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Trolley Parks Still Existing
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Author:  Jim Vaitkunas [ Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Trolley Parks Still Existing
Here's a nice article on trolley parks courtesy of MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38349493/ns/travel-family_travel/

Only eleven original trolley parks are left according to the author who correctly defines a trolley park as one that was built and operated by a streetcar/trolley company as a weekend traffic generator (what do we do with all these idle streetcars on the weekends?). There are/were, of course, many more privately owned parks that were located on existing trolley lines or the trolley company built/extended a line to the park.

One notable contemporary example is Lake Compounce, which was not a trolley park I believe, located in Bristol Connecticut that was served in the day by the Bristol and Plainville Street Railway. Today Lake Compounce actually has a short section of electrified track and runs a Connecticut Company big open-bench car to and fro. The car is leased from the Shoreline Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut.

Thanks!
Author:  David Farlow [ Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
Though the amusement park rides have long since been removed, Mounds State Park just outside Anderson, Indiana was owned by the Union Traction Company and capitalized on the Indian mound structures there as a weekend attraction. The property was transferred to the State with the closure of the interurban lines.

Not sure if this counts?

David Farlow
Author:  patentable [ Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
Would Ravinia in the N. suburbs of Chicago qualify? An interurban rather than a trolley park? Technically not owned by the railroad. This is a quote from their web page: http://www.ravinia.org/History.aspx

History of Ravinia
In 1904, the A.C. Frost Company created Ravinia as an amusement park intended to lure riders to the fledgling Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad. The amusement park boasted a baseball diamond, electric fountain and refectory or casino building with dining rooms and a dance floor. The prairie-style Martin Theatre (then called Ravinia Theatre) is the only building on the grounds that dates back to that original construction. Over 100 years later, Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in North America and is lauded for presenting world-class music

Bob
Author:  RCD [ Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
They Forgot Six Flags New England.
Author:  Bob Davis [ Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
According to the 1924 McGraw Electric Railway Directory, the Bamberger Electric, which ran between Salt Lake City and Ogden, "controlled" the Lagoon amusement park. When I visited the area in 1977 and rode the "interurban bus" to Ogden, I noticed several young people in "Lagoon" attire getting off at the park. At last report, the Lagoon was still in operation.
Author:  Jim Vaitkunas [ Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
RCD wrote:
They Forgot Six Flags New England.


I'm not familiar with this amusement park. When was it built and by which street railway? Where is it?

While I cited the MSNBC item for general historical interest, I believe that eastern Massachusetts had several trolley parks, the most famous one being Norumbega Park in Newton, a western suburb of Boston. Norumbega Park was built by the Commonwealth Avenue Street Railway in the early 1900s and finally closed in the early 1960s.

There were dozens of these parks built by trolley companies throughout the US and Canada. Our beloved Twin City Rapid Transit built two of them: Big Island Park (1906-1911) built on an island in Lake Minnetonka west of Minneapolis; and, Wildwood Amusement park on the south end of White Bear Lake about 8-10 miles east of Saint Paul that lasted until around the mid-1930s.

Thanks!
Author:  John Redden [ Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
Rock City Park near Olean, NY was developed by the local interurban company. Although it was never an "amusement" park in the tradition of carnival rides and attractions, it did once boast a dance hall and hotel. It still operates today.
http://www.rockcitypark.com/

JR
Author:  robertjohndavis [ Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
The wonderful Kennywood in West Miflin, PA is a trolley park that boasts 100 year old rides. Nearby Idlewild in Ligonier, PA was a steam railroad park -- that's a whole other class of park.

Rob
Author:  Ken Jones [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
While all of the rides were removed years & years ago, the Niagara St. Catharines & Toronto (Canadian National Electric Lines) built Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie, Ontario (Near St. Catharines) They do have the original Carousel, enclosed in its own building, and rides are still just 5 cents. However, no traces of the electric operation exists. This was the only park the NS&T built on its system.

Attachments:
File comment: NS&T car 130 is at the platform in Port Dalhousie. c-1944
nst130_pt_dalhousie_1944sm.jpg
nst130_pt_dalhousie_1944sm.jpg [ 76 KiB | Viewed 6307 times ]
Author:  Jim Vaitkunas [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
RCD wrote:
They Forgot Six Flags New England.

Did a google search and answered my own questions. Six Flags New England was the former Riverside Park built by the Springfield (Mass) Street Railway.

Thanks!
Author:  o anderson [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
It would be cool to link up a trolley museum with an old park. The only possibility that I know might have existed was the Northern Ohio Railway Museum, which had Chippewa Lake Park just a quarter mile north of the end of ROW. Though the rides sat dormant for decades, the last of them are being removed this year and the site is destined to become a new resort. Perhaps the rail link will happen as the park undergoes its new, third or fourth existence (originally it was a local picnic ground which folks lamented conversion to modern entertainment, perhaps before that it was an Indian village).
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Chippewa/chippewa.html
Image
Author:  Evan [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 12:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
Well, the Trolley Museum of New York stops at Kingston Point Park. The only trouble by the definition here is the park wasn't built by the trolley company, rather, the park was built by the railroad and shipping interests in the 1880's; the electric trolley line to the park was added a bit later, 1890's (what I'm not certain of is there may have been horsecar service predating electric trolleys). The park had all the amenities in it's heyday: hotel, casino, carousel, bandstand, boating, picnicking.

Here's a postcard that shows a portion of the park viewed from the steamship pavilion toward the hotel/casino complex. The smaller building on the left is the trolley depot.

http://tinyurl.com/tmny4009
Author:  Ted Miles [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 1:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
Bob,
At the Western Railway Museum we have a big open type trailer from the Salt Lake Garfield and Western, the Saltair Line, which used to take hundreds of people out to the dance hall at the Saltair Amusement Park. It was an Interurban and later used 44 ton locomotives to pull the cars in the 1950s.

We have one of those also; but it would have been nice if one of their electric steeple cabs had survived. We had the Saltair trailer recently for some truck and bearing work as a start to restoring the trailer.

i was in Salt Lake City last year abnd was told the man made island that the amusement park sits on has been abandoned because of the high water level in the salt lake. What a shame.

Ted Miles
Author:  wesp [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
Glen Echo Park, the trolley park in the Maryland suburbs operates the original Dentzel carrousel and now serves as a center for arts.

http://www.glenechopark.org/visitor.htm

Wesley
Author:  Randy Hees [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 5:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Trolley Parks Still Existing
Add Crown Beach in Alameda California

http://www.ebparks.org/parks/crown_beach

Originally the park for a narrow gauge commuter railroad, later for SP's Red Electrics... now a regional park and shoreline...
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