RAILS TO THE CATSKILL – ELECTRIC TROLLEYS
By the end of the 19th century any town of 10,000 people or more had an electric trolley system. That meant small cities like Kingston, Catskill, New Paltz, Highland, Poughkeepsie and others in the Hudson Valley and Catskill region had trolley tracks that ran from one end of town to the other. These trolleys met the trains or steamboats that brought passengers to the area and served as a convenient way for residents to get around before the advent of good roads and automobiles. By the 1930’s most of these electric trolley lines had disappeared, replaced by buses and cars.
The Trolley Museum of New York is located in the Rondout section of Kingston. It boasts a museum where you can see trolleys from various places, including Europe, as well as a gallery of images to bring back memories of what was once a vibrant means of transportation. They also offer trolley rides from the foot of Broadway in downtown Kingston out to Kingston Point.
Trolleys will be covered in our documentary, RAILS TO THE CATSKILLS, which is currently in production. The link above takes you to the short YouTube excerpt featuring the Catskill Mountain Railroad.
Here are a few photos of trolleys and lines from the collection of the producer and from the online photos posted by the Trolley Museum.
