Lowell Trolley

I found myself in Lowell this past weekend after I decided against heading into Boston to combat the weather while scoping out Mattapan contruction.

I discovered the Lowell trolley demonstration rolling past my friend's apartment complex. One car from New Orleans, one reproduction open bench car built by Gomaco. I took some pictures along Dutton Street and made my way to the National Trolley Museum. I had heard about this operation, but didn't know much about it. I went into the museum and bought a ticket to the exhibit, but was more interested in catching a ride on the cars. "How much?" Well, because the trolleys run on National Park land, the ride is free. Wow. I scrambled aboard the New Orleans car, and with two clangs we trundled along Dutton Street towards the Tsongas Arena. We had to stop and flag each grade crossing, which extended the ride somewhat. The end of the line is near Tsongas Arena at the Suffolk Mills exhibit. The cars then change ends and head along the canals to the newly opened Boott Mills and then to the Lowell Locks. Here, the cars snake through alleys and along the canals and offer a unique perspective. Hard to imagine the B&M freight switchers negotiating these tight tracks! The car changes ends again and heads back to the visitors center and the Trolley Museum. I never did get back inside to view the museum exhibit, but I hope to sometime in the future. Either way, the Lowell Trolley is a great, unremarked operation that has been quietly serving the Lowell NHS since 1984! Check it out and enjoy some trolleys in a historic industrial setting. Downtown Lowell has many interesting shops and cafes and is developing into an interesting community in its own right.

http://www.railwaypreservation.com/vint ... ll_map.gif

http://www.nps.gov/lowe/

http://www.trolleymuseum.org/lowell

-otto-

Otto this was talked about (though it has been a while) in the Trolley forum. When I worked in Lowell at the Boott Cotton Mills (both as a construction/demolition worker & security officer) I got to know the crews both Seashore and National Park very well to the point if they see me in Lowell I usually get the invite to hop on and sit right up front. It sure is a neat operation! The other thread is located here http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1572&start=0

Otto:

As far as I know about Lowell Opperations is this.

New Orleans Public Service #966 is owneed and Opperated by Seashore Trolley Musuem-Lowell Crews. This car actually ran up in the other opperation in Maine for a short while before going to Lowell

Lowell National Historical Park #1601- is a replica JG Brill Trolley. As far as I know this is owned and opperated by the Park Service, Seashore has no incvolvement with this car

Basically the way I understand it, you have two trolleys owned by seperate places as well as two crews to handle the cars. I have seen on our STM e-mail reports that the 966 has covered the schedule many times when the Park Service can't get a crew together

I myself have been thinking of going to Lowell and helping out w their opperations sometime soon as I will be Level 1 Qualified at Seashore, I figure it's nce to have a place where I could get some controller time close to home.

There are (or at least have been) four cars in Lowell, not two. There are two replica open cars in different paint schemes, one replica closed car (all based on ancestral Middlesex & Boston Street Railway designs), plus Seashore's New Orleans car. I haven't seen the NPS closed car in a while but I assume its still around... I'm not usually in Lowell in the cold weather months when it runs.

GP40MC- Yup, you pretty much said what I said. I dont care for open-bench cars so much, but it was way too hot for the closed cars... but the breeze on board the New Orleans car was not bad. The crew explained the Seashore involvement to me, and it sounds like there is a lot that STM does to cover the route to keep it going...

Thanks for the link to the other thread, I'll check that out!

-otto-

i only know about three cars, seashore's 966, and the replicas 1601 and 1602. haven't heard of a replica closed car.

Here's a link to a photo of the NPS replica closed car. There are a number of other shots of it in the NERAIL photo archive.

Lowell 4131

The closed car is only used at the beginning and end of the operational season; mid-March (beginning of the season) till about mid to late April when the weather gets warmer and again in November (occasionally one of the open cars will venture out in November if the weather is nice). Sometimes you may see the closed car out in the summer on days of poor whether (if Seashore isn't running theirs).

I have ridden these trolleys many a time while accompanying my parents to the Lowell Folk Festival, an annual music/art event that is also free. From the description and linked map above, I think they must run only a limited route during the festival (which lasts two days I think). But they certainly get a lot of use! This scene might be a bit to hectic to get some real railfanning done, but if you like free live music, brief free trolley rides, and not free but very good ethnic food, I encourage you to attend.

TomNelligan wrote:Here's a link to a photo of the NPS replica closed car. There are a number of other shots of it in the NERAIL photo archive.

Lowell 4131

I new some of my picures would find their way here eventually

Looks like the trolleys are going to have a new stretch of track. The rails and ties have been removed near the Lowell High School. I've noticed for a few weeks now that the area was fenced off but up until yesterday when I really looked; that's when I noticed the tracks were missing. I know they have had some issues with the track in that area over the years but I would have never thought they would replace everything at once. I guess if you’re going to fix something you might as well fix all!

What were the issues with the track at that section?

-otto-

In the past they have had a few incidents; one involved a trolley to derail after the rails separated do to broken spikes that had rusted from the inside out; there was another incident were a rail broke as the trolley was going by. All that added to the fact that most of the ties were rotting away, the rail was starting to sink into the ground for being in place so long and not having the proper support underneath.
I cannot say for sure if those reasons are why they are replacing the rail. Since I no longer work in Lowell I don’t talk to the trolley operators a whole lot anymore. For all I know there may have been a pipe in the area that needed to be dug up which involved the removal of the tracks.

Wasn't some of that track by the high school redundant? That is, I seem to remember a second track that ran around the other side of the high school and up the street and along the canal past the Tsongas arena, toward Umass. I believe it was eliminated about 6 or 7 years ago.
A few years ago I saw a park service master plan (dream sheet) that eventually had the trolleys running in a loop around down town. 2/3 to 3/4 of that loop already exists, or did when I worked down there around 2000, though they only ran/run between the Boott mill and the canal boats. It would be so awesome if they could complete that loop.

You are correct; there was the remains to a bigger wye that was removed when the Tsongas Area was built (1997); the new wye is much smaller with a very sharp turning radius. When I looked at the area last week it looked as though the track was removed the entire length of the school, not just the removal of the switch. I also noticed the spur turning in front of the 410 was fenced off the other day as well.
I'm curious to know how the studies went for the expansion of the trolley system. I can see some of the expansion happening like to the: Spinners ballpark, the train station and the museum but I can't see a trolley line being constructed along the westside of the river (currently home to the popular River Walkway) and the few other plans they have for expansion.