2009 Annual Report - the Seashore Trolley Museum

New England Electric Railway Historical Society
for new buses, so insisted that the bus
be removed within a week. Fortunately,
temporary storage was offered by a local
business while hurried plans for the move
were made. Trucking it was determined
to cost about $10,000, so efforts turned
to making the bus, then out of service for
two years, operable so it could be driven
the 600 miles from the western end of
Lake Ontario to Kennebunkport.
Before the trip, Seashore’s crew undertook
a number of repairs and made the
27 year old bus operable after which the
bus headed for Maine. It made it through
customs before the transmission refused
to shift into third gear, greatly slowing its
progress. Three overnight stops and occasional
road side repairs were required,
but the bus made it safely to Kennebunkport
on December 2.
Many thanks are due to a number of
Canadian bus enthusiasts who made the
acquisition possible and to the Hamilton
Street Railway for their donation of the
bus and for storing it, supplying parts,
and towing it as needed.
The bus has since operated numerous
times around the museum and off site.
The intention is to keep this unusual and
interesting piece operational.
Edmonton Trackless Trolley 125.
While development of the streetcar and
rapid transit collection has evolved to
stress Boston, New York, and overall geographical
coverage, beyond Boston the
trackless trolley collection is primarily
builder-oriented. Coaches from most significant
builders have been acquired.
During 2009 Edmonton decided to
end trackless trolley operation. This
pioneering and large city-wide system
had opened in 1939 and used coaches
from several builders, rather an exception
in Canada. The fleet most recently
comprised GMC New Look coaches with
Brown Boveri electronics from an order
of 100 built in 1981-82.
The Edmonton Transit System kindly donated
No. 125 to the museum, along with
Right top: GMC-BBC trolley buses operating in
downtown Edmonton, Alberta in 1989. JS
Right middle: An international scene shows
Edmonton trolley bus 125 shown shortly after
its arrival with the Lausanne, Switzerland trailer
train. Both coaches have identical Swiss Brown-
Boveri control and electrical equipment. JS
Right bottom: Jack Coyle on top of a line
truck transferring both streetcar and trolley bus
overhead from a wooden to a steel pole. TS
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