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All the United States Maryland Silver Spring National Capital Trolley Museum

National Capital Trolley Museum

A suburban museum tells the story of a historic transportation network and even provides rides in antique trolley cars.

Silver Spring, Maryland

Added By
Brett Iredell
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Historic trolley car.   WhiskeyBristles / Atlas Obscura User
Interactive model trolley display   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Sign at museum entrance   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Sign explaining conduits   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Beautiful German trolley   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Sage advice inside the Canadian trolley   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Ticket to ride the trolley, included in the cost of intermission to the museum.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Historic trolley car.   WhiskeyBristles / Atlas Obscura User
Trolley barn.   WhiskeyBristles / Atlas Obscura User
Historic trolley car!   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Exterior of the museum.   WhiskeyBristles / Atlas Obscura User
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About

From July 1862 through January 1962, a network of streetcars ferried riders around Washington, D.C. and the surrounding communities in Maryland and Virginia. Although this streetcar system was dismantled and replaced by bus routes and later Metrorail trains, a museum in the Maryland suburbs tells a history of the transit network and offers rides in historic streetcars from around the world on a mile-long track through the surrounding woods.

When the Washington, D.C. streetcar system first operated, the streetcars were drawn by horses. Because horses are expensive to house, feed, and create a large amount of solid waste, from the start engineers were working to develop more efficient methods of moving the vehicles around the city. Beginning in the 1880s, the streetcars were slowly converted from being horse-drawn to a system of trolleys powered by overhead electric wires.

Over the following century the network expanded outward from downtown Washington, D.C. far into the suburbs of the neighboring states, eventually comprising more than 200 miles of track and becoming consolidated under a single company, the Capital Transit Company.

But the rise of automobile spelled the end of the heyday of the streetcar. Taxis began operating in the capital in 1908 and over the subsequent decades, personal ownership of cars skyrocketed. In 1956, the Capital Transit Company was sold and as a condition of the sale, the new owner had to replace the streetcar lines with bus lines by 1963. Today, little evidence of the old streetcar network remains.

Fortunately, people were quick to preserve the streetcar’s history. Ground was broken on the National Capital Trolley Museum in the mid-1960s. Although the focus of the museum is on the Washington, D.C. transit network, historic streetcars from all over the world are on display.

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Transportation Museums Museums And Collections

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The museum is open every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

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Added By

WhiskeyBristles

Edited By

blimpcaptain

  • blimpcaptain

Published

March 8, 2019

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Sources
  • http://www.dctrolley.org/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Capital_Trolley_Museum
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_Washington,_D.C.
National Capital Trolley Museum
1313 Bonifant Rd
Silver Spring, Maryland
United States
39.097942, -77.031314
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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Silver Spring

Silver Spring

Maryland

Places 13
Stories 2

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miles away

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Silver Spring

Silver Spring

Maryland

Places 13
Stories 2

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