Photo courtesy of Seashore Trolley Museum
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About Seashore Trolley Museum
Riding the restored trolleys along a 1½‑mile demonstration line, visitors travel the historic Atlantic Shore Line route through the coastal landscape of Kennebunkport, Maine. The line departs the Visitor Center, loops at Talbott Park, and returns past the museum’s active restoration shop and observation gallery. Housed on the world’s first and largest electric railway museum site, the experience showcases over 350 preserved transit vehicles.
📍 KENNEBUNKPORT, ME 02356
History
The Seashore Trolley Museum originates in 1939 when a group of railfans purchased a Biddeford and Saco trolley (#31) and began operating the Seashore Electric Railway on rented farmland in Kennebunkport. The founders formally incorporated as the New England Electric Railway Historical Society in 1941, establishing the museum’s nonprofit ownership that continues to the present. After a wartime hiatus during World War II, the Society resumed collecting and, in late 1955 and early 1956, bought land near the Biddeford city line and launched weekend passenger service on a ¼‑mile track in the summer of 1956. In 1980 ten of the museum’s vehicles were placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and by 2010 the collection had grown to more than 260 vehicles. The museum opened a new building for its model‑railroad layout in May 2024, converting it to year‑round operation in early 2025. It remains the world’s first and largest electric‑railway museum.
The Trains
The museum’s collection exceeds 350 vehicles, including trolley #31 (a 12‑bench open car purchased from the Biddeford and Saco Railroad), two Aroostook Valley Railroad cars, two York Utilities Company cars, and ten trolley and railroad cars listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the “Maine Trolley Cars.” Restored trolleys operate on a demonstration railway that follows the former Atlantic Shore Line route, running one and a half miles (2.4 km) from the Visitor Center to Talbott Park and back, with the Society owning right‑of‑way extending about five miles (8 km) toward Biddeford.
Nearby
Based in Kennebunkport, Maine, the Seashore Trolley Museum is within reach of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum, about 21 mi away.
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