During a recent trip to Minneapolis, I had a chance to visit a couple of museums for the first time in several years. The first of these is the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. I was only able to ride the Lake Harriet line.
MSM has two locations, one in the city at Lake Harriet, and the other at Excelsior near Lake Minnetonka. Each location has a single-track line about a mile long, and an attached carbarn/shop facility. Both are located in densely-populated areas with large numbers of walkers, joggers, bikers, and tourists wandering by. So they seem to get a good crowd of riders, especially when the weather is favorable. Car 1300 is a 1908 wooden streetcar built by Twin Cities Rapid Transit, and has been carefully restored and well maintained. MSM's collection of equipment is entirely cars from the Twin Cities region -- no CTA 4000s or Septa PCCs. Several, like this one, were built by the TCRT company in its own shops.
Here the motorman is giving a car talk at the end of the line. When we were there, there was a constant stream of people lining up to ride the car, and at the end of the trip it was load and go. They try to make a trip every 15 minutes.
The operating crews are all carefully dressed in company uniforms, and present a consistent appearance. Very commendable.
The Lake Harriet line operates over a portion of TCRT ROW. The station building is a replica of the original one at this location.
I was unable to ride the Excelsior line, or see what was going on in the shops, where several cars are being restored. In any case, this museum is well worth a visit. They do an excellent job of recreating the streetcar experience in an urban/suburban setting.
