Connecticut Trolley Museum

In mid-August 2025, I took a three-day trip to the Windsor, CT area to explore many museums and parks. My first stop on the trip with the Connecticut Trolley Museum (CTM) in East Windsor. The owner of the museum, the Connecticut Electric Railway Association, Inc., was founded in 1940, making it the oldest trolley preservation organization in the country. While checking off a bucket list item, I saw trolleys and fire trucks, took a ride on a restored trolley, and visited the unique gift shop.

Little red caboose nestled between trolley cars A red roadside sign reading Connecticut Trolley Museum Connecticut Fire Museum Princess & Superhero Day August 16 A red brick building with a metal roof and large windows both on the side and on top of the roof. Text above the front door reads Welcome to the Teresalee Bertinuson Visitor Center

The museum is comprised of two large buildings, a yard, and trolley tracks. The main building is called Teresalee Bertinuson Visitor Center. The person for whom the building is named is very interesting and merits a brief explanation. Teresalee Downing Bertinuson was a prodigy who graduated from college at age nineteen. She served in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps (WACs) providing medical assistance during World War II and there met her future husband, Army patient Torvald A. Bertinuson, Jr. After marrying, earning Masters degrees together, moving to East Windsor, and raising a family of six daughters, Mrs. Bertinuson became a state representative as a Democrat from 1975 to 1990, while Mr. Bertinuson became the “Father of the East Windsor Park System”. The newly built museum building was dedicated in her honor on May 22, 2005, and she passed away later that year at age 82. It is not often that I get to cover a biography where the subject has lived a long, happy, and fulfilled life.

A bright yellow trolley A green trolley car with a dining table and chairs inside A map showing the color-coded former trolley lines in southeastern Connecticut

Back to the museum, this main building holds an impressive group of trolleys, part of the over seventy pieces of rail equipment in the collection. Each trolley came with its own sign with its name, origin, and brief history. The little red “Bobber” Caboose No. 8146 was built in 1883 and spent time in Trolleyville U.S.A. in Olmsted, OH, another museum that closed in 2005. The bright yellow Cleveland Railway Company No. 1201 was built in 1914 and came to CTM in 1960. A green dining car belonged to Northern Ohio Traction and was built in 1909. Visitors could walk into many of these cars and look at the restored interiors. Besides these large artifacts, the space included the Hartford & Springfield Street Railway Company, which operated from 1902 to 1926 and covered a large portion of southeastern Connecticut. Less helpful in this section were a talking tree stump wearing a superhero mask and a self station, likely an attempt to attract families with young children.

A black trolley with a small cabin and round ends A green trolley with no walls and a thin roof A red trolley on exhibit

CTM is also the home of the Connecticut Fire and Motor Coach Museum, a separate entity from the Museum of Fire History housed within the New England Carousel Museum in Bristol, CT, which I visited back in 2022. I am no stranger to antique fire trucks and had seen similar models at other museums. In front was a 1941 Ford/American LaFrance Commercial Chassis Pumper, a fire truck created by combining the chassis or metal frame making the floor of a Ford truck with the body of an American LaFrance fire truck. This custom build was super common at the time. Other items of interest included an office set up like a 1950s fire station; a Browder Life Safety Net to catch people jumping from small buildings; a more modern American LaFrance engine truck originally from Ellington, CT; and a Railbus, a type of train designed to resemble a bus.

The front of a red fire truck from the 1940s A small office set up like a 1950s fire station, including an old radio system on a wooden table A round net folded in half.

Of course, the moment everyone was waiting for was the trolley ride! Passengers wait for the trolley under the Isle of Safety, built in 1913 in Hartford, CT and restored in 2019. We rode the bright yellow 1902 Fair Haven & Westville Railroad Co. 355, which the museum acquired in 1948. The thirty-minute ride along 1.5 miles of restored track traveled through stretches of woods and crossed quiet streets where car passengers patiently waited and even waved to the trolley. The conductor and driver of the trolley were focused on their tasks and gave fairly brief explanations on the car. My favorite feature were the backs of the seats. Passengers always face forward on the car, regardless of direction the trolley travelled. When it came time to return, passengers briefly stood as the conductor flipped the back of the seat. Passengers then sat on the bench that had previously been in front of them.

A mural of a yellow trolley traveling down the tracks painted onto a red brick wall. A yellow and red trolley car in a shed. A white sign with red letters reading Connecticut Fire Museum and clip art of fire trucks.

Of course, I cannot forget to mention the pleasant surprise of the well-stocked gift shop. The small store offered the widest selection of train and trolley memorabilia that I have seen, including shirts, hats, postcards, pins, models, books, and much more. If you are interesting in purchasing this type of item in-person, the store likely has it, or a staff member may know someone who is willing to sell. As for the cost of this adventure, ticket prices have gone up since my visit and are now $14 for adults, $12 for youth ages 12 to 17 and seniors 62 and older, $10 for children ages 2 to 11, a free for members plus all children under 2. The museum is currently closed for the winter but will open in late spring. Hours tend to be 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

A yellow trolley on an outdoor track with the number 355 painted in red on the front People sit on the wooden seats inside a vintage trolley car. Pending passengers stand in a wooden pavilion

While this museum would be fun for children who really like trolleys, it is not a children’s museum and would quickly bore children who do not really like trolleys. In an attempt to alleviate boredom, the museum was celebration Princess and Superhero Day during my visit. The museum may have been better suited to focus on attracting youth, adults, and seniors who are intensely interested in trolleys, especially with the similarly themed museums, to be discussed in future posts, located so close by. Additionally, the museum may want to rethink their use of uncanny mannequins to display uniforms, and double check one of the slides in an exhibit about a circus tent fire, as the term “matinee” has been spelled “manatee”. Besides these mishaps, I had a wonderful experience at a museum I have long wanted to visit. I would gladly return to the museum should more trolleys be restored.

A blue vehicle that looks like a bus but is actually a train A red 1970s era fire truck A classic mid-century bus with a creepy mannequin dressed like a bus driver

Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 8/10

Accessibility: 7/10



Location: 58 N Rd #9606, East Windsor, CT 06088, USA