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Light Rail Transit Association
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Links > Museum Sites: updated 20 September 2014 |
LRTA Links: Museum Sites
Sites for tram, transit, and similar museums around the globe as well as other musuems, such as railway museums, that include trams or metro cars within their collections. Includes both static and operating museums as well as "heritage operations" using restored or replica equipment (if not part of a larger system). Also includes research organizations devoted to tram, transit, and railway history.
Organized by country and then name.
Argentina
- Asociación Amigos del Tranvía - Official website of the Tramway Friends Association of Buenos Aires. History of its former tram system plus photographs, data and maps of the "Tramway Histórico" which the group operates at the end of metro line "A". Text is in Spanish.
- Asociación Amigos del Tranvía de Córdoba - The official website of the Córdoba enthusiast group presents photos, a map and detailed history of the former tram system. In Spanish.
Australia
- Brisbane Tramway Museum - Site of the Society dedicated to the preservation of the memory of Brisbane's tram and trolley bus networks where trams operated from 1885 (initially with horse trams until electric trams were introduced in 1897) and trolley buses operated from 1951 until both systems were closed in 1969.
The Museum, located at Ferny Grove, has 25 trams, 2 trolley-buses, and other ancillary support vehicles in its collection. The website provides visitor information (operating hours and location details), descriptions and photos of Brisbane trams (both at the museum and when they were in service) plus histories of both the tram system and the museum itself.
- Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Association - Small site describing the association (founded in 1984 but tracing its origins back another 10 years to 1974) and their operating workshop southwest of Ballarat near the township of Haddon. The site has a brief overview of the association, its history, and the six Melbourne trams in their collecton (with photos), plus membership information.
- Perth Electric Tramway Society - Operators of Western Australia's Heritage Tramway, PETS is dedicated to the preservation, restoration and operation of Western Australia's electric trams trams which ran in Perth (1899-1958), Kalgoorlie (1902-1952), Fremantle (1905-1952), and Leonora (1908-1921) as well as the trolley buses which ran in Perth (1933-1969). The site features illustrated histories (with rosters) of each of these systems plus details about PETS itself (include illustrated history and membership information), an overview of the tramcar restoration process, a brief roster of the 21 cars and 3 trolley busses in the collection (from the aforementioned systems as well as other Australian cities) plus details on visiting the tramway at Whiteman Park northeast of Perth.
- Ride a Tram in Sydney at the Sydney Tramway Museum - Official site for the group which has, since 1950, worked to provide a nostalgic and educational insight into the lifestyle of Sydneysiders during the 100 year period of tramway operation from 1861 to 1961. Visitor information covers operating hours and fees, special events, how to reach the musuem's location in suburban Loftus (adjacent to the railway station), plus contact details and membership opportunities. There's also an overview of the activities at the display hall (housing Australia's oldest electric tram) and recreated Railway Square waiting shed, brief summary of the collection (which includes trams from across Australia as well as the US, Japan, and Germany), plus details on their tramline routes north toward Sutherland and south on the former railway line 2km into the Royal National Park.
- Tramway Museum, St Kilda, South Australia - Site for the museum operated by the Australian Electric Transport Museum association. The goal of the Tramway Museum is to preserve the electric public transport history of Adelaide and this is achieved, in part, by operating of each type of tram used on the Adelaide system over a 2km line from the museum site north of Adelaide to St Kilda Beach. The site provides background information, visitor details (hours, princes, directions, map) charter information, and photo gallery with more to come.
- See Also:
Austria
- Tiroler MuseumsBahnen - The TMB is dedicated to preserving the history of tram and light rail lines in the Tyrol through their Localbahnmusumn in Innsbruck. The website documents their collection of over two dozen trams from in and around Innsbruck as well the brief histories of the four systems which they served (with more details in their Vehicle Guide publication). Choice of English, French, German, Italian and Japanese.
Belgium
- MTUB - MSVB - TRAm site provided by Musée du Transport Urbain Bruxellois (MTUB) - Museum voor het Stedelijk Vervoer te Brussel (MSVB) for the operating museum at Depot de Woluwe/Woluwe Remise on tram lines 39 and 44 east of the city centre with basic visitor information (hours, prices, directions) and museum tram schedule. In French, Dutch or English.
- Vicinal Tramway - Museum of Thuin - Association pour la Sauvegarde du Vincinal (ASVi). Home page with links to separate sets of pages in French, Dutch and English.
- Trammuseum - SNCV/NMVB Belgium About trammuseum.net (including trammuseum.wordpress.com), it is an independent website that originally dealt with the SNCV Schepdaal Trammuseum. Due to a complaint from ‘Stichting Vlaams Erfgoed’ the Schepdaal content was removed. This site now has completely new content: photos of the SNCV from around all Belgium!
Canada
- Canadian Transit Heritage Foundation - An interesting site explaining the structure and activities of this organization.
- Edmonton Radial Railway Society - Formed in 1979, the ERRS operates the heritage tram at the city's Fort Edmontom park as well as spectacular (and historic) High Level Bridge line (with a nice, illustrated historical overview online). Website has the full roster details and history for each of the over twenty cars in the collection. And if you like numbers, check the Statistics Corner for yearly passenger and mileage counts since museum operations began.
- Halton County Radial Railway - Site for the Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association's museum that operates on a portion of the former Toronto Suburban Railway in Rockwood (Milton). Everything you need to know about visiting (directions, schedule, prices, special events) plus recent pictures and highlights from their Radial Report newsletter. There's also a complete roster of the musuem's almost 50 trams, transit cars, engines, work cars, trolleybusses, and more (mostly from Toronto and the surrounding area) with illustrated details for some cars.
- Transit Museum Society - Founded in Vancouver in 1986, the goal of the society is to restore, preserve and operate historical vehicles significant to the history of public transit in British Columbia. The site covers the groups activities, its historic bus and trolleybus fleet, and its contributions to the Downtown Historic Railway (DHR) on the Vancouver waterfront (with map and a gallery of opening day photos).
- See Also:
Denmark
- Sporvejsmuseet - The Skjoldenæsholm Tram Museum in Jystrup (between Ringsted and Roskilde) opened in 1978 and features trams from Copenhagen, Odense and Århus (plus a few foreign ones) running on two tramlines which you can ride to near the highest spot of Zealand - Gyldenløves Høj (reached by a short walk). The site has complete details to plan your visit (fares, hours, and special event schedule plus vicinity map and directions), to rent a tram for your visit, or even to rent the entire museum for your special event. There's also a short visual tour plus interactive maps of where the trams ran in Copenhagen, Odense and Århus as well as a special section covering the repatriation of two former Copenhagen Duwag cars from Alexandria, Egypt in June 2001.
The Danish side of the site also has information (membership, publications, activities) about the Sporveishistorisk Selskab (Tramway Historical Society) which runs the museum and publishs BKtrafik.
In Danish (includes Society information), English, or German.
France
Germany
- Hannoversche Straßenbahn-Museum - Situated in a former potash mine southeast of the city, the Hannover Tramway Museum exhibits and operates selected trams from its collection (of over 60 trams) from cities all over Germany. The site provides an illustrated overview of the collection (with more details in their printed guidebook), museum event schedule, and details on how to visit the museum (or "rent" it for a special event). In German with English summary.
- Stuttgarter Historische Straßenbahnen - Stuttgarter Historischen Straáenbahnen e.v.'s site with details about both the society (which started in 1987) and their Strassenbahn Museum Zuffenhausen (operated in conjunction with Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG - SSB). In German.
- See Also:
- System Sites - Germany - München (Munich) - FMTM/GTG
Netherlands
- Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam - Official site for the Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam (EMA) and Rijdend Electrisch Tram Museum (RETM) which operate the regularly scheduled heritage tramway service along the former railway line from Haarlemmermeerstation south through the Amsterdam Wood to Bovenkerk. In Dutch and English.
- Haags Openbaar Vervoer Museum - Site for The Hague Public Transport Museum (HOVM) which operates out of the historic Remise Frans Halsstraat tram depot which dates back to 1906. In Dutch
New Zealand
- Museum of Transport, Technology - Official site for MOTAT, "the largest and leading Museum of transport, technology and social history in New Zealand", with collections devoted to road transport, early Auckland, primary industries, medical and dental, aviation, telecommunications, military, rail, and, of course, its working tramway
- Tramway Historical Society - Tracing its origins to 1960 and the preservation of some of Christchurch's early trams, the Society became one of the founding organizations behind the Ferrymead Historic Park where its collection of trams, trolley busses, and busses operates today. It also supplied the city with the heritage trams for the Christchurch Heritage Tramway.
- Ferrymead Historic Park - Official site for the park near Christchurch created in 1964 on the site of New Zealand's first public railroad station to recreate a historical environment through the efforts of nineteen historical societies (including the Tramway Historical Society) that covers everything from aviation, to printing, theatre, radio, and even railways and tramways. Site has details on visiting (prices, hours, directions) plus news, events, and overviews of the park's history and educational programs.
- Wellington Cable Car Museum - The museum lies at the upper terminus of the Wellington Cable Car where it preserves the retired cable car and winding gear that were removed when the present equipment was put into service in 1979.
- Wellington Tramway Museum - Founded in 1964, the museum's Kapiti Coast Electric Tramway in Paekakariki north of Wellington extends for about 2 kms though Queen Elizabeth Park from the gates at MacKay's Crossing to Whareroa Beach.
- See Also:
Portugal
- Museu do Carro Eléctrico - Site for the Porto museum established in 1992 to preserve the city's tramway heritage. In Portuguese
Spain
- Tramvies de Gratallops - Small site of the ambitious Gratallops Tramways group which has built their own small 40's style tram and 10 meters of track (in a wine cellar!) in the tiny town of Gratallops in the southern part of Catalonia. The site outlines how to visit and see their efforts to date as well as how they are creating a small museum about the tramways of Barcelona and the Tarragonna region. There is also information about their bimonthly Gratallopstram magazine. In Catalan and English.
Sweden
- Swetramway - "The tramway site for all of Sweden" operated by Svenska Spårvägssällskapet (Swedish Tramway Society) with sections about the Society itself as well as their museum opeations: the Djurgårdslinjen tram line in central Stockholm. In Swedish
Switzerland
- Association Genevoise du Musée des Tramways - Site of the local preservation group which operates a number of old trams in Genève. There's information about the groups activities, its collection of trams, its restoration efforts, its publications, and its extensive archives of more than 5000 documents. There's also a good links page relating mainly to light rail in Switzerland. In French.
- Tram-Museum Zürich - Details of the Museum, its exhibits, and Zürich trams. In German, French, Italian and English.
- See Also:
United Kingdom
- Beamish: The North of England Open Air Museum - Official site for the award winning cultural museum (and its integral tramway) near both Durham and Newcastle. Besides complete visitor information (map and directions, operating schedule, admission fees, discounts, visitor facilities, and even nearby accommodations) and special events calendar, the site has illustrated overviews of each of the museum's six major theme areas (including the 1825 railway and 1913 railway station) plus the tram system that connects everything together. There's also information on both group and educational visits as well.
- Black Country Living Museum - Official site for the museum near Dudley Castle outside Birmingham which is dedicated to interpreation of the area's industrial heritage. Part of the experience are the trams and trolleybusses used to transport visitors to the village area and, as part of the descriptions of the different parts of the museum, the site has background on the restored Dudley Tram (in service) plus other trams and trolleybusses in the collection. The site's events calendar also has special transport-related happenings through the year.
- East Anglia Transport Museum - Official site for "Great Britain's most easterly working transport museum" in Carlton Colville near Lowesoft, Suffolk. Besides information about planning a visit (map, operating schedule, events calendar, admission prices), there's a overview of their collection (5 trams, 14 trolleybuses, and more than 25 other transport vehicles primarily from the eastern counties), a museum site guide (including a brief history, map, and description of the Woodland Tramway), a section on their 2ft gauge East Suffolk Light Railway, plus news features, contact information, and membership details.
- Heaton Park Tramway - Site provided by the Manchester Transport Museum Society (MTMS) covering the tramway it operates on a former line of the Manchester Corporation Tramway (which served Heaton Park until 1934). The Society, in cooperation with the Manchester City Council, reopened the line in 1979. It has since been extended three times and is now approximately 1km in length. The site provides an illustrated history of the line, details of trams in the Society's fleet, period photo galleries of trams and trolly buses around Manchester, information about the Society itself, details on their publications, plus directions (with map) on how to reach the tramway (a delightful walk through the park from the Heaton Park Metrolink station).
- Institute of Railway Studies - Joint site by the National Railway Museum and the University of York. Deals with the study of the history of railways and other transport modes.
- Ipswich Transport Museum - Devoted to preserving and interpreting all aspects of transportation in and around Ipswich, the museum's site has visitor information (operating dates, prices, special event, vicinity map and directions), museum news, and information about joining the Friends of the museum. There's also an extensive history of tranport in Ipswich (from the horse trams of the 1880s through the electric tram and trolley bus eras and up to the present day) plus complete details (including photos) of the more than 85 diverse vehicles (include one Ipswich tram and 6 trolley busses) in the collection.
- Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Tramway Society - Dedicated to promoting the awareness of seaside and pleasure tramways in the UK, the society is working toward recreation of an LI&CBER tram as "Tram 7" (which would have been the next number assigned). The site documents this recreation/restoration effort along with other activities of the Society. There's also a brief history Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Electric Railway which operated between the two North Wales seaside towns until 1956.
- London's Transport Museum - "Uncover the story of two hundred years of London and its public transport, the oldest in the world." Includes information on special exhibitions and "on-line" exhibitions as well.
- Museum of Transport, Manchester - While the museum's collection is primarily composed of more than 80 historic buses, it also includes the two extremes from 100 year's of the city's transport history: a Manchester horsebus from 1890 and the prototype Metrolink lightrail car from 1990! The website includes full details on visiting the museum, the vehicle collection roster, information about the 80,000 item archive, plus an event schedule, news, virtual tour and online shop
- National Tramway Museum - What you need to know about visiting the museum operated by the Tramway Museum Society in Crich. Plenty of information on the operating schedule and how to get there as well as sections on special events, educational opportunities, family activities and more (but little about the collection itself). Website allows you to search some of the library databases as well as their extensive (mostly historical) photo collection from which you can order prints.
- Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life - Page from North Lanarkshire Council web site about this museum formerly known as Summerlee Heritage Park. The Summerlee Transport Group (STG) was formed in 1988, in order to support the maintenance and operation of the tramway.
- See Also:
United States
- Baltimore Streetcar Museum - Preserving Baltimore, Maryland's public transportation history, the museum operates more than a dozen cars (mostly from Baltimore) dating to as early as 1880. Site has a nice, illustrated history of the cars in service. Special Streetcar Memories section has personal stories.
- Electric City Trolley Museum Association - Official site for non-profit group with support the activities of the Electric City Trolley Museum (created by the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority and managed by Lackawanna County) in Scranton, PA, at the Steamtown National Historic Site. Besides basic visitor information (operating schedule, excursion times, driving directions), there's an overview of museum building (a restored 19th century mill building ) and exhibits plus the excursion line along the path of Laurel Line interurban and through the Crown Avenue Tunnel which, at 4747 feet long, was one of the longest interurban tunnels ever built (with photos). The site also details their roster of more than 36 passenger and work cars (not all on display), the Charles J. Van Depoele Library and Archives, plus upcoming special events (such as the trolley modeling meet typically held in October). Finally, there's a photo gallery, memberhip information, and museum store catalog.
- Northern Ohio Railway Museum - NORM has over 30 cars at its base on a former interurban alignment near Chippewa Lake, Ohio. This site is essential viewing for all tram restoration enthusiasts.
- Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society - Three sites in one! First, there's the site covering the society itself with membership information, illustrated news updates, some history, and featuring the Pacific Northwest Traction History pages (covering Portland, Salem, Albany, Boise, plus the Oregon Electric and the Red Electric). Then there's the site for the society's Oregon Electric Railway Museum in Brooks (north of Salem) which details the more than 20 vehicle collection (of trams, trolleybusses, freight motors, work equipment, and now a light rail car from San Francisco) plus ongoing construction activity at the new site. And finally, there's the site for the society's Willamette Shore Trolley in Lake Oswego (near Portland) which maps out the route, details highlights of the trip, and throws in a little history as well.
- San Francisco Cable Car Museum - Situated in the system's carbarn and powerhouse (and naturally accessible by cable car), the museum provides both a historical perspective and an insight into the daily operation of the more than 140 year old system. The site includes a virtual tour of the museum, a historical timeline, selected historical articles, and an illustrated overview of the eight original cable car companies in the city.
- Seashore Trolley Museum - Near Kennebunkport, Maine, spread over 300 acres, and with a collection of more than 250 vehicles (mostly trams and other transit cars), the museum traces its origin back to 1939 and is billed as the oldest and largest electric railway museum in the world. Roster and technical summary, as well as selected photos, available on the website together with everything you need to know about visiting the museum.
- Shore Line Trolley Museum - Operated by the Branford Electric Railway Association, the museum in East Haven, Connecticut, bills it itself as the oldest operating trolley museum in the US and operates over the original tracks of a scenic country trolley line. The site has everything you need to know about visiting plus a roster of museum's 70 passenger vehicles and 28 work cars. There are also news reports, articles about the museum, and a nice history of the Branford Electric Railway.
There is also Shore Line Trolley Museum Membership web site which contains information primarily of interest to museum members, supporters and rail enthusiasts.
- Western Railway Museum - Operated by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association, the Western Railway Museum is located at Rio Vista Junction, California (about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco). It owns 22 miles of track and right-of-way of the Sacramento Northern Railroad, one of America's longest interurban lines, and currently has five miles of line re-electified and back in passenger service. The site provides a roster of the more than two dozen cars in the collection (mostly from the western US but including one Blackpool boat tram) as well as brief histories of the Association, the Museum, and the Sacramento Northern. There's also information on membership, special events, their growing Archives department, as well as everything you need to visit (map, hours, fares, as well as charters) and a small photo gallery.
- See Also:
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