Your Visit to the Connecticut Trolley Museum
Prior to visiting the Trolley Museum, please check our Operating Hours and Special Events. Any important updates will be posted on our home page and/or on our social media platforms.
Your admission to the Trolley Museum provides you access to:
Trolley Ride
Step on board a restored vintage trolley car at the historic Isle of Safety and enjoy a relaxing 20-30 minute, 3-mile round-trip ride through the countryside with a trolley operator in period uniform. You'll be traveling along a completely rebuilt section of an original trolley line between Warehouse Point and Rockville that carried commuters, school children, and freight from 1905 to 1926.
- After the first ride, additional rides can be purchased for $5.00, free for members.
- Trolleys operate rain or shine, however we may pause or cancel trolley rides in the event of thunderstorms.
- Since our trolley ride is an active railway utilizing historic equipment, visitors with accessibility concerns please review these advisements.
Teresalee Bertinuson Visitor Center
Our spacious Visitor Center offers something for everyone!
Younger visitors can enjoy craft tables, Legos, photo cutouts, a play trolley, the Imagination Station with dress-up Trolley Operator and Fire Fighter costumes, and explore a real full-sized caboose!
Trolley cars and other electric traction vehicles, including an 1894 "Steeplecab" electric freight locomotive and a railway company executive car are on static display. Some of the cars are open for visitors to "climb aboard", and others have viewing platforms to "peek inside".
Historical information about the local Hartford and Springfield Street Railway is on exhibit, featuring a large map with photos and information about the towns serviced by the H&S from 1902-1926. You might even recognize familiar places in your town as they appeared during the trolley era.
Informative exhibits and artifacts are on display throughout the display hall and lobby, including an 1897 ticket booth, an 1883 3-wheeled hand car, signals, lanterns, model train layouts, and display cases containing fare boxes, mechanical equipment, and more.
Treat yourself to a snack or beverage from our vending machines or an ice cream treat from our Gift Shop and enjoy the documentary film "The Cars That Built Our Cities", which runs continuously in the auditorium.
Rest rooms, baby changing stations, vending machines, and a water fountain/bottle filler are located just off of the lobby.
Courtyard
Things to see and explore are not limited to inside the Visitor Center. Enjoy anytime during your visit (or while you wait for your trolley ride):
Isle of Safety
A Hartford, Connecticut icon from 1913 to 1985, the Isle of Safety was professionally restored in 2019 and continues to serve as a sheltered waiting area for trolley riders more than 110 years after it was built! An informative plaque gives the history of the structure in text and pictures.
Mural
On the outside wall next to the Visitor Center entrance is a large, 3-D effect mural of our trolley 355, painted by a local artist - perfect for snapshots or Instagram photos.
Picnic Tables
Bring a lunch or snack and enjoy it on one of our picnic tables, located in a covered area to the left of the Visitor Center building, while watching the trolleys going to and from the Isle of Safety at North Road Station.
Play Train
A popular attraction with our younger visitors is the 25-foot-long, 4-car wooden Play Train, complete with caboose. Destinations are endless, where will your imagination bring you?
Gift Shop and Tickets
Admission tickets can be purchased in our Gift Shop, located in the Visitor Center. Browse our selection of trolley, railroad, and fire-fighting toys, books, magazines, and clothing - you may find that special souvenir to remember your visit to the Trolley Museum. Considering a membership? Purchase one here! Beat the heat with a Blue Bunny Ice Cream Treat.
Enjoy a day together with the family, bringing generations together.
Sit atop an antique fire truck.
A parade of trolleys on our railway with fall colors.
Let our motormen take you for a journey, recreating the past.
Ready for a ride? Move into history aboard an antique trolley.
Displays inside tell how trolleys help built our cities and towns.
Connecticut's relaxing countryside awaits your visit.
Visit the fire truck museum, too!
Fire Truck and Transit Bus Museum
Located on the Trolley Museum grounds behind the Visitor Center is the Connecticut Fire Museum. This museum is dedicated to the preservation and appreciation of antique fire apparatus and associated equipment. See 15 antique fire trucks on display from the local area dating back to as early as 1923, historic fire fighting gear, a functioning fire alarm call box, and much more!
Located adjacent to the Fire Truck Museum, the Connecticut Motor Coach Museum has a variety of transit buses on display. There is no set schedule for the Bus Museum, but it is open most weekends.
The Connecticut Fire Museum and Connecticut Motor Coach Museum are both operated by the Connecticut Antique Fire Apparatus Association, Inc.
Special Events
Several special events are planned throughout each season, culminating in our very popular Pumpkin Patch and Rails to the Dark Side Halloween events in October and our spectacular Winterfest and Tunnel of Lights in late November and December.
Accessibility
Mobility
The Connecticut Trolley Museum's campus is fully accessible to persons with disabilities; this includes the parking area, outdoor pathways, and our Visitor Center building (exhibit hall, theater, gift shop, restrooms, and courtyard).
Unfortunately the historic nature of the vintage trolley cars, the design of steps, door openings, interior structural elements, and aisle widths limit accessibility of the trolley ride. The Trolley Museum has a mobile wheelchair lift which opens up more opportunities for our visitors to enjoy some of our trolleys. We're happy to share the history we preserve with everyone, but please call ahead to ensure we have the mobile wheelchair lift ready for your visit.
Sensory
The functionality of our trolley cars rely on air systems that have air compressors that cycle on and off frequently (a sometimes loud chugging sound). Also, loud whistles are used to warn of moving trolleys and when approaching/crossing public roads.
At 12:00 PM noon, the Connecticut Fire Museum sounds its rooftop horn. Historically horns or sirens identified midday for mill or farm workers in a community. In the modern era, these toots are a daily test of a system that would otherwise be only used in emergencies to summon firefighters to the fire house.
For additional details, please contact us.