List of New England Trolley Lines?

Is there a list to be found anywhere of the old trolley/interurban lines that used to exist in New England, or perhaps separate lists for each individual state? It can be very difficult to find many of the old ROWs.

Not perfect, but an indispensible book for any traction buff - The Trolley and Interurban Directory by Joseph Gross. Amazon.com wants about $50 for it. I got mine for $20 at a train show a few years ago. (This is a list of companys by state, start/end dates, where their corporate hq was, etc. - no maps.)

McGraw-Hill printed a directory about 1924 and it was reprinted about 1980. You might find copies of the reprint at train shows in this area. Kevin Farrell in Billerica has lots of out of print publications dealing with area traction companies. George Hilton's opus on the Electric Interurban Railway in America, printed about 1960 has a state by state listing of interurbans and interurban-like operations. This also shows up at trains shows every now and then. Try the store at Seashore Trolley Museum. The Hilton book does not deal with city operations unless that had an interurban affiliate.

A couple of no-longer-active Wikipedia editors assembled some neat lists.

Impressive list of MA and RI lines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SPUI/ ... _companies

Lots of Connecticut Company stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:NE2/C ... ut_Company

I found a very interesting map at the State Library of Massachusetts entitled "Map of the street railways of the state of Massachusetts: accompanying the report of the Joint Special Committee on the Transportation Facilities of Western Massachusetts". The url is http://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/50833. The map looks really small but moving your mouse pointer over it brings up a good and very readable enlargement of the area under the pointer. Move your pointer S L O W L Y for best results! Map is dated January 1913.

This category on Commons has a number of old trolley maps of Massachusetts, including the 1899 and 1913 versions of that map.

The EGE wrote:This category on Commons has a number of old trolley maps of Massachusetts, including the 1899 and 1913 versions of that map.

Thanks for the pointer!

Many years ago when I worked for , a co-worker gave me some copies of some local (eastern Massachusetts) street maps showing streetcar & trolley lines from a book of maps called "Pilot's Maps" or something similar. Sadly for me, over the years these copies got lost. Anyone ever heard of this publication and/or know where I might be able to purchase or otherwise obtain copies?

AdvaTHANKSnce!

Another book to look at for Massachusetts is Stephen Carlson's and Thomas Harding's book, 'From Boston to the Berkshires - A Pictorial Review of Electric Transportation in Massachusetts' - also a couple of old maps…published in 1990.