From 1957 to the early 1960’s, the museum had a difficult time finding a permanent home for the four cars in its collection. Because of this, the cars were stored in various locations throughout NYC. The first two trolleys were stored at the B&O yards in Staten Island, car #1000 at the NYC Transit Authority’s Coney Island shops and car #601 at the Queensborough Bridge lines former Manhattan underground terminal at 59th Street and 2nd Ave.
During the 1960’s all of the museums four cars were stored together at the B&O yards in Staten Island. But as luck would have it, the track they were stored on was to be removed to make way for a parking log. It was at this time many of the original volunteers started to lose interest. Many of them were attracted to other museums that had similar equipment that was operated rather than just maintained. In 1961, our current Chairman of the Board, Mr. Francis Voyticky, attempted to organize an operating museum in Brooklyn using Swedish trolley #79, but the attempt failed and the trolley was sold to the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, Massachusetts.
In 1964, the Trolley Museum acquired interurban car #411, which was delivered to the South Brooklyn Railway yards at Avenue Z and Shell Road in Brooklyn. The museum was able to operate the car for several years, but was unable to obtain a commitment for permanent use of the site. As a result, the interurban was sold to the trolley museum in East Troy Wisconsin.
In 1968, the museum’s original four cars were moved from St. George to the Trolley Valhalla Museum in Tansboro, New Jersey. Overhead wire was already installed here and trolleys were in operation. Preparations were being made to place the Trolley Museum of New York’s trolley in operation when the Valhalla group failed to exercise a least on the property with the option to buy, resulting in their eviction from the property. We were permitted to stay until we found a new location.
The following year, 1969, a new location in Morristown, New Jersey was located at the Morristown and Erie Railroad. We were given a thirty year lease with operating rights. Unfortunately, the railroad ended up in Federal bankruptcy court and we ended up back where we started from in Brooklyn, at Avenue Z and Shell Road. During the stay in Morristown, the original President of the museum, Everett A. White, was replaced by George Hassoldt.
Starting in 1972, John DeRoos, head of the Transit Authority of New York,
encouraged the museum to purchase three Boston PCC trolley cars, #3204, #3214 and #3216.
Plans were being made to operate the cars as a tourist attraction on McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn,
when the Transit Authority came under the control of a new manager.
The new manager did not support the idea of an operating museum and we were ordered to leave the property.
It is now July 1982, George Hassoldt resigned at president and Mr. Francis Voyticky was elected to succeed him. The treasury was nearly bare and the prospect of a successful relocation seemed quite dim. It was also during this time that three Philadelphia trolleys that were donated to us by Joseph Kimbrig, the museum’s 1st Vice President, were under a 90 day deadline to be moved from the South East Philadelphia Transit Authority (SEPTA) yards and had not place else to go.
Near the end of the 90 days, a new location as found at the Brooklyn Union Gas Company in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Trucker Joe Supor was dispatched to Philadelphia and arrived there on the 91st day only to find that the cars had already been cut up for scrap by the SEPTA officials. It was this misfortune that actually did our museum a great deal of good.
The story of the trolley cars was picked up by the Philadelphia newspapers and made the wire services. It was read in Kingston by Ms. Hidegarde Frey, who brought it to the attention of Mr. Stephen Finkle, her boss at the Ulster County Development Corporation. Mr. Finkle in turn brought the story to the attention of the May or of the City of Kingston, Mr. Donald Quick, and negotiations were started with the museum for leasing part of the recently abandoned track in Kingston. In April of 1983, the Trolley Museum reached an agreement with the City of Kingston Mayor, the Kingston Board of Aldermen and the Ulster County Legislature to lease the abandoned former Penn Central (Ulster & Delaware) rail branch to Kingston Point. Operation for the public began July of 1983 using a Brill Model 55 gasoline car.
By 1984, we had moved a total of eight subway and trolley cars to the Kingston site. A trolley barn (gray metal building) was constructed and two European trolleys that were donated to us by Joe Supor, were housed there. In addition, four other trolleys were moved to various locations to be reconstructed. In 1985, two additional pieces of equipment were moved to Kingston, one of the being a Staten Island passenger car that was damaged by fire. The volunteers totally reconstructed the car and it was used as our gift shop and loading platform until it was destroyed by fire in October, 1991. Also in 1985, our volunteers reconstructed the track link between our main line and the branch to the Maritime Museum.
