Boston Street Railway Association

The Boston Street Railway Association was founded in 1959 by ten railfans — nine of them in their twenties, plus one teenager — who that same year paid a junkyard $500 for Type 5 streetcar No. 5706, one of only four such cars remaining, with an eye toward future charter trips. In the decades since, the nonprofit has become best known for its publishing: the bimonthly transit news magazine Rollsign, now printed largely in full color, and a long-running series of 'Bulletins' that range from booklets to hardcover books on transit history in Boston and other New England cities such as Providence, Newport, and Fitchburg. Monthly membership meetings were held for many years at the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts at Tremont and Boylston streets and have since moved to the Midtown Hotel on Huntington Avenue. The group also charters occasional fan trips on the MBTA and organizes visits to trolley museums, and it is funded primarily through tax-deductible member and individual donations plus grants from other organizations.