Minnesota Streetcar Museum

Excelsior Streetcar Line
Excelsior Streetcar Line
Service
Type	Heritage streetcar
History
Opened	1999
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Minimum radius	(?)
Electrification	(?)

Minnesota Streetcar Museum
Established	2005 (Parent in 1962)
Location	Twin Cities, Minnesota
Coordinates	44°55′29″N 93°18′41″W / 44.92472°N 93.31139°W
Type	Heritage Streetcar Operator
Website	www.trolleyride.org

The Minnesota Streetcar Museum (MSM) is a transport museum that operates two heritage streetcar lines in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the western suburb of Excelsior.

Museum

The museum was created as a result of the restructuring of the Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM) during the winter of 2004–2005. The MTM was founded in 1962 to restore a streetcar, Twin City Rapid Transit Company No. 1300, that had been operated by the TCRT until the last streetcar lines were abandoned in favor of buses in 1954. Over time, the museum diversified to include diesel and steam-powered trains, buses, steamboats and associated buildings, papers and photographs.

When the MTM was restructured during the winter of 2004 and 2005, the Minnesota Streetcar Museum was created and assumed ownership and operating responsibilities of the two streetcar lines. The Museum of Lake Minnetonka was also created as a result of the split and assumed ownership and operating responsibilities of the restored Steamboat Minnehaha, which was built by TCRT in 1906.^[1]

Rolling stock

The Minnesota Streetcar Museum now has five operable streetcars, three from TCRT's fleet and two from the Duluth Street Railway Company. A streetcar from Winona, Minnesota is currently under restoration while a Fargo-Moorhead Birney streetcar and a Mesaba Railway inter-urban car await restoration.

Como-Harriet Streetcar Line

In 1971 the MTM began operations on the Como-Harriet Streetcar Line, a heritage streetcar line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The mile-plus-long Line runs along the original TCRT streetcar right-of-way between Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun and is open to the public. Three restored streetcars formerly used by TCRT are used and the museum has built a replica 1900 station at the intersection of Queen Ave and 42nd Street.

Excelsior Streetcar Line

The Excelsior Streetcar Line began operation in 1999 in west-suburban Excelsior near Lake Minnetonka using Duluth Street Railway Company No. 78, transferred from the museum's Como-Harriet Line. TCRT No. 1239 joined No. 78 in 2004. The Line is operated on the former Minneapolis and Saint Louis Railway right-of-way now used by the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority as a bicycle trail. All trips feature a tour of the Excelsior Carbarn, where Winona No. 10 is currently being restored and Mesaba No. 10 stored awaiting restoration.

DSR No. 78

Returned to service in 1991 after a seven-year restoration, Duluth Street Railway Company No. 78 is the oldest streetcar in the museum, having been built by LaClede Car Company of Saint Louis, Missouri in 1893. The car, which was retired in 1911, is one of the oldest working streetcars in the country. It is a first-generation electric car that resembles the horse-drawn streetcars which it replaced. It has been operating on the Excelsior Streetcar Line since 1999.

DSR No. 265

DSR 265 was built in the Twin Cities by TCRT as No. 1791, but was sold to Duluth the next year. It operated there until Duluth's streetcar system was abandoned in 1939. The car was then sold and converted into a summer cabin in Solon Springs, Wisconsin, a fate that was not unusual for old wooden streetcars that managed to escape being destroyed as streetcar lines were discontinued. The interior had been removed, so important pieces like the railroad trucks, the electric wiring and other parts had to be scavenged from other old streetcars or built from scratch.