East Troy Railroad Museum

About East Troy Railroad Museum

History

The East Troy Railroad Museum operates the East Troy Electric Railroad, an interurban heritage line whose track dates to 1907 as part of The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company's route from East Troy to Milwaukee. When the rest of the line to Hales Corners was abandoned in 1939, the Village of East Troy bought the East Troy–Mukwonago segment, with TMER&L crews running it for ten years under the purchase terms; after the utility declined to renew in 1949, the village hired its own crew and ran the railroad itself from 1950 to 1985. Museum trains appeared as early as 1967, when The Wisconsin Electric Railway Historical Society moved its electric railway collection from North Freedom to East Troy and operated under a trackage-rights agreement until 1984. The Wisconsin Trolley Museum then took over at the village's request and began running the line as the East Troy Electric Railroad, and between 1995 and 2000 the Friends of East Troy Railroad Museum purchased the rail line from the village in stages along with Paul Averdung's trolley collection. The volunteer-run nonprofit's ticket office occupies the original 1907-era substation building at 2002 Church Street, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Trains

This is a genuinely electric operation: trolleys and interurban cars draw 600-volt direct current from overhead wire along just over 7 miles of mostly original standard-gauge track between East Troy and Mukwonago, with rides offered weekly from spring through fall to the Elegant Farmer store at Phantom Woods and Indianhead Park. The museum keeps a collection of roughly 30 pieces of electric railway equipment in storage barns in downtown East Troy and at Phantom Woods, and the original 500 kW rotary converter motor-generator that once powered the line is displayed at the substation museum.