The Trolley Museum of New York

The Trolley Museum of New York is founded in 1955 in Brooklyn as a nonprofit effort to rescue the last trolley cars that operated in New York City. During the early 1960s the museum runs a Swedish trolley on McDonald Avenue, Brooklyn, until the city removes the final overhead wire, after which the collection moves among temporary sites in Staten Island and northern New Jersey. In 1983 the museum secures a permanent home in Kingston’s abandoned Rondout shops of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad, leases about 1.5 mi of right‑of‑way from the City of Kingston, and begins public service on July 4, 1983 with a former Sperry Rail Service Doodlebug; within two years the line is extended to Kingston Point. The museum adds a restored Johnstown, Pennsylvania trolley to its operating fleet in 2000 following a nine‑year restoration. The site’s seasonal schedule lists an opening day on May 9, 2026, marking the latest public milestone.