st Street Shops in Minneapolis and has been restored to the configuration it had when it was constructed in 1907 with a private door to the motorman's cab in the front and double (later triple) stream wire gates for passenger access in the rear. This configuration required "two-man" operation, with a motorman in front who operated the streetcar, including opening and closing the gates, and a conductor at the rear who collected fares and helped with backing up when it was required.

Many TCRT streetcars were converted to one-man/two-man operation in the 1930s by adding double-stream folding front doors and replacing the rear gates with similar doors. This gave TCRT the option to operate the car with a motorman only ("one man" operation) or, on busier routes, with a conductor and a motorman ("two man" operation). Because streetcar ridership remained high on many routes until the end of service, many "gate cars" with single-stream front folding doors remained in service until the end. TCRT No. 1239 returned to service in September 2004.

See also

Other places with Twin City Rapid Transit hardware:

• Seashore Trolley Museum
• East Troy Electric Railroad Museum
• San Francisco Municipal Railway's Market Street Railway

Transit in Minnesota:

• Twin City Rapid Transit - original streetcars and bus lines in the Twin Cities
• Metro Transit (Minnesota) - current LRT and bus company in the Twin Cities

References

External links

• Minnesota Streetcar Museum

44°55′29″N 93°18′41″W / 44.92472°N 93.31139°W / 44.92472; -93.31139Coordinates: 44°55′29″N 93°18′41″W / 44.92472°N 93.31139°W / 44.92472; -93.31139