American Streetcars | Tracking the Light

Electric Streetcar and Old Mills.

The National Historic Park at Lowell has transformed 19^th century textile mills into interpretive museums. Connecting various museums is a recreated historic streetcar line using electrified former Boston & Maine mill spurs. Most of the time authentic looking replica cars are the order of the day.

A Boston & Maine Alco-built 0-6-0 is also on display.

Lowell's historic trolley gives visitors a feeling for what it was like to ride a streetcar. Canon EOS 7D with 20mm lens. — Lowell’s historic trolley gives visitors a feeling for what it was like to ride a streetcar. Canon EOS 7D with 20mm lens.

The classic looking cars look good among the old brick mill buildings. Canon EOS 7D photo.

I visited briefly on my way through town and exposed a few photos of the streetcar against the urban backdrop. On previous visits I’ve traveled on the trolleys and made more extensive photographic studies.

Boston & Maine 410 is a static display at Lowell. It is one of only a few surviving Boston & Maine steam locomotives. Canon EOS 7D

However, owing to the late season, the trolley was working a very limited schedule, and my time was short, so I didn’t go for a spin this time.

Lowell 4131 is a replica of a Brill streetcar. Lumix LX7 photo.

The Lowell trolley is among historic operations covered in the final chapter of my latest book, Streetcars of America, co-authored with John Gruber, by Shire Publications. In this compact 64-page soft-cover volume, John and I offer a concise look at streetcars in North America and feature a variety of vintage and contemporary images, including many made by my father, Richard J. Solomon, on Kodachrome film.

It is priced at under $10, and a bargain at that!

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